Dec. 7, 2011

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Postgame quotes following Maryland's 77-74 win over Mount St. Mary's Wednesday night at Comcast Center.

Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon

Opening statement:
"Mount St. Mary's was fantastic. They were getting ready to fold right before half, and then we made some bad plays. Starting the second half we fumbled a layup out of bounds and they got hot. They were hot in the first half, 6-of-10 [from three] to keep it at 13. I thought they were fantastic.

"With that said I didn't do a very good job tonight until the end. I don't know if it was me or our guys. Terrell [Stoglin] bailed us out down the stretch. Our ball screen defense was awful all night. We tried to adjust and couldn't adjust. I'm not used to not guarding. We aren't a bad team, but we aren't guarding. If you guard then the game isn't close. We have to figure out a way as coaches to teach them to guard better because they aren't guarding right now. Give [Mount St. Mary's] credit; they hit a lot of shots.

"When things start to go bad we all start to hang our heads, including our coaches. We can't do that, we have to stay positive. Mount St. Mary's was great but we won the game. Nick [Faust] had a big block, Mychal [Parker] hit big free throws, we played with urgency down the stretch and that was the difference."

On the defense:
"I don't know if the defense got worse in the second half. [Mount St. Mary's] was executing. They ran some Princeton stuff and got some easy layups on us. They ran a double back screen which we hadn't seen yet. I don't know if it got worse. I think they played with confidence and made a lot of really good plays. I will be anxious to watch the film to see if it did. Defense is in front of our bench in the first half and that helps us. We have to get better defensively. We have a lot of practice time coming up."

On Ashton Pankey and Terrell Stoglin:
"I was pleased with Pankey. I thought the first ten minutes big [men] played about as bad as they could play. Their post guys were men; they were big guys and were knocking us around. I thought they man-handled us. But then Pankey stepped up. James [Padgett] did as well a little bit.

"Terrell [Stoglin] is so good and he just scores. Terrell hasn't been a secret for a while because he is scoring over 20 a game. All of the teams are trying to take him out of the game. We have to get him to the point where he comes off a ball screen and he has to pass it. Otherwise we aren't going to get better. A lot of his shots he took in the second half he took out of the offense. He forced a couple early in the half. But a lot of the things he did were based on our offense. We are trying to figure out different ways to get him involved."

On Nick Faust:
"I thought be played harder defensively. Yesterday I talked to him and told him his offense can't affect the rest of his game. He has to rebound and make guys around him better. The real difference was he went to the rim and got to the foul line. He made a three because of his confidence. He still took some bad shots but hopefully he grows out of that. I thought he played with great effort. He didn't give up on the last play [his block], and a lot of kids would have. That lay up would have given them a one point lead. I was pleased with him tonight.

"His confidence was there tonight and was there yesterday in practice. Kids get so caught up in scoring and their shot. They see their numbers and what people are saying and it affects him. We tried to simplify the game for him. Defend, rebound, get the foul line and get shots for Terrell and Sean [Mosley]. He did that tonight, he had five assists. We told him if he is going to score get to the rim. His first two free throws bounced in rather than out, that is huge for him."

Redshirt Freshman Forward Ashton Pankey

On finishing the game tonight:
"I think we still have some defensive struggles and some liabilities out there, but we're just going to get after it in practice and get our identity as a defense. So we just have to get better with rebounding, guarding ball screens and stuff like that in practice."

On the play of the team in the second half:
"I think they were pretty much hitting big shots all night. They were hot tonight from the 3-point line. I think we did a pretty good job defending them, but their shots were falling."

On having a player like Terrell Stoglin:
"You know, it's good because it takes the pressure off of everybody else. Having a great player like Terrell when he got hurt, I got a little nervous, but he's feeling good now. It's great to play alongside Terrell."

Junior Forward James Padgett

On what the team struggled with:
"We just have to defend. Coach was emphasizing defense. We struggled in that area and getting points on the board, but when it came time in the clutch we gave the ball to Terrell and he was able to execute for us and get us some big points."

On when the team began to lose the lead:
"We put our heads down for a little bit, but eventually we got out of it. Terrell hit a couple of big shots for us to give us the momentum. That was a tough stretch for us, we need to learn how to keep leads and mature as a team."

Freshman Guard Nick Faust

On making the block that helped seal the victory:
"They came off the screen pretty well, so I just tried to get back to my man. I saw him about to lay it up, so I just went up for a block and timed it right."

On how it feels to be impactful on the defensive side of the ball:
"It's definitely a big thing. You don't win games without playing defense, but there's still always room for improvement. We're still trying to get together, but it's definitely a big thing for me and the team."

On making a 3-pointer near the end of the second half:
"It was definitely a relief, I wasn't really hitting big shots when my team needed me before. But, I've been in the gym these last couple days taking shots three or four times a day so that definitely helped. Just knocked it down."

Mount St. Mary's Coach Robert Burke

On the final play of the game:
"We didn't execute as well as we could have. They pushed up on us and played really hard. That's my fault. We'll get better at that."

On Danny Thompson's choice to dunk at the end of the game:
"You have to make a play at that point, it's hard. He did the right thing. If he saw a guy in the corner and snapped it to him, would that have been the right play? Yeah, that would have been the right play too, but if we get a steal at the inbounds play and get a basket and win by one, then it's the right play, I guess. It wasn't the wrong play for sure."

On what he takes from the team's play in the last two games:
"We're starting to play better. We're executing better. We're starting to get some leadership."

On the need for more depth:
"Maryland thought they had problems [with depth], but we have more problems. Jacolby [Wells] has to get healthy and it would be nice to have another perimeter guy, but it's who we are right now. If we can do this here tonight with this number, then we can do it every single time."