NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - WEST VIRGINIA VS MARYLAND

March 16, 2023

Donta Scott

Julian Reese

Hakim Hart

Legacy Arena

Maryland Terrapins

Media Conference

Maryland - 67, West Virginia - 65

THE MODERATOR: We are going to go ahead and take questions for the players. Please raise your hand and we'll get you a mic.

Q. Donta, just in terms of that start, not getting much going offensively early on. How did you endure that? What was said in the huddle there?

DONTA SCOTT: I just told me team just keep fighting. You get down, you don't want to get down on yourselves. At that time it's battle time. Time to lock in. Do some of the thing that you probably weren't doing before, 50-50 ones. Losing those battles. Just get after it. My team had my back, and they just grinded with me, and stuck it out and had that toughness in them. And just battled.

Q. Julian, when Bell fouled out of the game about midway through the second half did you feel like there was a shift in maybe trying to get you the ball more?

JULIAN REESE: Definitely. I had a smaller guy on me. Bell was such a force down low, and I felt like we took advantage of that well in the second half.

Q. Julian, can you describe how you felt coming into this game, your first NCAA Tournament game? Rocky start for Maryland. But obviously, you put on a show in the second half. How did your feelings evolve over the course of the game?

JULIAN REESE: Came out. Everybody has butterflies in their stomach coming out first game. Especially against such a physical team that we're not used to from a different conference. I feel like watching the film and after the first half we adjusted well, and I adjusted well, and I feel like I was able to elevate my game and elevated my teams. Doing things off the ball like passing, screening, rebounding. Doing the things that help us get the win.

Q. Congratulations on the win, guys. What does it mean for you guys to move on to Saturday after playing a really tough West Virginia team?

HAKIM HART: It means a lot to move on. Because this is what you work for since the summer began. Just take it one game at a time.

Q. Hakim, you guys have had plenty of slow starts where you crawled back to take the lead and then just ran out of gas towards the end. To actually finish the job in the biggest game of the year, what does it say about the teams character and resilience?

HAKIM HART: It says a lot about or character to me. It shows we're going to keep continuing to fighting. No matter the outcome could be. Just keep continuing to keep fighting.

Q. How were you able to come back in the first half to make it a game again, and then you guys pull out the win?

JULIAN REESE: I feel like we came into the game knowing they were a physical team but the start of the team we underestimated their physicality. They were able to push us off our plays and not letting us to run our offense. As the game went on, Coach made the adjustments and we were able to adjust and make the right plays and make the right decisions and get back on defense and match their physicality over ours.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. You guys are dismissed.