Dec. 22, 2007

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening Statement:
"I would like to congratulate American for their effort and for playing as hard as they did. With Derrick Mercer playing 40 minutes; I give him a lot of credit because he's really a good player. They had some guys that stepped up today and shot the ball well. Maybe they didn't score a lot of points before, but today they did and they did a good job. I really don't have a lot to say."

On his emotions right now:
"There are a lot of good teams around and no matter what the plays are, you have to play with a certain level of intensity which American did, and then you have a chance to win, regardless if the ball is going in the basket. We're not shooting well, but you can make up for that by doing some other things. We got outrebounded today which is a credit to American. That's a pretty good example of the intensity level that was out there today."

On playing at a high level:
"You're open from 15 feet, this is the ACC; you're supposed to make 15 footers. You're supposed to make 10 footers. You're supposed to make five footers. You're supposed to get offensive rebounds, not drop the ball, and put it back in the basket. That's what teams at this level are supposed to do and that's what they've always been doing here for 18 years."

On Dave Neal's return:
"Dave was fine, but he shouldn't have to play that many minutes tonight because we have other guys on the team. You have to play hard when you're out there and he did a great job just in terms of being out there that much for us. He's going to get in better shape."

American Head Coach Jeff Jones
On the game:
"This being a nice win for our team and our program is an understatement. I am really proud of the effort and the scrappiness that our guys showed. To be able to come in and play against a program with the magnitude of Maryland and win on their home court makes me happy for our players, and happy for our school. This will certainly make Christmas that much more fun."

On the play of Bryce Simon:
"He has been coming along. He hasn't shot a good percentage so far this year, but he is definitely one of our better shooters. Confidence is a funny thing. He was playing loose today, and he liked some of the match-ups he was able to get. When Maryland pressures, there are match-ups that normally would not happen on the half court level, and he was able to take advantage of those."

On American answering Maryland's rallies:
"We just hung in there, and each time we answered it was with a different guy. Bryce [Simon] made some big baskets. Derrick Mercer had a couple big baskets, and Brian Gilmore did some nice things, and it was just enough to hold them off. When they did cut the deficit, we didn't hang our heads. We kept working hard at the defensive end. I think those were the keys."

On his team playing more aggressively:
"I think in any game the win goes to the more aggressive team. Aggressiveness is not just physical strength, it means being physically aggressive too. I think our guys were confident coming in and confident with the game plan and what we wanted to do. We said we have height disadvantages at every position, so it's not going to be us jumping up [over them]. We really emphasized checking-out; that's something that has been a point of emphasis for us over the last couple weeks."

Maryland Sophomore Greivis Vasquez:
On the game:
"This is hard. It is disappointing going through something like this. We just have to ask ourselves whether we are going to give up or keep fighting. We have to get to a point where we start winning."

On his career-high 28 points:
"That doesn't mean anything to me. Right now we as a team need to figure out how we can fix this. There really isn't anything else to say except that we need to pick up the intensity level and get this turned around."

Maryland Sophomore Eric Hayes
On the feeling in the locker room:
"It is frustrating right now. We know that we have beaten some good teams already this year, so we are capable of playing a lot better than this. We can't come out and play down to the competition like we have been."

Maryland Junior Dave Neal:
On returning from injury:
"It was good to get back out there. I felt pretty good while I was on the court. I think I was a little hesitant to push my shoulder too hard, but overall it felt really good to be back."

On the atmosphere in the locker room:
"We are frustrated. Right now we don't know what is going on. We just need to make sure that we are working as hard as we can out there on the court. Somehow we have to figure this out and change what we are doing as a team."