Feb. 8, 2011

Head Coach Gary Williams

Opening Statement:
"Longwood has played Kansas, James Madison, at Marquette, at Seton Hall, at New Mexico, at Colorado, at Virginia Tech so they're an experienced team in terms of who they've played against. They run a lot of spread stuff because they're not the biggest team we'll play, but they're skilled at a lot of positions. They can be a very difficult matchup for us just like we are for them on the other end of the court. It's a game we need to win obviously, given the time that it is during the year. Hopefully we can focus on this game tomorrow."

On if he prefers playing non-conference games this late in the season:
"I prefer playing. With the bye week you don't have a game in the league. It's hard to get a game this time a year because everyone's involved in league play. Longwood's not in a league yet which is why they were available this time of year. So it's good for us. This time of year it would be very difficult to practice against your own guys for five days. It's better to play somebody else. They expose some things. You find out things about your team any time you go against outside competition, even when you're in to February."

On Haukur Palsson's growth since October:
"A lot of times with freshmen you can tell them things that you think can help their game but until they actually do it, and it almost becomes until they do it in the game, it really doesn't sink in. As he's had some success, you gain confidence. I think Hawk sees the game very well, especially for a freshman. He makes some really good plays that might not be for an assist, or a rebound, or something like that, but he's thinking the game pretty well while he's out there. I think he's easy to play with. You always look at that when you put a player in, how the other players feel about him being on the court. I think Hawk's done a good job of establishing the fact that he'll contribute on defense, he'll rebound, he'll make the right pass. If I'm a player I like having guys on the team like that because it means we're playing pretty well if we all can do that."

On Palsson providing a spark:
"Emotions are very important for a team, for any team. I think his personality helps us, it really does, because number one he's not afraid. You go out there as a freshman and you play against whoever you play against and you can't show any signs of fear, and that's what Hawk has done along with guys like Pe'Shon [Howard] and Terrell [Stoglin]. They've done a good job of that, of just going out there and playing. That's the first thing I think other players look at to see how you handle that pressure-type situation of the games. Hawk has done a good job in that area. I expect him to keep improving. He can get a lot stronger. The quickness of the game, not Hawk's quickness, but the quickness of the game, is something that takes a while. Every once in a while he'll get a pass deflected that I'm sure never happened before, things like that. As he gets a feel for that, because he is a player that knows that game pretty well, you can get around those things and find a way to get it done."

On Berend Weijs' role this season:
"He's great in practice because he can block shots. There are very few shot blockers in the game. He's going to be a contributor for us but he just needs some strength. Right now his biggest problem is if he gets bumped at all he'll walk. In other words that has to be corrected. But the stronger you get, the less that happens. But he'll have a great chance once the year's over. He'll get his six-month window there to really change. The best guy I ever had there was Chris Wilcox. He went from being an average player in college as a freshman to being the eighth player taken in the lottery as a sophomore. A lot of that was strength. He put on probably 15 pounds but it was muscle and he become a force, and he wasn't that force his freshman year."

On the maturation of Pe'Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin:
"I think playing point guard can be very difficult as a freshman. What Pe'Shon did on Saturday was he really got us into our sets by getting the ball where it had to be to get our play started, and doing a great job in transition of finding people that were open. If he can continue to do that down the stretch here, that will really help us. Terrell Stoglin, the other guy that's been playing a lot of point, he's a very good guard. He's got some second guard tendencies with him. In other words to look for that shot first. I want him to shoot because he's a good shooter. But once again your role as the point guard is to get other players involved early in the game. Pe'Shon came out and that was part of the reason for our early start against Wake Forest. We really came out well. I thought the ball really moved naturally starting with the point guard."