Jan. 9, 2010

Head coach Gary Williams

On Florida State

"Florida State is ranked 18th and 19th in the polls this week. They're one of the bigger teams you can play - not just their starters but also off the bench. They're the number one field goal percentage defensive team in the country so far. When you lose a player like [Toney] Douglas who is really a good player - I thought as good as anybody in the ACC last year - they've done a really good job in becoming, if you look at their scoring and the way they play defense, a very team oriented type team where all five guys are involved on defense, not just the big guys. All the players look for each other. You can see the balance in their scoring."

On FSU's Soloman Alabi

"He's so big. He's different. He's a proven shot blocker. There's not many of those guys around. There are guys that can block a shot, but not as a defensive threat every time down court. And that's the difference in him. It's not just his blocked shots it's his threat of blocking shots. We have to do a good job with the ball. We might not be able to take that first open shot. It may take the extra pass where you get open for sure. Obviously that's not easy to do because of their field goal percentage defense."

On how to attack Florida State

"You want movement. Like I said, when you do get the ball inside, when you do penetrate, they really gravitate towards the ball. You can't necessarily take a shot that you would normally have. And that's hard to do. It's a tough adjustment. That's why they're successful the way they play defense. If you look at Texas or Syracuse, [Florida State] is at least as big as or bigger than those two teams. It's different out there because you can know exactly what they're going to do offensively or defensively but you can't duplicate the length in practice. There's no way to do that."