Mark Turgeon 

Opening Statement:

 "Obviously not the way we wanted to finish the second half, the last 12 minutes or so. I think we got to 58-36 and then couldn't score around the rim, missed a couple free throws and we let the offense affect our defense. We stopped guarding No. 5… [Eric] Carter was terrific for them. They played through him, it was tough. They made some shots, they got confident, and then we just couldn't make a shot against the zone. We were 2-for-19, I think we missed our last 15 or 16 threes in the game. And that's tough against a zone - when you're not making shots. I do think we tried to play inside-out against the zone. We tried to play the right way, I've got to watch the film. Thought Delaware was great. I thought they were inspired. And I told our team after the game that two years ago, Anthony [Cowan Jr.] was a freshman. We played an American team here, we should've lost. This game I never felt like we were going to lose. I always felt like we were in control. It was just disappointing that we couldn't hit a jumper or get a stop. That team ended up starting 20-2. I'm not saying that we're starting 20-2, but this young team is going to get better… and get better quickly. Would we all liked to have won that game by 24 or 26? It'd have been a lot easier for me. I probably would have slept better tonight, but I think we got more out of it because we had to coach and do some things late. I think Eric Ayala made a couple big time plays for us late, and then defensively we had to have stops. Of course Stix [Jalen Smith] stepped up and was terrific - a double-double in his first college game."

On if he's concerned with Bruno Fernando getting in foul trouble and how helpful it is having Jalen Smith in that situation:

"Well, it's nice. I feel bad for Bruno because I think Bruno was having a terrific game. There were some gimmicks going on out there on a couple of his fouls, which were disappointing. I think Bruno… it's funny, I might've jinxed him, because I felt like he was really defending well, much better than he defended last year at any point. And they had such great shooters around, it was hard to double, hard to do different things against that post guy. Felt bad for Bruno because he was terrific, his energy was great, his leadership was great. For him to get in foul trouble is disappointing. Stix went in there - his first game - and made some big plays late, of course got the blocks. He blocked one and kept it in bounds and rebounded it. That's a really good sign for us."

On Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins:

"I played guys too much tonight. Darryl was in foul trouble a lot in this game. They were small which made it hard for us to play a bigger lineup. I thought Aaron was good. I think at the end he's got to step up and shoot it, that's what he's out there for. But I thought defensively he was really good. The film will show that too. Ayala's a winner. He's got toughness. He made big plays late. He had the one turnover - went a little bit too deep. We've been really working on a lot of things and tonight, maybe it's the first game jitters or whatever, we did some things uncharacteristic of this team. And the way we've practiced, the way we've played in all our three games in Italy and two games here. They were both good. Our bench has got to be a little bit deeper than it was tonight. Hopefully that'll happen as we move forward."

On the balance on offense:

"They zoned us for the last 15 minutes, so we tried to get it inside. We shot too many threes early. We had nine of our first 16 shots were threes. We talked about them, the last 12 minutes of the first half we only had two more threes. Our balance was better there, and that's what the defense was kind of giving us in the second half, we just couldn't make any. If we made six or seven you wouldn't be asking that question. We just didn't make any tonight."

On if there was an intent to get Darry Morsell open for three on the first play of the game:

"They doubled the post and Bruno made a great pass out. We haven't really worked against the double a lot. We just started. It was nice to see. I liked that. I didn't like his second shot as much on the break. No, it was good. We need Darryl to just be a little more consistent. That'll help us. I'm not talking about the jump shot, just the all-around game. He's a veteran. First game of his sophomore year and he's a veteran on this team. We're extremely young."

On Jalen Smith and the other freshmen's performance:

"Yeah, Jalen's a good player. Got a lot of things around the rim because of Eric Ayala. I thought defensively he did a good job on that, used his length on Carter there. And he rebounded well. He's practiced a lot more at the four because he's been in with Bruno a lot. Today he had to play a lot more five because I didn't feel like beyond Stix we could guard that big kid one-on-one. He was good. Ayala was good down the stretch. All in all, I think I'll go through the film and be happy with the young guys that got to play a lot. That was a lot on their plate. They have some transfers and older guys. I think there was one fifth year guy, so my guys were in eighth grade when that kid was starting college. We're awful young out there."

