Postgame quotes after Maryland's 77-63 win over Stony Brook.
Maryland Head Coach Mark Turgeon
Opening statement:
“I was proud of our group tonight. I thought we did some nice things defensively. Once again, we didn't rebound. That's a disappointment. They are a hard team to guard, they space you around and do a lot of other stuff and do some tricky things. I thought we guarded them pretty well. [Michal Cekovsky) got us going, getting out on the break. We shot the ball better than we've shot all year. We shot less threes than we have all year. We played more inside-out offensively than we have all year because of Cekovsky. We did a lot of nice things. We fouled a lot. We can't get separation or get in the flow of the game like we want to when you foul as much as we're fouling. So we have to figure out a way to rebound better and play without fouling.”
On Michal Cekovsky:
“He looked fresh physically and mentally. That was on one day of practice. He hadn't practiced for two weeks after he sprained his foot. He practiced yesterday and it wasn't really a hard practice. He's been doing a lot of running, a lot of weight lifting and a lot of lower leg stuff. I was really encouraged. He finished plays around the rim, when he had an angle he was good. Defensively, he's going to play so much better than he played tonight, he's one of our better defenders and gives us another rim protector when we get Damonte [Dodd] back.”
On Michal Cekovsky showing new confidence:
“He is more confident and he thinks it is his time. He's unbelievably frustrated since he's been hurt since August 29th. He's practiced maybe 10 times since he got hurt so it's good to see him to play like that. He's paid his dues and waited for his turn and he knows it's his time so he is much more confident. We'll see if he can stay healthy. That's the big thing that's been tough for him.”
On Dion Wiley:
“It was great to see him out there. Dion was really working hard before he got sick. We did some extra shooting sessions. I personally worked with him and spent a lot of time with him. I was just hoping he didn't have the stomach flu. I think he played at a really good pace offensively tonight. Obviously, defensively he was in foul trouble and kept fouling and didn't play as much as I would have liked to play him. Dion is a starter in my mind that's not starting. Doesn't mean he might not start as the year goes on, doesn't mean he might ever start, I don't know, we'll see, but he's that kind of player for us. He took good shoots.”
On the contribution from the bench:
“It's huge for us. We have four games this week so it's big for us. I think we're very deep and it'll be nice to get a practice in with our whole team. We haven't had a practice with our whole team this year. We are a deep team and we haven't been. What a deep team allows me to do is if guys aren't boxing out or playing hard, we can just take him out and put someone else in. This is the first time I've been able to do that all year.”
On the freshmen players:
“We've been doing a ton of film work. We did a lot of film work with Anthony [Cowen] about just running the team and defending and I thought he tried to do that tonight. He didn't settle for jump shots, he drove more tonight. Kevin [Huerter] is just a complete player. It's nice that our freshmen didn't have to carry the load tonight. It's hard at that young age to have to do that every night so I was happy that they didn't have to.”
Maryland Junior Forward Michal Cekovsky
On Mark Turgeon mentioning it was “his time”:
“I just focus on every game; I worked hard during the summer, so I was really excited to be back and play.”
Maryland Junior Guard Melo Trimble:
On fouls holding him back defensively:
“I didn't realize we fouled so much, but these past couple of games we have been fouling a lot. That's just something we have to get better at.”
On Michal Cekovsky:
“He's been through a lot. He was barely able to play with us in preseason. For him to come back and play the way he did today was very special and shows that he has a lot of confidence. He's just excited to be out there with us.”
Maryland Redshirt Sophomore Guard Dion Wiley
How he feels physically and about his shot:
“Not making shots had really put me down a little bit. I built my confidence up tonight by making some more shots.”
On the importance of the depth on the team:
“I think it's really important for us to get going. The young guys and this team are going to need us to get going in order for us to make it far in the tournament and for us to be a top-25 team.”
Stony Brook Head Coach Jeff Boals
On overall impressions of the game:
"I thought we battled and competed. There were stretches in the game where we lost our minds a bit and they made a run and made us pay for it. If you asked me what our strength was at the beginning of the year it would have been shooting the basketball. We go 3-of-24 with great looks and if we hit four or five more it is a completely different game. I really like Maryland's team, they have a mix of experience and youth. I really like the three freshman and they have gotten better since game one. They are going to be really good at the end of the year.”
On whether the gameplay changed when the big men got in foul trouble:
“Not really. I thought we did a good job. They're length and size are big factors inside and we did a good job throwing the ball in there and getting them in foul trouble with our ball screen actions. Those guys are like trees in there.”
On Melo Trimble as a player:
“I've seen him now for three years and I love his game and his demeanor. When he gets to the foul line like that he is hard to guard and especially when he starts hitting shots consistently. He is a heck of a player.”
