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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 31, 2011

Gary Williams

THE MODERATOR: We have with us Maryland head basketball coach, Gary Williams. Coach, if you could make a few comments about your team and we'll open it for questions.
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, we have been in a tough stretch schedule-wise, but managed to get through it okay, so hopefully we can get some rest in the next couple of days as we get ready to play. It should be a very interesting game. There's been some great games in this series the last ten years or so, and hopefully this is another one Wednesday night.

Q. What is it about the league -- at this point in the season?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think it's the closeness to the league. In other words, you can't count on certain things like an early season -- a player getting hurt, you can't forecast that.
I think teams have played those back to the level people thought they would be at this point in the season. I think Carolina is on that a little bit. When you look at teams that have injuries that have really affected their outcome, I think it's a little different year in the ACC due to the youth in the league, and then some of the injuries that have happened to some of the teams.
I think it's opened in terms of real teams haven't really established themselves for the first six or seven games, and the next seven or games -- the ACC Tournament is going to be very important to postseason play for the NCAA Tournament this year.

Q. That was one of the things -- do you think it's more likely the changes that could happen this year, that almost will happen anyway?
COACH WILLIAMS: I just think there's teams that have shown good play on given games, but maybe not on a consistent basis. So teams that get consistent the last four weeks of the season I think are going to be, you know, not only for the regular season going into the tournament, will have the best chance to go forward.
And nobody besides, say, Duke or whatever, nobody has really proven that they can do that yet and that's what people are waiting to see, like who is going to really go on a roll here the last month of the season.

Q. Going into the Tech game, you guys were in the Top-10 in the country in field goal percentage defense, Georgia Tech shoots less than 40 percent in the game last night. Tell everybody about the team and their ability to get after it on the defensive end of the floor.
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, thanks. We have -- this year, every year, the team, we lost three really good offensive players and guys that knew how to play defense because they were seniors from last year's team. I think we have to be able to play better defense this year because we might not have so much firepower as we did last year. We have been able to do that.
I think the effort of the players has been really good, and we kind of hang our hat on that. We have to be a good defensive team. So that's what we look at when we are getting ready to play, and the players are into it, so hopefully we can do that. That's something that has to be there in practice. You can't just go into a game and think that you can turn that defensive play; so we are asking a lot of our players this year in practice to really get after it.

Q. Mychael Parker, the highest recruit of the recruiting class of 2010 has not really played much as freshmen, what has the learning process been like for this young man the first year in the program?
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, it's been difficult for him. He went to a couple of different schools and a couple different teams in the summertime the last couple of years, and never really ran a consistent offense and wasn't asked to do a whole lot on the defensive end of the court.
As you said, Mychael is a very talented player and I expect him to be a good player here, getting better and practice, and you never know down the stretch here with an injury or two or foul problems; but Mychael is betting better.

Q. You're averaging 34 minutes a game in ACC games. Do you see that Jordan Williams can maintain that -- or can you tell that he's able to handle that without fatigue pretty much?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think he can this year. He wouldn't have been able to do that last year, but that's part of the maturing process. He's got to move a little quicker and with his weight -- you see guys in our league averaging 38, 39 minutes a game. I think Jordan can play 35 minutes a game.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your road record. You won again on the road last night and you guys are 3-1 on the road this year and I think you once won nine in a row. Why the success on the road, and is it just a small sample, that you've been better on the road this year?
COACH WILLIAMS: Really don't know. The home record, you're supposed to win at home and we have lost two at home. But we try to play the same way when we go on the road, do what we do at home; in other words, we don't change a lot of things. If we feel like we should press a particular game, we are going to press whether we are playing at home or on the road and we try to be as aggressive as possible offensively.
But really, we just don't try to change anything. We just try to play and it's easier said than done, but last year we were very strong and this year, our guys have come through when we have been on the road, we've been able to play pretty well, also. Hopefully it will continue.

Q. Last year was obviously a veteran team and veteran teams can handle the road, but you're playing with freshmen in your backcourt and a sophomore as your go-to guy; is it more surprising that you can succeed on the road this year?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think our seniors have to help us. Last night Dino Gregory had a very solid game for us, for example. We have had Cliff Tucker and Adrian Bowie, for example, who played very well. They are still there. We still have some seniors, and you know, they -- if we are going to win on the road, they are going to have to lead the way and they have done a pretty good job for us.
But our freshmen are two little guys -- our tough guys, in other words, they make some mistakes, but you know, they want the ball on the free throw line in close games, and they are going to get it on the road and they have done a good job for us.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks for taking time for being with us today and we'll hear from you the same time next week.

End of FastScripts

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