Jan. 26, 2010

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  AP Photo Gallery  |  Photo Gallery 

Head coach Gary Williams

On Tuesday's win against Miami:

“Tonight we had really good team rebounding, and I think that's what we have to do to be successful in terms of our defense. We couple the rebounding with defense because I don't think you can separate those two things, so that allows us to run. We are pretty good when we can get out in transition and that really helped us tonight."

“We are really focused on defense. We are trying to believe that our defense is what is responsible for our ability to run our offense and get good shots. I think the aggressiveness on the defensive end of the court funnels into the offensive part of the game. Hopefully we continue to play good defense. Tonight we had 19 assists on the offensive end of the court, and I think that says something that we are all passing the basketball.”

On the senior leadership:

“Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne and Greivis Vasquez, those guys - our veteran guys - on every possession, are doing whatever they can defensively. That's great leadership. Leadership just isn't the guys that clap hands when the coach is looking and they know the coach wants you to clap hands. It's what you do off the court and how you are at practice every day. I think we are fortunate to have that type of leadership on this team. It's been there from day one, since our first practice Oct. 17. It's a good feeling to see that.”

On Landon Milbourne:

“We are hoping that with Jordan (Williams), James (Padgett) and Dino (Gregory)… Landon doesn't have to do everything inside. Last year, Landon basically wound up a lot of times being our big guy and this year, that's not true. In terms of his offense, he's moved his range out to the 3-point line and in doing so he's created more space to make that medium-range jump shot that he's so good at. He's stretched the court a little bit and made it harder to guard him.”

On Maryland's defense:

“We've been making adjustments game-to-game and within the game. When we see something that's bothering us we can usually make an adjustment, whether it's a matchup or a technique that we are not doing particularly well. These guys are intelligent and they are able to make those changes. That helps when we don't have to call a timeout every time we want to make a change because you want to keep the pace of the game up. It takes players that have pretty good dedication to make that happen.”

Senior guard Greivis Vasquez

On the team's preparedness:
“We were ready to play. I thought Coach did a really good job with the plan for [tonight's] game, and then we followed through, and we won the game.”

On the team's recent dominance:
“That means a lot to us, but we can't be satisfied. I know, and we know, that it's too early. We've got to put this win behind us and get ready for a big game this Sunday.”

Sophomore guard Sean Mosley

On finishing games:
“We lost 20-point leads this year, but I think that this year we've done a great job of coming out and starting games strong and finishing games the same way. It's just the mindset that we have this year that we can't lose a game when we're up by 20 points. We've just been coming out and playing hard for 40 minutes.”

On playing loose:
“We're just having fun, flying around in our pressure defense. We try to get the crowd into the game, and then the momentum is on our side.”

On the team's performance:
“Everybody's on the same page at the same time, and I think we're doing a great job. Our seniors are doing a good job, and our bench players have been consistent.”

Senior forward Landon Milbourne

On getting better:
“We're pretty good when we play our game, but we still have a lot of things we have to work on. We're not satisfied with where we're at right now.”

Senior guard Eric Hayes

On looking ahead:
“It's all great what we've done so far, but we know it can turn real fast for us and quickly go downhill. We just want to stay focused. We've got a couple of big road games coming up, and we know it's not easy on the road. We just need to stay focused and keep playing the way we have been.”

Miami coach Frank Haith

Opening Statement:
“Maryland's execution was great. They are a really good basketball team. They share the ball, they play together and their execution was outstanding. Gary's got a good club.”

On disappointing loss:
“We were really disappointed in how we played. We have some things we have to fix on this team. We are not making excuses. Right now, we're not competitive.”

“It's amazing because I think this club has practiced hard. We've gone out and been competitive at practice, but for whatever reason, we are not doing it in the game. We have to transfer our efforts in practice to the games, which we have not been doing.”

“We've had some games where we haven't gotten off to a good start of late, and I think that's affected our mindset with this team. From a leadership standpoint, we have to get some guys to help us with that.” On Miami turnovers:

“We didn't handle the ball very well, but it was everyone. It was not just one guy.” “If you look at the stat-line in the first half, we shot the ball well, but they shot twice as many shots as we did because we turned the ball over.”

On Maryland's early season success:
“Maryland's very young, and the ACC is wide open. The one thing about Maryland that I appreciate as a coach is that they play very well together as a team. They're a very cohesive unit right now, and if they keep it up, they very well could be one of the better teams in our league.”

On Maryland's players:
“They have a great guard in Greivis Vasquez, who has great leadership and great presence. And [Eric] Hayes has veteran leadership and is playing the best basketball of his career. And then [Landon] Milbourne, who is kind of a hardhat guy, but he is a tough matchup because he can separate from the basket and do a lot of different things.”

On Maryland's offensive rebounding:
“That's all about activity with Maryland. I think they play hard, they're quick, they're very fast, they don't have a lot of size, but like [Sean] Mosley, they run after loose balls. He's as good as there is at that. A lot of times rebounding is more than just how tall you are, it's your ability to be quick to the ball, and I think Maryland does a great job with their quickness in getting to loose balls and getting to the boards and rebounding the ball.”

On Miami's future:
"Right now, we don't have enough guys who are willing to put in the effort necessary to win basketball games in this league, and it's my and the staff's job to figure that out.”

Senior Guard James Dews

On rebounding from the loss:
“We've got to find a way as a team to come together. We've got to learn from our mistakes and just pick it up.”

On the Hurricanes' 17 turnovers:
“We made a lot of mistakes that we usually don't make. But we've just got to learn from that and improve on it.”