March 13, 2009

Recap |  Box Score

Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
Overall Statement...
"These two guys here (Dave Neal and Landon Milbourne) have started at the two inside positions. Dave is 6-8, Landon is 6-7. They haven't complained all year. I don't think there's been a game all year, once conference play began, that Dave hasn't guarded a guy three inches bigger than he is. And Landon is the same way. He went from the three to the four to really help our team this year, and he has done a tremendous job. I see here that Landon had 11 rebounds, which in a game against Wake Forest's inside players is a tremendous effort."

"That's what we have been about this year, our effort in terms of showing up every day. We could have a great win like today, and then tomorrow, if we had time to practice, we would have a great practice. We could have a bad loss, like we have a couple of times this year, and we would have a great practice the next day. I think that has been responsible for our team. And today, everybody bought into what we were trying to do defensively. We were walking through things this morning back at the hotel to try to simulate what we had to do today, and the players were really good. They just knew what to do and executed the plan. I'm really proud of them."

On Maryland's rebounding advantage, despite its height disadvantage...
"I always felt that there's different ways to go about it if you aren't the biggest team. I learned this coaching at American University. We would always get the good 6-4 and 6-5 guys, we could never get the 6-9 guy. But you still had to go play some guarantee games against some really big teams. We would always be able to hang in there on the glass. Today I really felt like if we made the effort then we could do that today. If Wake outrebounded us by five or seven, that would have been okay. We could stay in the game with that. It was just a great effort. I think that everyone just bought into the fact of how hard we had to go to be able to rebound with a team like Wake."

On Maryland's NCAA Tournament chances...
"I told the players not to talk about the tournament. We have a tough game tomorrow. That's our focus. In terms of the NCAA Tournament, I think it is always the body of work. We have some good wins before today. Hopefully that will really help us. I know that we have played six games against teams that have been ranked #1 in the country at some point during the season. Playing in a great league, it's hard because you get worn down at times during the season. But we have been able to sustain it through that. We came into this tournament as the #7 seed, and I think we have a great league. Hopefully we will be well represented."

On facing Wake Forest's bigs...
"The only thing you can do with that size thing is try to get in there way. You can teach technique but they can jump over you. The big thing is get in their way and then try to get to the rim before they do. We did a good job of that. A couple of times Johnson was just scary out there with what he did. That's what happens, you just have to stay after it, you're not going to get them all. You're not going to keep them from getting second shots but you don't want them to score, if they are having trouble scoring out of their half court offense then you don't want to be cheap, like turnover where they can run fast breaks or getting second shots. I thought we did a good job of staying away from both those things to help Wake Forest."

Comparing the team to the 2004 squad...
"I think we were a little up and down in '04. We'd play really well in some games and then have slides. I think this team has had a gradual improvement over the course of the season coming into the tournament. I think part of the improvement is to lose some tough games. That either makes or breaks you. If you can handle it you're probably a better team after you go through something like that. I think our guys deserve a lot of credit. They could have quit a couple of times during the season, there were some things that we had to go through that were a little different this year. They've been able to come in and handle things. When it's time to practice they practice, they don't worry about other things to take them away from practice."

On Wake's style of play...
"They're a great driving team. I think they average 15 threes a game. Teague is capable of making threes and they have some guys that can make it but they're style is really to go after you and get it on the rim and really go after the offensive rebounds. We really try to stay in tight and get a hand on the shooter. We gambled a little that they wouldn't have a hot day from the 3-point line. You go with it as long as you can and it seemed we were able to do that for most of the game."

Maryland Players
Landon Milbourne
On his recording 11 rebounds...
"I wanted to come in there and do what I could on rebounds. I noticed the last time we played I wasn't moving very well. This time I wanted to keep my feet moving every time the ball went up. I tried to at least go up there and try get a rebound instead of watching the ball and I think that worked well for me tonight."

Dave Neal
On his 3-point basket...
"I knew our team needed a big play. I made some big threes coming down the stretch this season. I had an open shot and I know I was off the whole game, but I hit that one three and I think it was a huge three for it us. I think that gave our team a little more momentum going into the end of the game. Being the only senior here I like to step up in big-time situations and tonight I hit a three that pushed our lead back to double digits. I'm out here to fight with my team and I'll do whatever it takes to win the game. If it's a big shot or a big rebound or take a charge I'll do whatever."

