Jan. 25, 2010

Head coach Gary Williams

Opening statement:
"Hopefully we'll be ready. These two days are important - yesterday and today - to get ready for this game. Miami is in a situation where they've beaten Wake Forest so obviously they can play, and they've lost some tough games. They've had some time to look at their team and see where they want to go. So hopefully we can continue to play the way we've been playing. I think that's the important thing, is to maintain what we're doing right now. That's hard to do in college basketball because you play 30-some games and [the players] are 18 to 22 years old. But I've got a good group of guys who have some experience, not just the seniors. Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie and Dino Gregory have been around and hopefully that can come from within the team. I can tell them whatever I want to tell them but it has to be from the players. They have to understand how important it is to be consistent and play with the intensity level necessary to be in a league like the ACC."

On the team's ability to run the offense efficiently when Greivis Vasquez isn't scoring:
"One thing that opens things up for everybody is when you have other people that can score. Landon Milbourne has been doing a good job with that. Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie coming off the bench have been doing a good job with that and certainly Eric Hayes is a threat that [other teams] worry about going into every game. If other people do step up and score, all of a sudden you can't lose a game just because you shut down one player, you have to go back to playing the way you might normally. And I think that's where Greivis stepped up in the NC State game. He's a great player. If you look at his statistics in every category he's right up there with anybody who ever played here. He's a great passer so if he's not scoring, that's OK; he's a great defender which gets unnoticed a lot of the time so he's playing his defense even if he's not scoring. A lot of scorers' defense seems to suffer if they're not scoring well, but that's not true in Greivis' case."

On Jordan Williams' development:
"He's getting a chance to play, which is really good. That's how you learn the quickest. He'll have his ups and downs, he's still developing as a player but he's hung in there. When he's had his downs, he doesn't feel sorry for himself. That's why he's going to be a good player because he's got a very good work ethic and he listens. He tries to do what you want him to do and that's all you can do as a player."

On how the team has been successful on offense:
"We're passing the ball well and I think that's the key. We're getting open shots and we have to continue to do that. In fact, you have to get better at it because teams know your players better the further you go in and the second time around, all those things. Hopefully we get scoring out of our inside players. I'm not counting Landon as an inside player. He's an inside player in number only, as a four-man. He has the great combination of being able to score inside and outside and I think that's helped us quite a bit too."