On Anthony Cowan Jr. playing off the ball:

 "I'm going to quit bragging about Anthony. I've been bragging about Anthony and I jinxed him. Anthony's fine. He practices off the ball, he practices on the ball. Just never got himself going tonight. He's probably disappointed the way he played. I'm not worried. That's the least of my worries - Anthony Cowan. Kid's a hell of a player."

On Bruno Fernando's leadership:

 "Yeah, wasn't that great? He was actually helping coach, which is great. He saw things and one time I was going to sub him in for Stix and he's like, 'Well Stix is really playing well, just let him play through the timeout… why don't we run this play for Stix because they went small,' and we were able to take advantage of it. I just thought his leadership when he was sitting on the bench after he fouled out was great. Last year he might've pouted a bit. His leadership was terrific. He was great after the game in there. He's come a long way. Hate that he got in foul trouble because he was on his way to a big night, I think."

Freshman Guard Eric Ayala

On what the difference was down the stretch:

"We just went through a little drought, a scoreless drought. We kind of struggled to score points so they got a little run...I think all of our mistakes were stuff that can be fixed in practice, just making shots, patching and catching stuff like that. Tonight was just simple stuff. But we won a close game, so we got a lot of character out of tonight. We figured out some identity stuff that we needed to figure out and change."

On going against the zone:

"It wasn't anything we haven't seen before. We practice against the zone every day. It wasn't anything new. We just have to execute our plays and be willing to shoot the ball better. I think we went 2-20 from the three, so just shooting the ball better. If we made some threes that would have opened lanes and driving lanes for the zone stuff."

On what specifically identity wise they think they got out of tonight:

"That we can win close games and that we have a lot of talent, but we still have a lot more work to do. Coming into this game we won some scrimmages and stuff but we knew we had a lot of talent. Now we know we have some more work to do in terms of our end goal and where we want to be at the end of the season."

On what he saw from Freshman Jalen Smith, himself and other freshman:

"Freshman mistakes. Catching the ball, passing the ball, just first game jitters. We have a lot of freshmen and we're forced to play right away. At the end of the game me, Aaron and Jalen were out there -- three freshmen out there in the final minutes of a college game, our first game of our career. So it's all simple stuff and I think we all played pretty well as freshmen. We held our own and we're going to get better. This is just our first game. I'd rather walk out of there 1-0 then 0-1."

 

Sophomore Forward Bruno Fernando

On watching the last few minutes of the game:

"It was pretty frustrating for me to not be out there on the court, but at the end of the day I have to control the things I am able to control. I am proud of my teammates they stepped up and we got a win, that's all that matters."

On Jalen Smith stepping up in his absence:

"He was great for us. Those kind of things that we expect from him. By being with him everyday at practice and seeing him doing those things over and over I expected him to do it in the game. I wasn't surprised by anything he did, I knew he was going to step up anytime in the game. Like I said it was great for him to do the things he did to help us win and I proud of every single one of my teammates."

On the biggest takeaway for him and the team this evening:

"We got to keep getting better. Like I said to the coach and the team from now on everything counts; our energy, effort, body language and mindset -- everything counts. We have to come in to every practice and approach it like it was a game."

 

Freshman Forward Jalen Smith

On what it was like to step up defensively and become the rim protector after Bruno fouled out:

"It was a big...just focusing on my defense rather than my offense because I knew since I was the only big in the game I had to be the enforcer on the defensive end."

On what he thinks the difference was in the first 25 minutes versus the last 15 minutes, besides them switching to zone:

"Well we weren't really hitting shots today, and that was probably just us and mechanics were wrong. We were trying to find holes in it and get the ball to the post and maybe pass it back out for a three."

On what the opening couple of minutes were like for him:

"It was very nerve wracking. A lot of butterflies, but the seniors on the team they helped calm me down and helped to get me focused."

On the block that with :57 seconds left to play:

"My man...he moved out of the lane and I knew I had to protect it because he was going to have a wide open driving lane, so I just jumped up and happened to get it."

On if the nerves jump up at the end of the game when he is in a first-time situation trying to protect a small lead that was once a big lead:

"Shockingly no, I would pretty much say my mood stepped up because I was more focused. We only had 26 seconds left on the clock to get a stop."

On if he would have predicted a double-double for himself in his first college game:

"No, I was just playing a role my team needed me in. If they needed me on the defensive end or the offensive end I was just there and doing what my coach said to do."

-Terps-