On Maryland's improvement from the first Wake Forest game...
"On the offensive end we stayed aggressive for the whole 40 minutes and I think last time we played them and they went to their zone we became passive and didn't attack their zone. After that game we worked a lot on our zone offense. Tonight we had some big buckets in their 1-3-1 and kind of took them out of it. I think the biggest thing besides rebounding was our aggression on the offensive end for 40 minutes tonight. I think that hurt Wake Forest. We knew if we wanted to score we'd have to attack them. We ran the plays Coach Williams called. When you execute a play that Coach Williams makes you pretty much are guaranteed a point if you execute it to its finest."

Maryland Players
Greivis Vasquez
On tonight's game...
"We are a proud team. We've come a long way, we have worked really hard to get into this position. We are trying to win the tournament. We are going to keep working and wait to see who we play tomorrow."

Dino Gregory
On tonight's win...
"It is no time to choke right now. This is big time, the ACC Tournament, and you know it was a big win. I couldn't let my team down, I am still a leader, I had to show some leadership and knock down some free throws at the end."

Wake Forest Head Coach Dino Gaudio
Opening Statement...
"I thought they played very well. I thought they deserved to win the game. You are not going to beat many teams when you shoot 29 percent from the field. That was our biggest downfall, shooting the basketball tonight. I think James [Johnson] picking up his third foul that early in the first half really affected us a little bit. Him not being out there in the first half was a big impact in the game. We needed other guys to step up when he goes out and we just didn't that tonight. We stubbed our toe, we hopefully will gather ourselves, which I know we will., this is a terrific young group of guys and get ourselves ready for the NCAA Tournament."

On challenges playing against a team that needs a win...
"We have played against a lot of hungry teams that have needed a win throughout the year and I think we were hungry trying to win a first game and maybe try to win an ACC Championship. The biggest thing was our offense, we were so ineffective offensively that I think it bothered us. We held them to 43 percent from the field which isn't bad but our offense was the problem tonight."

On shooting a lot of three-point attempts rather than take the ball inside...
"They really packed it in and we knew they would do that. We have spent a lot of time preparing. We had spent a lot of time with our zone offense. We did not do a good job tonight, we wanted to go inside a little more than we did. We shot 10 three-pointers at halftime but the guys who are three-point shooters for us did shoot well. Late in the game I told James [Johnson] a couple of times after he was hesitating a little bit to shoot the ball. We could have went inside a couple of times more but they were so packed in there. But guys that are good shooters for us, who I want to shoot the ball, did not have a good shooting night tonight."

On the tough night by Jeff Teague...
"He played 30 minutes and I was telling him that he's a big-time player and when he was sitting to not let his offense affect his defense. He was 0-for-6 at the half and I knew he would come out in the second half with a lot of energy. This is his second time in this spotlight and I have all the confidence in the world in him. That's why we put him back in. He played 30 minutes and the only guy to play more than him tonight was Ishmael [Smith] with 31."

Wake Forest Players
James Johnson
On tonight's game...
"We came out slow and we know during this time of year we can't do that. They came out wanting it more, they played hard - congrats to them."

On the zone defensive Maryland used...
"That is something we have to work on. We have been working on that a lot in practice but we need to focus on game speed jumpers because if our jumpers work, we can get teams to play us man to man."

Jeff Teague
On his slow start...
"Sometimes you know you're going to get off to a good start but sometimes when you come out missing shots you try to look for other ways to get involved in the game and get your teammates involved. But tonight nobody was really attacking until the second half."

Ishmael Smith
On shooting a lot of three-point attempts rather than take the ball inside...
"They did the same thing when we played up at Maryland but the difference is we got stops up there and were able to get out in transition and beat the zone down the court. Tonight, we couldn't, they got up 15 and it was too tall of a task to come back. Like coach said, I give 100 percent credit to Maryland. We didn't make any shots tonight and obviously our staple is defense. Whenever we aren't making shots, we usually keep it close enough where we can hit a big shot and get a couple run-outs to push the lead up. We didn't do that tonight and now we need to get back to our principles; which we will. Whenever we play next in the NCAA Tournament, we'll be ready to go."

On lack of emotion tonight and getting back in a game when you're down...
"That was the biggest thing. Last night, I was sitting in my room watching all the other games and some of these top teams losing. I said to myself, we can't be that team. We need to come out with energy and fight. Even if we don't make 100 percent of our shots, we play with a lot of energy and somehow, someway, we have to find a way to win. In this tournament it's win and advance so you need to somehow find a way to win. That's the way we've been doing it. Tonight, we didn't have much energy. Then, towards the end we started fighting and fighting and looked like the Wake Forest team of old. Unfortunately it was too late. We are going to learn from this."