COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Postgame quotes following Maryland's 75-71 win over Georgetown at XFINITY Center Tuesday night.
Opening Statement:
"Wow, what a game. First of all, I want to praise our fans. Our fans were absolutely phenomenal. We have no chance without them tonight. I praise my players; my players never quit. A lot of things weren't going our way throughout the night. Georgetown was terrific. But in the end we did what we had to do. We got enough stops and were terrific on the offensive end. Rasheed getting to the rim, getting fouled. Robert Carter Jr. in the post. We don't practice that lineup a lot because we have so many bigs and not enough guards in practice. We were kind of ad-libbing at the end, down the stretch, trying to have fun with it. It was just a great win for us. Rasheed Sulaimon was terrific for us on both ends. Jake Layman in the second half was good. I just never could get control of us offensively – we were a little rushed. What a great game, I guess that's what a rivalry game is. Georgetown was great. We were lucky to win, and we'll take it."
On Rasheed Sulaimon:
"He's been around the block and back. He's going to be fine in these big games. He's older, he's a senior. That's one thing I like about our team, I think our team always felt like we were going to win, even when it wasn't looking good around the 4:30 mark. I thought he was great defensively, his leadership was terrific. He's such a good playmaker for us, we have two really good guards back there. And of course he hit the big 3, that thing went about 20 feet up in the air. I was happy for him."
On Rasheed Sulaimon's relaxed composure:
"He was trying to help me, I was saying the same thing. We never really relaxed offensively. We were much better in the second half because they were in front of me and I could control. I don't know how many times I made a call and four got it and one didn't, it was probably five or six times. Our communication wasn't great. You can't be successful offensively when one guy doesn't have the play call. At the end, when we had to do it, every guy was dialed in. Rasheed's leadership was terrific."
On the future of the Maryland-Georgetown rivalry:
"We'll see. We're going to enjoy tonight. What a great college basketball game. The guys played at a high level. Great players, great atmosphere. We're going to enjoy tonight."
On finding out about the teams resiliency:
"I told our guys at the end of the game, 'Man we needed this, this is exactly what we needed.' We figured it out, we figured out how to win the game. It lets them know that we're not invincible. I keep saying, we're finding ourselves, we're nowhere near where were going to be. We're fighting, with each day we get a little bit better. To handle the adversity tonight, I thought we could've handled it a little bit better. We talked about mental toughness a lot tonight, we talked about it at halftime and every timeout. We just have to play a little bit more physical, we got out rebounded which shouldn't happen in our building."
On the former players in attendance:
"I asked Greivis when he came in and he said about the five-minute mark. I said he was the reason we won. We had a lot of former players back, it was a really cool thing. We haven't had Joe Smith back since I've been here, it was great to have him back. We had a lot of guys back. A lot of pride in this program in what were about and what we're trying to do. It was great to have those guys back and be a part of it. A lot of really good players back, they're the ones that keep pushing me to work hard. We didn't want to let them down. We played that way, we played tight. Hopefully we can relax, get comfortable. Our fans were terrific. I've coached in a lot of buildings, that was pretty special tonight."
On winning close games:
"Every year is different. I think we think we're going to win close games. We get just enough stops and we score. When you have a guy that gets to the line like Melo and you have scorers, it helps. I like to think as the year goes on we'll develop an inside out game. Robert hit a few big shots in the post. We expect to win close games."
Sophomore Guard Melo Trimble
On Rasheed Sulaimon’s first-half performance:
“It was very important. Rasheed really picked us up. He started the game really well. He had some assists and he was scoring baskets. He really picked me up when my head was down. He turned to me and said how he believed in me.”
On the mindset of the team:
“We just believed in each other. We always talk about toughness. Toughness is what we had down the stretch. We would score a basket and then they would come down and score a basket to tie the game up. We just believed in each other.”
On his second-half performance:
“I just don’t rely on my jump shot. I like getting to the basket and drawing fouls. That’s what I am good at. That is one of my strengths. That is what I did in the second half.”
On his lack of scoring in the first half:
“It shows toughness. Not that our team really relies on one scorer but, it shows we have a lot of pieces on the team that can score.”
Junior Forward Robert Carter Jr.
On last few possessions:
“We just wanted to make the right play. We kept saying the same thing very time we came to the huddle. We said we were going to win this game. Every time we are playing down all we do is try to make the right play.”
