Nov. 26, 2010
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Maryland Quotes
On the game:
"Elon certainly played with more emotion than we did the first half. We were fortunate to get back to where it was only a three-point game at halftime. I thought Elon played great, taking advantage of what they had considering what we did with our offense. They were quicker to the ball, they were quicker running their offense, they looked really good, congratulations to them.
I said this out there I was a JV high school coach, and you coach the best you can with whatever situation you're in. They're doing a great job at Elon at coaching and the players are really responding well. That's good to see as a fellow coach to see teams play that well.
Now for us to win the game, we really had to pick it up and I thought it happened late in the first half. We got some really good defensive stops, we started playing defense. We still missed some easy shots, but at least the defense was good enough to give us a chance to win the game.
I thought Adrian Bowie had a lot to do with the in the first half. I thought he really sparked us defensively, he was aggressive with the basketball, and I was happy for Adrian. The second half we all came out and played a different game, we played better. Part of that is that if you really do play really tough defense, whether it's full-court pressure or half-court, the other team has a tendency to get tired. A lot of the same shots when they aren't tired go in, but that's part of being a good defensive team trying to wear teams down. The second half was good to see, I thought we played well in the second half."
On Elon's 3-point shooting:
"They shoot 27 a game normally, so we knew they were going to fire. The point is that you can keep backing out, you can always get a three off, it's how tough you get up on them, get a hand on them, all those things make them tougher. Like I said, just generally in the game, I know we get tired, I assume the other team gets tired too. Those shots become tougher as the game goes on."
On his message at halftime to change the team's performance:
"You know it was just feel the pride, how we're supposed to play and we were able to do it which is a good sign if you want to get a positive out of it. That's a good sign that we could turn it on like that. The problem is that you have to play at a certain level for 40 minutes, and we didn't do that tonight, that bothers me. And you know there's always excuses out there, but the bottom line was Elon came here ready to play, they gave us their best shot. I kind of like that though, I don't want them coming in here intimidated, or thinking we're playing Maryland we don't have a chance, but they thought they could win. I kind of like that situation, we had to fight through it. I didn't like the way we handled things early on, but we got better and we're a team that's working on things every day."
On keeping the starting five together on the floor longer tonight:
"Well I wanted to do that because we had been subbing pretty liberally through the first part of the season, and it's not always going to be that way. You're going to have to earn your playing time, and a lot of that is based on practice. But we believe in that, you prove your worth to the team by what you do in practice. I just told the starters that they're the veteran players you're the guys who have to pick us up and carry us and so when they came out playing well I was going to play them as long I could before I substituted."
On what the Terps did differently in the second half:
"We had more energy and played with more passion. We got the ball inside to Jordan (Williams) and he played well today."
On the difference between the first and second half:
"It was energy and we were just not getting back on defense (in the first half). When we were pressing we didn't get back and they had a lot of open looks. They made them in the beginning and once we started talking and playing with more energy, we stopped them. I think once we wore them down they started to miss and we had more transition baskets. We were able to get the ball into Jordan (Williams) and when they started doubling him we had open looks."
On the halftime speech:
"At halftime Coach Ehsan gave us a little bit of a speech and it really touched my heart. You could really tell how passionate he is about coaching. He told us that we weren't playing to our potential and we needed to step it up. What he was talking about really hit me and made me play a lot better."
On the slow starts:
"It's frustrating because we have to figure out what we are doing wrong. We keep doing this pretty much every game this season. We have to figure out what we are doing and fix it because for the rest of the season we have to play better in the first half."
On what Elon was doing on offense:
"They did a really good job moving the ball and making the extra pass. Even if one of their players was slightly open they found a player who was even more open. In the second half we knew what they were going to do and we jumped out at them and made it tougher for them to get easy shots."
On the halftime message:
"He (Coach Williams) said we had to figure it out, the seniors and myself and some of the veteran guys before we came out the tunnel we got together and said we have to do this for the seniors. This is our season not coach's season and we have to come out and play."
On the slow starts:
"I don't know if it comes from the warmups before the game or if we are taking teams too lightly. I don't have an answer but we can't start like that in games down the road or against Penn State who we are going to start preparing for on Sunday. We have to come out with the mindset that we are playing a top team every game and not worry about the name on the jersey because anybody can beat anybody on any given day. We have to come out and play with the same intensity that we played with in the second half and we will be alright throughout the season."
On the starting five coming together and closing the lead in the second half:
"I think it was easy for us since we have been here and we know what it takes to get the win. I think we pulled each other together and said that we have to set the right example. We did that coming out in the second half with a lot of energy and we had a lot of fun in the second half and that made it easier for us."
Elon Quotes
Head Coach Matt Matheny
On building toward Southern Conference play:
"We are definitely improving and tonight was our longest stretch of competitively tough basketball. I said to the team after the game that I thought for 25 minutes we were competitively tough, but we seek 40 minutes and we're encouraged by improvement but we know where we need to go and we know we're short of that right now. But to go toe-to-toe against Maryland, in this kind of venue, for as long as we did, sure you're going to get positives out of it."
On the physicality of the game:
"College basketball is a physical game. You look at Jordan Williams and he is a sensational talent. But it's not only Jordan Williams. I think they have a great rotation, and I think they're a very physical team, but I was impressed with how our guys held up for as long as we did. The ice bags are something you see after every practice and every game. We came through this battle, this war, for what I feel like right now pretty healthy and I think we matched their physicality for awhile, but I think it wore us down.
On Jordan Williams:
"He turned the tide. He's the best talent on the floor. He's got unbelievable hands and I think that's what makes him such a great player. He's a big body but he's got great hands and he was able to get the ball in the right spots for him. And even if he missed it he's got a great second jump, he can go back and get it again. He was a huge factor in their run in the second half."
On wearing down in the second half:
"I think fatigue was a factor, and I think we need to change that. We've got to do a couple things. First of all, we've got to defend without fouling because our rotation was shortened due to foul trouble. And then we've got to get in better shape because I think they did wear us down. You could see it in our rotations defensively. They got some shots in their run that were wide open and we didn't get out to contest them. They got some loose ball rebounds that we could have, should have gotten, but we didn't move to get them and I think that was clearly a factor in the second half.
