Feb. 4, 2012

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Postgame quotes following Maryland's 83-74 loss to No. 5 North Carolina Saturday afternoon at Comcast Center.

Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon

Opening statement:
"We played well again. [We] played with great hustle and great effort. We did a lot of things really well. [We] had a stretch in the second half where we couldn't get into anything. Pe'Shon [Howard] was on the bench. [We] just didn't look like we could get into anything, and when [Tyler] Zeller was out I thought we could've made a run. And then we made some mistakes defensively and couldn't rebound. I know I'm going to watch the tape and probably be disappointed in our effort on the glass [which] is something I'm on these guys about. It was the number one key of the game for us and second was transition. We did a great job in transition, but we didn't do a great job boxing out and rebounding and a lot of it is just [North Carolina's] length and size. There's a reason they were preseason number one in the country. They have really good players and I thought their best players stepped up. [John] Henson, [Harrison] Barnes and Zeller stepped up when the game was on the line and made all the plays."

On his team's struggles rebounding:
"It's really simple. I`ve never had more trouble getting a team to be more physical on box outs. We've worked on it, we talk about it, we work on it every day and some of it's going to be their length, but a lot it's going to be just us not competing on the glass when we need to compete. [If we] just could have gotten a couple rebounds in there it might have been a different outcome."

On the play of Alex Len as well as Berend Weijs:
"Alex was really good. I thought him and Berend in the first half changed the game. I thought they protected the rim great, and Alex was much more aggressive with the basketball. We did a good job. I thought our post defense for the most part was pretty good. I thought our transition was pretty good. But Alex played well. I'm proud of him. He's young and played against two really good players and held his own, so [there were] a lot of positives."

On containing North Carolina:
"I think it was a couple things. I think we really did a great job [defensively] and I thought they missed some open ones for us. But I've never in my coaching career sent three guys back when a shot goes up. We sent three guys back tonight and I thought our big guys did a great job of running back for the most part. [Kendall Marshall] is as good as I've ever seen. He's something else - 16 assists. He had six turnovers which is not his style. I like to think I can see things being a former point guard. He sees things coming on the break and he's really at another level."

Senior Guard Sean Mosley

On the loss: "We wanted to come out and be physical; on the defensive end try to box [North Carolina] out. They've got talent, they've got size and they have length. When we tried to limit them to one shot, they had a lot of offensive rebounds which may have cost us the game. We'll come in tomorrow and watch video to see what the case was, but they had a lot of second shots and that probably cost us the game."

On foul trouble: "We had a lot of guys in foul trouble in the second half probably at the 12-minute mark. It affected us a lot because we had Nick [Faust], [Terrell Stoglin] and Ashton [Pankey] playing well, and myself. We were all in foul trouble at the 12-minute mark. Our bench really stepped up tonight and took on the challenge and made some good plays down the stretch. We came up short again from getting that signature win, especially at home, which would have been a huge win for us."

On Alex Len: "I think he's starting to get the speed and the tempo of the game. In the ACC he's brand new here. He didn't expect this kind of tempo, and I think he's starting to make that adjustment. He's starting to mature and understand the speed and the tempo of the game. He's been great for us the last two games and hopefully he'll continue to get better each and every game, which I know he will. He definitely helped us out down inside."

Sophomore Guard Terrell Stoglin On scoring at the end of the game:
"Sean Mosley's been doing a pretty good job being a leader. He's been scoring pretty well, too. I feel like it's a team effort, everyone needs to step up."

On North Carolina's play:
"They started getting more offensive rebounds. They had more opportunities. We've got to limit that if we want to win. North Carolina is a great team; we can't give them more opportunities than we did. They won because of that."

On Maryland's play:
"The game plan was for everyone to play off each other. We know each other's strength and weaknesses. We just wanted to play our best game as a team. We did pretty well throughout the game. We've just got to finish."

On Alex Len:
"He showed that he can play. A lot of people kind of doubted him when we came into ACC play, but he played against some of the top big men in our conference. He did a great job and helped us out a lot today."

Junior Forward James Padgett

On Maryland's play:
"Boxing out [was our biggest challenge]. They got a lot of second chance points. I think that was the difference in the game boxing out. Their length helped them out. Even when we boxed them out, they could just tip it over our backs and get the ball back."

On North Carolina's play:
"They made plays. They made big plays when they needed it. They can execute. But the biggest thing was they made big plays in the clutch."

