Buzz Williams on slowing down Michigan, Diggy Coit's hot shooting, George Turkson's development

Ahmed Ghafir
40 minutes ago
6 min read

Everything head coach Buzz Williams said after Maryland men’s basketball fell to 6-5 (0-2) in a 101-83 loss vs. second-ranked Michigan:

On the adjustments with no Pharrel Payne, Solomon Washington

“I thought our staff was really good since Sunday in regards to some of the new processes. Our team has been phenomenal. Our best week thus far in regards to the things that we're trying to accomplish internally. The lessons, the processes. Great momentum.

Specific to [Pharrel Payne], we've kind of been through that before. A lot of the same words that the guys were saying to me in the timeout in Milwaukee, they were kind of saying it to me as I went to see him tonight.

October the 6th, I think, is when Solo got hurt and November the 30th was the first time he practiced. So I think tonight was his third game, and he has practiced every day since November the 30th. So we were beginning to figure out how he could help us the best. He's very impactful. And same with [Payne], same with [Payne]. And so the staff did good things in real time to try to solve that against the number one team in the country. I don't know [if] any of it was conclusive, but we were trying a few different things.”

On players playing out of position

“Some of the games in November, we've kind of been playing out of position in practice and in games. It's a little bit more glaring against the team as good as Michigan and we were trying a few different things from the past, and some of the things that we've done this week. However, this week, we did practice with ten guys so some of those changes, those guys were getting reps in real time of what we had practiced, just not what they had practiced, per se. So injuries are a part of sport, and we've had a lot of reps of that so far during our time here. I admire the resilience that those guys competed with and the togetherness with that.”

On Diggy Coit’s 31 points

“I think going into tonight's game, they were the best defense in the country. I think analytically, the third best offense. Some of the changes that the coaches made offensively, I thought our collective thought on both ends of the floor was dramatically better. I thought that togetherness, the intensity, the tenacity, the things that are in the stat sheet, the things that are not in the stat sheet, I thought our program felt more than we have throughout the year. Diggy [is] video game like sometimes, and some of the things that he does. And obviously got off to a great start, and they begin to make changes specific to Diggy. And then when Gochi went out, slash Solo went out, now it's kind of a combination of your question and Gene's question. And we are reliant, at that moment in time throughout those moments, on Diggy. But again, some of the things that have been causing us the most harm, I thought we made progress on. And I understand the result and we're going to continue to work on the result, but the result is the processes and all of the lessons that we need to continue to learn from an execution standpoint and I thought that that was much better.”

On George Turkson’s first career start

“Tonight was his fourth game, and Solo's third game, I think. And I have it in my journal. I don't remember the timing. I think George missed Vegas, right? And then there were a couple of more steps with the medical team. He could have played against Iowa. He had practiced two days going into Iowa. I did not think he knew what we were doing. But we love his toughness. We love how hard he plays. I think he scored his first basket tonight. Is that right? Of his Maryland career?

I thought how hard he played, again, when Gochi went out, some of the things that we were doing forced him to change, forced [Elijah Saunder] to change but in regards to how hard he plays and the intangibles that he brings, that he has earned the start through the five days of work that we've had this week, there were no objections by anybody within the program. And I thought a lot of what he did is just play real hard.”

Where Turkson best fits on the court

“I hope he's the first to run to a fight. I know that may not be what Maryland fans want in regards to my words. I hope that he's the first to the fight and he's the first to throw a blow in the fight. I think, personally, that's what he does best. I don't necessarily know if he's a five or a four. I don't think he thinks of the game in that way. He thinks of the game more as I want to play really hard and I care about winning and I want to impact winning, whether that's in the stat sheet or not. And he's played four games in his college career now and so he doesn't know. And transparently, because of all the things that have transpired, I don't know either. But I do know that he played more minutes tonight than he may have had in the three previous games, and I think that how hard he played is why he had eight [points] and four [rebounds]. I don't think it's exclusive to his skill set. I do think he's a very diligent worker. He's very thoughtful in who he is as a worker and he takes a lot of pride in being accountable to his work. So I do think his skill will continue to improve, but his best skill right now is be the first to the fight.”

On the in-game emotion from the team, coaches, whether it was a chippy game

“I don't know any of those guys, and I'm the newest coach, along with three others in the Big Ten, so I don't want to talk about whistles. I'm saying that respectfully to you, and I appreciate the question. The one thing that I would say is it was our first Big Ten home opener for all of us except Lukas [Sotell] and I thought our work all week in all of the new things was tremendous. I think our guys have been ‘A+’ in receiving all of these new things. And I appreciate that. I admire that, to be completely honest with you. And we were excited - Red Out, sell out, number one team in the country in every way that's meaningful and some that are not. They're the best team. And I thought we executed the plan at a very, very high level. I understand we lost, but I thought there was a lot of traction from the bench, from the floor on the things that were - we want our minds and hearts going in a way that's important now, that's important next week, that's important in our future. And we don't want to skip a step. And we want to make sure that our emotions don't get in the way of slowing down that progress. And I think the ownership by everybody - coaches, me too. I want my words and actions to match up. I've been very transparent with our group throughout the week on how I can improve. And so again, I thought the ambiance, the environment, was fun.”

On evaluating ball security vs. Michigan

“That was big Rock number one in regards to the priorities. Can we get a shot on the rim? And we count blocked shots as a turnover. Our turnover rate has been our number one offensive problem. It was the highest OER we have had all season long against the number one defense in the country. Diggy's outlier performance, we're very thankful for and I'm not taking away from it. Losing Gochi changes our offense. Losing Solo on the glass changes our offense. But we play with the really turn low turnover rate. We had our highest offensive rebound percentage. Some of that is correlated, in my opinion, but I think what is also correlated is we were all on the same page. And without explaining all the big rocks and making it sound like I'm a great coach, Coach May is a great coach. And what we're trying to do is get on the same page. And I thought tonight there was evidence that playing with the lower turnover rate helped our offensive rebound percentage. I know you typically ask me, if we make one free throw and a half, we're going to have a lot to overcome. And so some of that was, we had eight turnovers in the second half. Some of that was, we made one free throw. And so all of those things are correlated, but playing with a low turnover rate was very, very, very helpful.”

Related Links