Jan. 22, 2011
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Opening statement:
"I thought our offense was as efficient as it's been in a while. Clemson is a team that has been winning, and you can tell by the way they play. They have outstanding leadership in the backcourt and two good inside players. They play hard and really come after you. It's a great win for us because it was against a team that has been coming along this year and has been playing very well. Obviously, I'm very pleased with the foul shooting down the stretch. I think we stepped up when we had to and made big free throws, and it was great to see. We had several people making free throws and we can shoot 50 percent if we run our offense that well, and that's a big step for us to do that today. "
On what the team did well to be successful on offense:
"I think sometimes we can be too quick shooting jump shots, and when we shot today, usually off the dribble penetration, it seems that you get better looks that way. You probe the defense. You usually get them a little tighter towards the basket too. We still had threes, we took 14 three pointers, which for this team is probably about right. We made 8 of them, and shot very well and a lot of them came from a result of taking the ball towards the basket."
On the shakeup in the starting lineup:
"I just thought [Haukur Palsson] would give us energy at the start of the game. We had 36 hours since the end of the Virginia Tech game to figure out a way to get things fired up a little bit. I thought Haukur did a good job coming in at the start of the game, so that was the reason for that."
On the missed free throw and final play of the game:
"I've never seen that. I don't know how [the ball] got out of bounds. But the deal is if you make that we would have gone up by three, and they get a chance with 1.6 seconds, and everyone has a play you run in that situation. What you're hoping for on the miss is that they get the rebound and by the time they come down and make one pass they're throwing it from 85 feet. Unfortunately the ball rolled out of balls and they got to half court and they got a look."
On the combined play of seniors Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker, and Dino Gregory:
"They were great today, and they have to grab control. I think that's one of the themes with this year's team: this is your team, this is your senior year. You're remembered for what you do your senior year there's no doubt about it. I want those guys to go out with a great senior year and today was a big step for them, and after a game like that you don't have to tell players what they did because they know. They've played enough basketball, especially the seniors, to know how they won today and we did it against a team that's been playing well."
On changing to zone defense late in the game:
"We did it against Villanova for a couple plays and it worked. We work on it, not as much as our man-to-man, but we work on it. They finally hit it when they made two consecutive threes so we had to get out of it, but during that stretch when we ran it we were able to take the lead out a little bit, so it was valuable to us today."
On the importance of the win:
"It was very important. It was a tough game on Thursday. We tried to forget about that loss and come out here and win the game today. It was big not only for the win but as a team, confidence wise. I'm proud of our guys.
"It's big because we wanted to come back and prove to everyone that we played bad the other night. But we are a team that can make some noise in the ACC. This builds our confidence a lot. Especially with less than two days between games. To come out here and play like we did tonight showed a lot of heart."
On setting the Maryland record for consecutive double-doubles:
"It is very cool. I never came in expecting to get a record my sophomore year or at all. I just want to do whatever I can to help us get the win with that record. It's a great honor to be in the same category as Len Elmore."
On the spread of the scoring load:
"That is a big part of getting a team victory. Coach Williams said at the end of the game that he last 10 minutes we played as a team. It wasn't just one guy or two guys, it was the entire team. We just played like a family today and that's why we won the game. Clemson played great. They fought with us the whole game. But at the end we fought a little harder."
On free throws down the stretch:
"We have been struggling all year on free throws. Coach has us make extra free throws after practice. Guys are always working on free throws because at the end of the game they could be key. Fortunately for us today we hit a lot of free throws at the end and that won the game for us. Hopefully we can continue that for the rest of the year. "
On the importance of the game:
"It was a very important game because we could have been 1-4 (in the ACC).We had a meeting last night and we are at a crossroads right now. Today was a good win. We didn't want to think about last game, just today. The guys came out today and everybody played hard as a group. It wasn't just one guy out there winning it for us. It was us collectively. We did a great job today and hopefully we can keep this going."
On the team meeting:
"We meet as a team with Coach Rob (Ehsan) and we talked about some of the things that we haven't been doing. To make this team better we needed to change those things. As a group we did it today."
On the last free throw:
"Coach told me to miss it but it wasn't supposed to go out of bounds. I have never done that before. We still won the game but he wanted me to miss the shot."
