COLLEGE PARK, Md. --

Head Coach Mark Turgeon  
Opening Statement:
 "I thought the moment of silence before the game was pretty cool. I miss Johnny Mac [John McNamara], I know you guys do too, and all the victims that passed away, so I'm glad that we recognized them tonight. It was good to see Mike Locksley back - I got to know Mike really well while he was here as an assistant coach. Happy for him. He's got a great opportunity. It's a nice win for us tonight.

We weren't mentally into it, as you guys could tell by our defense. But we had three good stretches. We started the game pretty well defensively, right before the half we were good, and then we were really good for about that seven minute stretch where I think we scored 30 points and we just stepped it up, played the way we're capable of playing. Ten years ago, this would've killed me, a game like this. It's been a tough stretch, a lot on our plate, no Darryl Morsell. We did a lot of really good things, six guys in double figures, out-rebounded them by 14, shot well from the foul line, we only had eight turnovers. We did a lot of positives in this game tonight."

On getting more production from Jalen Smith:
"I think he was more aggressive. We called more plays for him. To be honest with you, I didn't think they were guarding him on the perimeter - they were basically not trying to guard him. So we were going to give Stix the shots and he made a few… passed up a couple I thought he should've taken, because he's a really good shooter. But I think he was just more aggressive, we sat down on Monday and talked, said we need more out of him. And he gave it to us tonight. I think it helped. I thought defensively… let me tell you something. That Princeton offense is hard to guard, especially when you've never seen it. I told the guys at halftime I thought we were guarding pretty well. It's hard as a young man - a freshman - seeing it for the first time to guard it. Defensively, even though we weren't great, weren't into it all the time, our young guys did a pretty good job guarding it. Stix I thought did a good job guarding against their stuff."

On the team's confidence taking deep shots:
"I think we're going to make everyone (smiles). I get mad when we miss them. I see the guys every day shoot it. Obviously Serrel [Smith Jr.] gave us big buckets the first half, [Aaron] Wiggins was 3-7, then Anthony [Cowan Jr.] really got it going in the second half, which was good to see. We've got good shooters. We've got a good shooting team. Doesn't surprise me. Don't sleep on Eric Ayala tonight. He was really good - seven assists, six rebounds, played good defense, then he took care of the ball. Shooting is going to come and go. We missed about nine layups tonight. Probably shot it better from three than we did layups. That was more concentration, but I expect our guys to make shots."
 
On Serrel Smith Jr.'s last few games:
"I think he's playing with more confidence. Serrel has really gotten better defensively, we have confidence in him defensively. In his offensive game, he's getting more comfortable within our system when he can score. It's good to see. I wish the second half would've started better so he could've played more, because I think he could've had 16 or 18 points tonight, but the second half didn't really have any rhythm for us at all because we decided we weren't going to play for the first 10 minutes, then we kind of got into it which hurt him. I'm happy with Serrel's growth. I thought Aaron Wiggins defensively was really good tonight too, so we've got a lot of young guys playing and just getting a little bit better."

On the 19-point run:
"I was kind of begging them. One of our keys to the game was to play Maryland basketball. Don't play the level of our competition, and we didn't do it except during that stretch. I think they just got fed up with each other and the way they were playing and they just turned it on. And then our defense… they made a lot of shots in a row. They made eight out of 10 threes in the second half I think until the very end. Bruno [Fernando] and Stix protected the rim, we rebounded, we got out and ran. It was just our guys saying that enough is enough and we started guarding."

On the next 10 days and the development of players:
"We're in finals, it makes it a little bit tougher. We'll take the next two days off because finals start tomorrow. We'll go short Friday and Saturday. Then we'll have four days next week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday - to try to get ready for Seton Hall but also to get ready for the rest of the season. It's tough, because then you go on Christmas break, you come back and you don't have a lot of time. It's important. I thought last year, we really improved during that stretch. Then we came back and we had two injuries - Justin [Jackson] went down, Ivan [Bender] went down. But during that stretch, that team really got a lot better. If this team can improve as much as that one did and stay healthy, then we'll be heading in the right direction."

On how Jalen Smith had a bounce-back performance tonight:
"Jalen's very confident in himself. I'm just trying to get him to be mature every time, with practice and everything. But he's a fun guy, that's part of it. He's very confident. It maybe just took me to sit down with him and say, 'Hey man, you've got to be more aggressive. We need you to get where we want to be by the end of the year.' And maybe that's all it took, and he was more aggressive."

Junior Guard Anthony Cowan Jr.
On transition game and getting open shots:
"Yeah, I think we really defended well. Got us into the transition, finally found each other for threes…this game we were able to knock them down."  

On Loyola's comeback efforts in the second:
"We just weren't locked in, every time we would go on a run, we just kind of let up and let go a little bit. Which we can't do. That was his message to just stay locked in."

On Serrel Smith Jr. in tonight's game:
"Yeah, that's what Serrel does – he's a scorer. I think he gave us a big boost off the bench today."
 
Freshman Guard Serrell Smith Jr.
On expanded role and Darryl Morsell absence in tonight's game:
"He didn't say anything. I was just ready when my number was called."

On plans for two weeks stretch without a game:  
"Stay in the gym, get up shots, stay in shape, don't just sit around the house. Be in the gym a lot."

On defensive growth:
"I know in high school I didn't really play a lot of defense, so when I get on campus that was the first thing, I told myself I am going to lock in on. Just focus on my defense, it's going to help keep me on the court."

On how his confidence:
"I just stayed locked in, I knew my time was going to come it was just a matter of time. It feels amazing."
 
Freshman Forward Jalen Smith
On foul trouble and pressure in Saturday's game:
"I think it was both. Pretty much playing back home first-time experience again. Then it was the fouls probably just took my head out of the game mentally, because I didn't want to do anything to keep getting me in foul trouble. It was just basically maturity and me refocusing."

On plans for two weeks stretch without a game:
"I pretty much want to work on my ball handling and my outside shooting. I have not been shooting as well, but it is starting to come back a little bit, a little at a time. Pretty much I am mainly focusing on my ball handling, just being able to take people off the dribble and open up opportunities for my team."

On shooting confidence in tonight's game:
"Pretty much every time I make a shot it just builds my confidence. It goes through my head saying you can do it and if you see an open shot shoot it if not pass it."

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