Wake Forest Athletics
Post-Game Quotes - Maryland 74, Wake Forest 55
1/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2011
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Wake Forest Head Coach Jeff Bzdelik
Opening statement...
"Defensively, I thought we played a lot better. They (Maryland) shot 38 percent for the game but they had 24 points off turnovers which the majority of those were lay-ups. So when you think about what they were shooting in the half court defense, we were better in that respect. Offensively, we just fumbled it and weren't strong enough to finish around the rim. We had opportunities but when we drive the ball, we still take tough lay-ups because we just don't make good decisions. That obviously would help our offense a lot. We started the second half with some nice looks but we just couldn't convert. There's positive growth. Not as much or as quick as we would like but we're slowly getting there. We played well for a good portion of the game but there's a good portion of the game that we didn't. At this level, if you just have a few minutes of bad basketball, it's going to cost you. That's where we are right now."
On some of the positives from the game...
"Defensively, like I said they shot 38 percent from the floor and 27 percent from the three-point arc. Yet we gave them 24 points off turnovers. At the half, we were up on them on the glass. Coming off the NC State game, that's a step in the right direction. Carson (Desrosiers) did some really nice things out there for a freshman. He finished with seven blocks and nine rebounds. Travis (McKie) had another double-double. The fact that we battled-back even when we're behind shows their character in a positive way. In order for us to win, everybody needs to be hitting on all cylinders. At times we are and other times, we sputtered."
On what was wrong during Maryland's key second-half run...
"First of all, I think we had some bad turnovers that allowed them some spurts. We then took some quick shots as well. We had some opportunities around the rim that I think we just weren't quite strong enough to finish. That's going to come in time. You look at a young man like Jordan Williams. Last year, he averaged nine points a game. This year he's averaging 18 points a game. You look at young men like Carson (Desrosiers) and Travis (McKie). Carson has nine rebounds and seven blocks. Think of him in a year after he's been in the weight room for a year. So there's a lot of positives. I'm going to keep coaching them, keep teaching them, disciplining them, mentoring them and keep battling."
Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams
On the play of Jordan Williams...
"He did a good job with the ball. We only had 11 turnovers with 18 assists. We had to do that this year, and we have to be that type of team that makes the extra pass for an easy shot. Overall, I thought we did a good job of not putting them (Wake Forest) on the line too much. They are a great foul shooting team, and we knew that coming in. Those are the things that helped us get the win."
On the unsettled play by the Terrapins early in the first half...
"You never like it, but I kind of sensed that would be the way we would be tonight. So, we had to gradually get better, and it was one of those games where we did. That really helped us. We have to do a better job on the glass. We didn't rebound well in the first half. Things got better in the second half, but sometimes you just have to play your way through things. You have to fight until you get there."
On Maryland's defensive improvements over the past two games...
"We were fortunate to have some time over the two week stretch where we played three games. We could focus on us rather than now where we are just getting ready for the next game in practice. The players are good guys. In other words, you can't play good defense unless players are willing to sacrifice because you don't give a lot of credit. Nobody see's someone help off the ball. We've got people that are willing to do that, and it was just a matter of figuring that out. It has to become that important to you to do that, and some teams get it and some teams don't. Our guys are getting there defensively now."
On the defense of Wake Forest on Jordan Williams in the first half...
"They (Wake Forest) did a good job. I thought Jordan had some shots that he normally makes. If he makes three more lay-ups, all the sudden he has a great game. He missed some shots. He's been so good, and we've been riding him pretty hard already this year, so it's nice to see other people step up when the ball wasn't going in. But, he got to the free throw line, and thankfully he made his free throws, and he looked good shooting them."
On the play of Cliff Tucker coming off the bench...
"Well he knows he's playing well. When people look at players, they look at who starts, but basketball people look at who plays well. Cliff is really playing well, and tonight he was really big coming off the bench for us. He's not starting the game, but in my mind he's a starter. Don't be surprised if he starts somewhere along the way this year. I think he's underrated in his quickness because he's very quick in the open court. People think they have an angle on him in transition and all of the sudden he's up there shooting a lay-up. He's very valuable to us this year, and whatever it takes, Cliff is willing to give us that."
On Maryland's shot selections against Wake Forest's zone defense...
"I thought we did okay. We just played against Duke's man-to-man (defense) where you really have to work to make passes, and all of a sudden there's a match-up zone. There's a tendency to slow down your offense because you don't have to work to make a pass, and that got us early. We started to get into the rhythm of our zone rather than play at our pace. We got out of it finally in the second half."