On the perimeter shooting:
"We are definitely an inside out team. If Jordan (Williams) can command a double team like he usually does we have easier opportunities to take jump shots or drive to the basket."
On the free-throw shooting:
"I think that is why we won the game. We made free throws down the stretch, even though we missed some big shots. We still made free throws consistently and that's why we won."
On the recent stretch of games:
"It's not easy at all. All those teams are good teams and in great condition. We want to make it back to the tournament. We keep working hard and coming together as a team and things are going to happen."
On his mid-range game:
"It's a big part of my game. When they double team Jordan (Williams) and he can kick it out to me. That way my man can't really help out as much they want to. Jordan gets double doubles everywhere we go. For me to hit a 16 or 17 foot shot helps open things up for our team."
"Over the summer, that was an area of my game that I worked hard on. I'm proud that I can hit that shot for my team."
On limiting Clemson's runs today:
"It was huge for us. When we played Villanova they went on a 19-point run. When we played Duke they went on a run. We want to be able to stop them and be able to fight back."
Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell
Opening statement:
"Well this was a great college basketball game, unfortunately it didn't end the way we would have liked. Our guys battled again and our seniors did great, especially Jerai [Grant] and Demontez [Stitt]. They both played hard and most importantly they played smart. To Maryland's credit, I think they played very well. They handled the ball, had a limited amount of turnovers and they were very inspired. The most disappointing thing was that we couldn't get them controlled defensively. We needed more stops on the defensive end of the court, but I do think the offense played very well today. We just need to finish, especially in our ACC matchups."
On the Last Offensive Position:
"Well we were trying to run a screen to screen for Andre [Young] to hit a 3-pointer, and they switched out which messed up our guys. If that was 4.8 seconds instead of 2.8, then I think it would have been a much different scenario. In four seconds you can advance the ball pretty far, but with only two seconds that is much more difficult. Demontez [Stitt] took a decent shot; it just didn't make it in."
On Demontez Stitt:
"Tonight he played very inspired. He played outstanding with 20 points and 8 assists. He was unselfish; he was also opportunistic and took some great shots. Most importantly, he created opportunities for other players, and that is the thing I am most happy about. He was disappointed after the North Carolina game, but I think he really stepped up tonight."
On last four minutes of play:
"I saw it as we needed a stop. We needed to score and then hold; and then we needed a chance to take the lead. We got the scores; we just didn't get the holds. That goes to credit the Maryland players because they made some great shots, and they executed and didn't turn the ball over much."
On Jerai Grant:
"He had great perseverance tonight. He was unselfish and he also scored a good amount tonight. He is a great kid and I really enjoy coaching him. He played without fouling, which is a hard thing to do. He plays smart, and Jerai isn't just an athlete, he is a basketball player. He has a great basketball mind, and he knows how to read players and assess the game. He works and matures during every practice, and that's what I enjoy most about him."
Senior Center Jerai Grant
On the loss:
"Maryland was hitting so many shots. They were hitting threes and they were getting in the paint. We made it tough for them at one point, but they made runs. It's hard to beat a team that makes all of their shots."
On playing so close to home:
"I've got a lot of friends and family, but at the same time I've got a lot of people that don't want me playing against them so it pretty much evens out. I just tried to play my game. Of course the crowd is going to have something to do with it. They're going to try to get in my head and things like that. I just tried to block them out as much as I could."
Senior Guard Demontez Stitt
On the loss:
"You never want to lose - especially me, I'm a competitor. Tonight we fought back but it just felt like we fought so hard to get back in it to just let the game slip away in the last seconds. It was just tough to get over that hump. We couldn't get over that hump and take the lead again. It's pretty frustrating when you feel like as a team you're playing hard, but other teams find ways to score. In the first half we didn't really apply pressure like we wanted to."
On moving forward:
"This is when we have to pull together as a team. We know that we've lost some close games, but they could've gone either way. We just didn't get the luck of the draw, but we just have to take this and build on it. We're close to being a really good team on the road, but we have to learn how to finish games. When you start off good, you have to maintain that energy and poise because teams are going to make runs especially on their home courts when the crowd is into it. We just have to learn to keep pushing and not let those guys make that run."
