Nov. 23, 2010

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Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening Statement
"When you talk to coaches at conventions and things like that around, they know who [Delaware State head coach] Greg Jackson is and the great job he does at Delaware State. They don't have much size so he does a good job at keeping his big guys in the game. To get out, to isolate them, you can't just go one-on-one against them. I think it was a pretty good match up. They're smart, they do a good job with that.

"As we go into the season we need to get the ball into our big guys. Having said that, I think that Berend [Weijs] really got going and was really playing with a lot of energy. He looked like he had the most energy than anybody besides Dino Gregory in regards to our inside players. Once [James] Padgett came in the second half, he displayed his quickness. That was necessary for us.

"Defensively, we were good for periods of the game, not consistently but for periods of the game. With the cover size, it's hard for Jordan Williams or for Dino Gregory to cover a guy who is 6-foot-3, but we have to be able to do that. I think at times it wasn't the match-up problem but that we had pretty good control of the game. We need to play like the score doesn't matter."

"There are some things we could work on in practice; Cliff Tucker continues to find ways to score and Dino [Gregory] has as well. We would like to see more guys step up and really shoot the ball well. Right now, we aren't shooting the ball as well as we can. I think that we just need to get comfortable with the offense. It was a good free-throw shooting night for us, and that was good to see also."

On the matchup with Delaware State:
"We have a good team in terms of the size but its human nature of guys like this and teams like this to take advantage of that. When we played Pittsburgh at the Garden, they were able to catch us off our game and I think that as a coach you know that going in. At times I think that it is especially hard for the younger players to understand that. Delaware State came in thinking they could win the game, and they were coming after us. I think it was a good game for us."

On Cliff Tucker's playing time
"I think Cliff was fine, he did a good job. We're looking to be aggressive right now. I think that the guys played great together, and I think that you just don't pull somebody out to put somebody in. If the guy's playing well, give him the playing time. Cliff is a very important part of our team, obviously one of our best shooters and double-figure scorers. He played 24 minutes and scored 14 points so I think that's a good night."

Senior Forward Cliff Tucker

On whether or not it was difficult to get the ball inside on Delaware State:
"I mean yes, it was tough. They played in the zone really far, they were almost half-court in the zone. We kind of weren't ready for that. We didn't go over that in practice so it kind of confused us so it took us a while to get a flow of the offense. I think once we got it going we did alright, but we still have a couple things we need to practice a little bit harder."

On teammate Dino Gregory's play:
"Dino played great. He played great at Madison Square Garden, he's just continuing to play great for us right now. Jordan [Williams] couldn't get as many shots as he usually does, so we needed someone else to step up. Dino hit a lot of big shots and he's really just playing tough for us right now throughout the whole game so we're going to need that from him the whole year. Hopefully he can keep that up."

Senior Forward Dino Gregory

On this game's atmosphere compared to the team's previous games at Madison Square Garden:
"At [Madison Square Garden] we were playing against top 25 teams, it's The Garden. At Comcast it's a different kind of intensity, but it's still fun because we're playing basketball, but it's a little different."

On if he feels himself growing as a starter:
"I feel I am. My confidence is growing in practice and games. Also last year my confidence grew a lot. I wanted to come out strong for the Delaware State game, and I think I did."

On what was there for him to have his best offensive half:
"I mean, they left me open a lot, for elbow jump shots and for baseline jump shots. Everything is coming together for me so I can trust my game because I know I'm making them."

Delaware State Head Coach Greg Jackson

Opening Statement:
"I thought our kids played extremely hard even though they were outmanned. Coach Williams does a great job coaching his basketball team. They have a lot of talent and they are going to be at the top of the ACC. Our kids showed a lot of character and played for 40 minutes. We didn't give up on the basketball game, and in the second half we outscored them 33-32. I thought our kids did an outstanding job with sticking with the game plan."

On the tempo of the game:
"We wanted to slow it down because we weren't strong enough defensively to keep giving this team so many possessions. We wanted to limit possessions but at the same time speed it up and get some easy buckets. They have a strong defense and they didn't let us get into our half-court offense. We pushed it when the opportunity presented itself and we got some easy buckets."

On handling Maryland's press defense:
"I thought our kids did an outstanding job spacing the floor and attacking when they needed to attack. Maryland's press will cause a lot of teams a lot of problems, but we countered that with good floor spacing."

On relying on 3-point shots:
"It's difficult when you don't have a strong inside game. It forces you to take shots from the outside and we took what Maryland gave us. We don't have a good low-post presence right now. You aren't going to beat many teams when you have to take so many jump shots, but we had to resort to that tonight."

On playing an ACC team:
"You grow up really fast and we got a lot of experience tonight. We started two freshmen and a sophomore, and hopefully down the road that experience of getting them in the mix will benefit once we start conference play."

- Terps -