On Alex Len:
"I'm happy for Alex. His confidence is coming back. He started out strong and then had a downslope because he got into play pretty late. He's been up and down, but he's been productive lately. He's been helping out our team a lot, and I hope he continues to play well."

North Carolina Coach Roy Williams

Opening statement:
"We really felt good in the locker room, that was a good win and we hit some tough shots down the stretch. The other night we couldn't hit anything but we won the game because of our defense and rebounding. Tonight we made some shots down the stretch and at the same time I thought it was our best defensive game in the second half. Terrell [Stoglin] had 20 but I thought he had 50. He is really hard to guard; Reggie Bullock was really good. Reggie still couldn't stop him [Stoglin] because he is that good. It hurts to have Tyler [Zeller] and Kendall [Marshall] in foul trouble for that long. I took a chance with Kendall with eight minutes to play; I told him he had to be smart because we needed him in the game. When I put him after the TV timeout with 8 minutes left I didn't want the crowd to get back into it. I knew that Kendall could play intelligently enough to stay away from his fifth foul.

"Zeller was big inside for us scoring. In the first half our guys didn't get very low. Zeller was our only guy scoring. Down the stretch Harrison [Barnes] made some big shots for us. We got a couple of follow shots from some people, I think Reggie got one and P.J. [Hairston] did as well. It was good that we got some offense down the stretch. I think the biggest thing was that we really did a good job defensively. Looking at the stats they shot 38% in the second half, they did miss some open shots but I thought our defense did some good things. I am stunned that John [Henson] only had one blocked shot, I thought it was more than that."

On halftime adjustments:
"We just had to play better. We went small and that helped us. We went with Hairston as a four man and made it more difficult to guard him. At the same time it would have been really pretty if P.J. and Reggie hit some of their jump shots. When Zeller got his fourth foul it gave us an experienced guy in Hairston who could play defense. Don't give the coaching too much credit because the players still have to make shots."

On the offensive rebounds:
"In the first half I thought that [Maryland] were much more aggressive than we were. We looked tentative around the basket. We got several offensive rebounds in the first half but we didn't make any shots. Everyone was afraid that someone was going to block their shot. I thought the offensive rebounding was good for us. The second chance points were 18-12 for us and it always helps when you make free throws down the stretch."

On playing in a close game:
"Throughout the course of the season it always helps. We work on it in practice every other day doing last second situations. But nothing helps like seeing it in a game. Hairston sprained his ankle again in the game. I took him out and it looked like he was limping around out there on the defensive ends for a couple of possessions. I didn't tell him but I said to myself if I saw him limping around again on the defensive end I was going to take him out for good. Maybe he picked up my vibe because he stopped limping so I kept him in the game. I didn't want to take him out and let it stiffen up some more for him."

Sophomore Guard Kendall Marshall

On defending Terrell Stoglin:
"We knew Reggie [Bullock] would do a great job on him, but we couldn't get in Reggie's way. Stoglin, he's going to use a lot of ball screens so one thing we wanted to focus on as a team was making sure Reggie had a path to get through that. Reggie did a great job on him tonight; 8-21, I think we'll take that for their best player."

On playing in the second half with four fouls:
"It's a part of the game. There are always some calls that can go either way. That's all a part of the game; you have to be able to play through any circumstance. I have to pick and choose when to be aggressive. Obviously I still want to be aggressive rebounding the ball and getting by teammates involved. As far as defensively, I know I'm not going to be able to get up on guys if I want to finish the game."

On what the comeback means:
"It's big for us; I think it showed character. At Florida State, it was a small lead and we let it get away from us early in the second half. This time they got it up to eight or nine, but we were able to regroup and find a way to get it done."

Senior Forward Tyler Zeller

On how playing in a close game helps the team:
"I think it will help us a lot. Last year we had a lot of games like this but it shows that we can be tough enough in the end to make the plays and get the stops we need. There are a few things we want to fix down the stretch but it's nice to fix that now instead of in the NCAA Tournament when its life or death."

On Alex Len:
"I think he has the potential to be very good. He's a little raw right now, he goaltended a few shots being too aggressive, going for blocked shots, but I think he has the potential to be very good and I think in time as he gets older he will be."

North Carolina Junior Forward John Henson

On the game:
"It was a tough game. Maryland has always been tough on us. At home they feed off the crowd and Stoglin is a great scorer, and they held on down low. It was a tough game tonight coming to their house."

On his second half play:
"It was a mentality. I got one shot to go in the hole and I just fed off that. I'm glad to help the team out."