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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 21, 2011

Gary Williams

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Maryland Head Basketball Coach Gary Williams. Coach, a few comments about your team, and then we'll open it up for questions.
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, we had a very tough game with North Carolina State yesterday. And I thought both teams really competed well. And we were fortunate down the stretch to make our free throws and do a good job there.
Jordan Williams was very good inside for us. And Terrell Stoglin was good with the ball and creating some situations for him to score and for other people to get some shots. So it was a good combination for us.
And obviously going against Florida State with their size, it will be a very tough game for us here on Wednesday. It's a shame that Singleton's hurt, because he's a great player and I've always admired guys that give to the team what Singleton does.
And it's sorry to see a player like that, his senior year, not get the opportunity down the stretch here. But Florida State is still a very formidable basketball team.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Coach, I was wondering if you could speak to whether there's any concern from you or coaches that if you finish well in the ACC, because the league's RPI is down, that you won't get that much mileage out of it at NCAA selection time.
COACH WILLIAMS: You always want to get the most teams you can to the NCAA tournament from your league. Historically the ACC has been the best with all that.
This year most of the teams lost some games early on in November and December that hurt. And what I think there's a lot of young players in the league, and we did lose some games, but at the same time now I think some teams have gotten better. But I don't know if you get credit within the league for getting better because of the RPI or whatever that's looked at.
But if you look historically, this is a good league, and it is this year. There's teams playing very well right now. But I don't know how that will be looked at. Hopefully we'll get the teams that we deserve in there come selection Sunday.

Q. Is that a problem the way college basketball is scheduled, all the conference games are at the end. So if December and January, a young team doesn't maybe get it done right --
COACH WILLIAMS: I don't know how you handle that except maybe don't play anybody. And if we were 14-0 going into league play we'd be ranked. Why play those teams if that's the way it's going to be.
And I think you see some teams that play tough schedules and you see some teams that don't play tough schedules. So I always think that playing some good teams early helps you, gets you better for league play.
But we got hurt this year by losing to like Pittsburgh and Illinois, Villanova. And I don't know if you can get that back once you get into conference play.

Q. There's been some guys in the league that have had great freshmen years and not followed them up sometimes. Can you talk about Jordan Williams' play this year and what he's given your team?
COACH WILLIAMS: Jordan's especially early on, we had to go to him early, because of the players we lost last year. And he really came through for us.
Now, what he did, he worked really hard once the season was over last year. He got in better shape. He lost about 20 pounds.
And he's a better athlete this year than he was last year. And he's gotten some confidence into his game. Last year, with Vasquez, Erik Hayes and Landon Milbourne, he was just kind of a tag-along player. They would throw him the ball once in a while and he didn't have to do a whole lot out there to be important for us on the court.
This year he has to do a lot more, and he's accepted that challenge.

Q. Mike Krzyzewski last night was talking a little bit more about the Sunday night games and his distaste for them. And you've had to play a lot of those and a lot on the road. Can you talk about the challenges of that? Do you really have hope that that can improve in the future?
COACH WILLIAMS: I do, because Sunday is a tough game for players. If you can have Sunday off that means it's a complete off day for both players and coaches. Players don't have to go to class, don't have to go to study hall, they take the day off.
If it's Monday that's off, if you play Sunday and take Monday off, then you have classes. You have tutoring, and they don't get the rest that they would in a Sunday situation.
And then for the fans, the fans don't like Sunday games. They flat out don't like them because socially they can plan a pretty good social day around the Saturday game. But a Sunday game, most people have to go to work the next day. They have obligations on Sunday for a lot of people that they have to do. And it's just not the same. So I hope something can be worked out.

Q. Is it the idea you guys have had to do that on the road a lot, what's that been like for you guys trying to get back at pretty crazy hours?
COACH WILLIAMS: It's like playing a Wednesday game on the road. You get back at 2:30 in the morning, say, from a game in the state of North Carolina. Later than that if it's Clemson or Florida, places like that.
So it's really tough on the players. And we all say we're in the best interests of the student-athletes. Well, here's a situation that's really tough on the student-athletes. And a lot of times Monday is your biggest day of class, especially if you have three or four classes that day.
And you really have to work hard not to struggle coming back for that Monday academic situation.

Q. Terrell Stoglin has obviously been a productive player/freshman all year. But last week, seems like he's taken his game to another level. Is that true? And is it just he's making shots or has something changed?
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, I think he's like all good freshmen in that he's starting to figure some things out. He's gotten a chance to play, which for any freshman I think really helps knowing that he's going to be out there. He doesn't have to worry. Am I going to get my minutes or whatever.
And he has seen ways to score now. He's really a combo guard. He's only about six foot, 6'1", but he's basically a combo guard. And I've been trying to get him to look more at the game more as a point guard because that's what we need this year.
But he has scoring ability. That's what attracted us to him in his high school career, that he was a scorer. So he's continued to do that. He's had 25 his last two games against Virginia Tech and NC State.
At the same time, he's gotten us into the offense. And we're still about getting the ball inside. And he did a good job for that, with that on yesterday, in addition to his scoring.

Q. And even though Pe'Shon Howard didn't have the great game yesterday, he's been a pretty consistent contributor, too, right? Talk about his development.
COACH WILLIAMS: He's been very good. He's an excellent defensive player to go along with that. He's very strong. He's only about 6'1", 6'2". But he's got the strength to be a good defensive guard. And he did that for us yesterday. He didn't have a big offensive game but he was pretty good on the defensive end of the court.

Q. To continue along that line of questioning, the last four games Stoglin and Howard, combined average almost 30 points a game, almost 11 assists. Five years ago you started Vasquez and Hayes, another combination of freshmen guards. In which way are they similar, in which way are they different?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think both situations were out of necessity. We lost guards both of those years in both of those situations. Obviously Hayes and Vasquez were bigger. These guys are quicker.
Erik Hayes' case, his freshman year, he was a pure shooter coming in here. Solid ball handler. Not spectacular. Stoglin can be spectacular. Sometimes he makes mistakes, maybe more mistakes than Hayes will. Different types of players.
Vasquez, there was no -- he had to play in the back court for us. He had to handle the ball some. So that really helped him his freshman year develop his point guard skills.
But both Pe'Shon and Terrell think of themselves as point guards coming in. So it gives us two pretty good ball handlers on the court at the same time with Terrell and Pe'Shon out there. But we are a little small. And their toughness and quickness hopefully can overcome that.

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