Quotes from Gary Williams
2/22/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2011
Head Coach Gary Williams
Opening statement:
"Florida State is probably as big a team as you'll play. Their defensive performance this year - they're leading the nation in field goal percentage defense - and that's how they play. Everything is geared off of their defense and they've had a very good season in the ACC. They're tough to play against not just because of their size, how tall they are, but because of their length also. They're very long guys. They have good size in the backcourt. It's a game where we're really going to have to match their defensive intensity and hopefully we can figure out some ways to score against their defense. But that's not easy."
On only attempting one 3-pointer against NC State:
"I think we average like 15 [3-point attempts] a game, right around there. That's not a lot, but we were able to get to the basket. We were able to shoot a very good percentage. That's what you're trying to do whether you shoot threes or you don't shoot threes. In other words, there were games this year - the Virginia game down there - where we had to shoot the ball from outside and we did a pretty good job of that that night. So it's basically what you can get from the defense and to get up into the 80s, I looked at all the scores that night from the ACC and I think we were the only team in the 80s. That's a lot of points nowadays the way the game is being played so it worked that night. Hopefully the opportunity will come tomorrow night to shoot threes. We have some guys that I think are pretty good shooters and hopefully if the opportunity is there we can make them."
On Terrell Stoglin's progression:
"It's a gradual process. He's been since the summer. In AAU and in high school he had the ball all the time and he took whatever shots he wanted to take. That's the way it was. You see a lot of kids like that that are good players today, in the summer time that's how they play. So you have to learn how to play with the other guys; you have to learn how to play team defense; you have to learn how to do all those things that a lot of times you're not required to do until you get to college. It's an adjustment. Terrell has had his ups and downs; it hasn't been completely smooth. I'm sure it'll be more but he's really made great strides and he's having a very good freshman year."
On how happy he is for Dino with the progression he's made:
"I'm very happy for Dino. He's hung in there through some tough stuff and he worked very hard to become a consistent shooter like he's been for us this year. Hopefully that'll continue. He quietly is a very good defensive player and has developed that part of his game. I thought he was a good defensive player for us last year when he finally got to play. It's very important that you have somebody in there with Jordan [Williams] that can score, and that's really helped us this year. Probably helped Jordan quite a bit too that Dino can put some points up too so the defense couldn't completely ignore our other inside player. That's what he's given us."