On the final minutes of the second half:
“We kind of took over the huddle and looked each other in the eye and said we have enough confidence in each other to win. We just had to get stops and make the right plays. I was praying we would get the rebound.”
Senior Guard Rasheed Sulaimon
On his three-pointer late in the game:
“Melo (Trimble) had the ball in his hands, and he made a great play getting in the lane. He made a great read kicking it out to Jake (Layman), and Jake is a great shooter. But it just shows the trust of our team and the faith we had in each other. He had an open shot and he could have taken it easily and it would have been a great shot. But he thought I had a better shot so he passed it off to me, and when he passed it to me it gave me confidence. So I just took the shot with confidence and just trying to hit a big shot for my team and I’m fortunate that it went in.”
On the fans:
“Now that I’m on this side, I can officially say that these are the best fans in the world. The atmosphere out there was crazy and we needed every bit of it. We had our ups and downs in the game and they just carried us through it. We just tried to feed off that energy, especially down the stretch. We just fed off the energy, confided in each other. Melo, Rob (Carter Jr.), Jake and whoever was in the game; when a play needed to be made, somebody stepped up.”
On the team’s poise:
“There were a lot of emotions in there. We got a little outside of ourselves. You know me, Robert Carter, Jake and those senior leaders as far as experienced guys had to bring everybody together and calm down, and once we got in a groove we kind of took off, especially in the latter parts of the game when it meant the most. We just believed in each other and we made every play that we needed to win this game and we showed a lot of poise tonight.”
Junior Robert Carter Jr.
On Rasheed Sulaimon’s late three:
“We just wanted to make the right play. We kept saying the same thing every time we got in the huddle. We just needed to make the right plays. Every time we came down the court, we just needed to make the right play and when Sulaimon had the ball, we had full confidence that he would make the shot and he made it.”
On the team’s mentality during the game:
“I mean we kind of took over the huddle and we just looked each other in the eye and said we have enough confidence in each other to win this game, we just got to get stops and make the right play.”
Georgetown
Head coach John Thompson III
On how the game ended:
“They hit some big threes. We put the ball down and went to the basket, but I thought we got bumped a little bit and they didn’t call it. But I just think coming down towards the end there, they hit some big threes.”
On using his bench:
“We didn’t have a choice. We got in foul trouble. Paul [White] is not 100 percent healthy yet. Little Tre Campbell has something going on, which I’m not sure. At halftime he said he couldn’t go in the second half, which made our bench even shorter. Do I trust everyone? The guys work hard in practice. Just as important as me trusting them is they trust each other.”
On moving forward from two losses
“We have an unforgiving schedule coming up. It doesn’t get any easier. There are a lot of things we know we have to go back and work on and we will work on them. It’s a long road.”
On taking a lead in rebuilding rivalries:
“It’s important, not just Georgetown-Maryland, Georgetown-Syracuse, Georgetown-Connecticut – there’s a lot of history there and it’s important to play these games. As bad as we feel right now, hopefully in the long run it’s going to help us out. And I do think it’s important for the sport, and not just for the sport, it’s for the good of college basketball. I think it’s good for Georgetown.”
On facing Maryland’s new transfers:
“It’s not just those two. Jake Layman is playing at a really high level. I said this earlier in the week, their first five, they have an elite player at every position, and the guys coming off the bench are pretty good too. But the two transfers give them an understanding and hardness. That’s not to say that the others don’t have it but that hardness, that’s needed.”
Sophomore Forward Isaac Copeland
On the game slipping away in the second half
“Coach stressed early in the season that we have a lot of offensive talent, and we do. But on defense, we have to figure out how to stop people and finish out the game. This is another example for us to go back and watch some film, and work some things out.”
On dealing with Maryland guard Melo Trimble
“Melo is one of the best guards in the country. He’s really quick, so when you switch on to him, you just have to try to keep him out of the lane. It’s really tough, but you just have to stay in front of him as best as you can.”
On how freshman Marcus Derrickson handled the large atmosphere
“He did great, which is what we expect from him. He’s going to come in and play and help us win games. You can be in the starting lineup no matter how old you are.”
Senior Center Bradley Hayes
On whether foul trouble affected his game:
“I don’t think it affected my gameplay at all. I just wanted to come out and play as physical as possible regardless of the fouls.”
On keys to his success throughout the night:
“Right now I’m not focusing on my offensive. It is more about what I should be doing on defense right now. I think I had a good game on offense, but I think I need to do a lot more on defense. That is where my team needs me.”
-Terps-
