Quotes: Maryland 76, Jackson State 45
11/20/2017 11:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening Statement:
“Happy with the win tonight. In the last seven or eight minutes of the first half as well as the second half we really played well. We did some good things. We played a lot of guys and a lot of guys played well. I think some guys are starting to get into a groove. It was good to see Jared Nickens play well, get some shots, get some playing time. Ivan Bender the same things. I thought Ivan was terrific and Bruno was really good tonight.”
On the patience of Bruno's post game:
“He has come a long way in five games. He missed two or three weeks of very important practice time. For him to be doing what he's doing is pretty amazing. He is showing great patience and great confidence on the low block. Defensively he has been off the charts. He's covering a lot of ground and playing shots. He rebounded better tonight so he's coming on fast and really playing well. Some of those blocks tonight were amazing.”
On if Justin was more assertive tonight:
“He made a few threes tonight, which was good. He is feeling more confident, which is important and I thought he really tried to guard tonight. He continues to rebound. Eight defensive rebounds in twenty-four minutes is terrific.”
On the play of Kevin Huerter tonight:
“I thought he was really good. We had to play him at point guard a little bit in the second half. That pass he made left handed, cross-court to Justin for three. We take it for granted because he does it every day in practice, but that was spectacular. We are a lot better when Kevin plays like that.”
On the play of Anthony Cowan Jr. tonight:
“I thought he was really unselfish tonight. Anthony has matured and if he doesn't shoot the ball well he defends and has a great floor game. We are just a different team than we were at this time last year.”
On if there was an effort to get the ball inside more in the second half:
“When we went into halftime, we talked about how to attack the zone a little better. I told the team after the game that since they played zone against us, it would help us a lot moving forward. We hadn't seen a lot of zone this year and we saw a 3-2, 2-3 and a half court trap, which will help us.”
On his play in the post:
“I've been working on it a lot with my coaches. One of the key things that they've always told me is to be patient, let the game come to me instead of trying to force anything. So the only thing that I just do is try to be patient and get the ball and make whatever move I can.”
On Darryl Morsell's injury:
“Yeah I talked to him. I think he got a minor hamstring. I talked to him on the bench, he says he's OK, nothing bad. Hopefully he's going to back for the next game.”
On rebounding in the second half:
“I don't think we were really being like ourselves in the first half. We were kind of like… like I said, we had a slow start again. But in the second half and in halftime, in the locker room, we talked and in the second half we came out better.”
On playing point guard:
“It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I've played point guard in a while. Coach Turgeon said to me at about the 16-minute mark, when Darryl… whenever he went down – he just said, 'You're going to have to run some point.' I was like, 'I'm ready coach.' So that was a lot of fun. But when we're out there, I think it doesn't really matter what positions, everyone is moving the ball anyway.”
On the team's focus on staying healthy:
“That's a big focus. We've had a lot of people hurt over the last couple years. When you see a guy come up limping, I think anyone would worry about him right away. I didn't know if it was a cramp or something more. But right now, he's in good spirits, I think he'll be all right for us.”
On if there was a focus on three-point shots:
“That's what they were giving us. They were playing a defense that we really haven't seen before, and the three ball just happened to be open. And we were making shots.”
On how playing different defenses helps the team:
“It just helps us be prepared for anything that's thrown at us. I don't want to look over a couple games but we've got Syracuse within the next few days, so that zone kind of got us ready. But we still have got to focus on the first two games before that. And like I said, just getting guys prepared to see any type of defense.”
On “getting into a groove” without getting consistent play time:
“I wouldn't say it's hard. It just comes with the plan that we have for the team… and just extra work on the off days. Just always have got to do more and just stay ready.”
-Terps-
