Feb. 11, 2011

Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening statement:
"It's been a long time since we've played [Boston College]. Both teams, I've seen them change. During the season you don't stay the same. It was really a tough game here for us. It was a game we thought we could have won, but we didn't get it. So now we get another chance. I think that is what we are looking forward to, just getting a chance to get an opportunity to win the game and we'll see if we get that done. That's what we've been about the last couple days at practice, getting ready for this game. They've had some really good veteran players that hurt us the first game. In other words, Biko Paris, [Joe] Trapani and [Reggie] Jackson obviously really had a great deal of experience; they showed it in that game and did a really good job. We're a more experienced team now than we were, so hopefully that will help us. Those guys are really good players, proven players in the ACC. BC has played well at home this year. It's a tough game, but it's a game that we were born to play and hopefully we will play well."

On 3-point shooting being a factor in this game:
"They're a very good team and against us they made 10. It was a 30-point difference in that game in threes. We have to figure out how to stop their 3-point shooting. They have a lot of players that can shoot 3s. Obviously Trapani, Jackson, and [Corey] Raji can go out. They are their best players right now. I don't think a year ago anyone thought that Raji was that big of a threat on the 3-point line. Paris killed us the first game. They have four or five guys who can really shoot 3s. So it's not about stopping one guy on the 3-point line. That's what makes them so tough."

On players that are struggling with shooting:
"First of all, you stay with him and you try to give him confidence. If you see anything wrong with the shot, you try to help him with that. The big thing with Sean [Mosley] is to make sure that he gets good looks on balance so that he has the best chance to make it. Other than that, we want him to shoot. He's proven that he can score and we need him scoring. Hopefully he is in a position now where he can do that tomorrow."

On whether or not there are more players he has confidence in since the last time they played BC:
"I think Terrell [Stoglin] and Pe'Shon [Howard] are at different points. Haukur [Palsson] is in a different point in his career than he was two months ago. Those guys were really just learning things back when we played BC. Hopefully they can play at a better level, but its not just scoring. They still need to run the offense. They still need to play team defense. That is what you have to learn as much as anything. Hopefully we are better at that. We made some defensive mistakes the first game at BC. We were making them all along. It wasn't just BC then, it was every good team that we played. The veteran players catch you in those situations. This time of year, if freshmen have played quite a bit for any team, they are not like they were before. They've adjusted to the college game. They've had to learn how to play team defense. They might not have ever had to do that before. Now they have. They may not be great at it, but at least they are better. That is the key thing."

On Pe'Shon Howard's progress:
"Anytime you are that size in college basketball, you have to do everything right. You don't have any margin for error. I think that is true of any 6-foot guy that comes into college. Your game has changed where you have to be a little more careful. You can't get away with stuff like you did [in high school]. Pe'Shon has tightened up how he handles the ball. That has really helped him. Hopefully he can do that against Boston College. They'll come out with Jackson at 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5 or Paris is 6-foot-3 and that is who he is playing against. It's not some 6-foot guy on another high school team. That is the big adjustment that you have to make."

On senior leadership:
"The obvious thing is that this is their last chance that they get to play. Hopefully they show that by how they play. It's not about having a team meeting or anything. It's about going out there and they have to be the leaders in terms of the energy. Not just in the games, but at practice this time of year. We have seven league games left. It has to be every day now. There is no time to be tired. There are no excuses to be made. For me as a coach, I always like this time of year because all of that stuff is gone. Here we are. This is it. We are not going to change. This is our team and Boston College has their team, and they just go play."