Buzz Williams on blowout loss: "the best thing may be that we're going to play in 24 hours"

Ahmed Ghafir
9 hours ago
5 min read

Everything that head coach Buzz Williams said after the blowout loss vs. 12^th-ranked Gonzaga:

Whether Maryland struggled or Gonzaga was clicking in the loss

“Yeah, I would say probably both. They are incredibly good. And I think relative to the infancy of where we're at, as difficult as this is, playing in a tournament like this affords us an opportunity to diagnose even more at a faster rate. And none of that is fun, but to be able to play a team that's good enough to win the national championship in the fourth week of the season, there's a lot for us to grow from. And to some degree, without being too simplistic, the best thing may be that we're going to play in 24 hours. And so without the schemes and the strategies involved in whatever that opponent will be, how will we respond to what just transpired? And so I will always give credit to the opponent. They made us not play well, but our urgency and our response and not playing well is not near at the standard that it's going to have to become.”

On Myles Rice’s limited minutes compared to Monday

“I think he's probably getting healthier. I don't think it would be Myles or any other person. We try to haul people with some layer of lack of success. And so as this unfolds, whoever that group is, however old they are, however many days they've practiced or games they've played, we've got to find the right combination. Whether that includes Myles or not, we're not at the point where we weigh that. But who can help us? Who can impact winning both sides of the ball?”

On Gonzaga’s season-high 14 made 3PTs

“They were, of all of the things that they're the best at, shooting the three was what they were worst at, and they weren’t terrible. I think they were 208^th in three point field goal percentage. Entering today's game, [Braden Huff], [Alonzo Metz] command so much presence inside. And I thought our plan was right. Our execution of the plan wasn't great, and then it just kind of disintegrated on being able to do one or the other.”

On 38 turnovers over the last two games

“We need to shorten the game. I thought - I don't know the overall possession count. At halftime, I thought the pace was probably bit our way. I think there were 32 possessions at half. We finished the game it looks like with - we had 70, they had 79 because we're giving them the ball too much. But in Vegas, we have had a turnover rate problem and that correlates with many other things that we're struggling with. Giving the ball to the other team 20% of the time is not just one person, it's our group. And so we're playing in a broken floor. We're playing in transition defense too much. However we can shorten the game, regardless of the pace. We can't give the ball to the team at the rate we are.”

Whether there was anything that encouraged Buzz in the loss

“I just think our urgency has to increase. I thought the two time outs in the first half the first one was similar to what happened when we played Georgetown at home. We didn't step towards the competition, the competition stepped towards us. And then I thought we kind of settled down. I thought the first ATO of the second half, I think they outscored us by three, but I thought there was remnants of okay, we're doing okay offensively. We weren't giving them the ball, but we weren't getting any stops. And so any time you get beat as bad as we did, there's not just one problem and there's multiple things to look at. I think that, like I've mentioned at the start, as discouraging as it is, it's encouraging that we get a chance to respond tomorrow and how we go about the response is probably more important than the outcome of this game. And I think that's the next step for us, is we did an okay job in some ways yesterday against UNLV. Not many things that we did well if you lose like we did tonight, and so how are we going to respond 24 hours later? And like I mentioned, playing in an event like this, that's going to be exposed. And when you're playing a team like Gonzaga, there's nothing that you can hide because they are so good, and you are going to be exposed. And we were exposed on multiple levels. And that's the ownership we have to have, and that includes me.”

On Solomon Washington’s status

“It’s just ongoing. It's not that I'm never trying to hide anything from anybody. I do want to be somewhat of a layer of protection for our medical staff and all of the things that transpire privately and also for Solo and for his mom. But I think he's making progress, but this has been an ongoing deal for seven weeks, but similar to what I said when Myles was out and we've had other guys out. I also don't want to create this expectation that that's going to change everything. We have multiple things that we have to improve at. Do I think he will help us? Yes? Do I think one person is going to answer all of these lists of things that we need improvement at? No.”

On Pharrel Payne’s return

“I'm so thankful that he's playing. The angle that I had on Saturday, I guess that was last Saturday, it was gruesome in regards to the fall. And that's the first time I've ever seen him on the ground like that in practice or a game. And then obviously they took him to the hospital. And so that kind of took some time before all of that was completely diagnosed. Very thankful that he's playing. I think he does command a presence. I think the thing that he has to help us at more, and in the minutes that he played tonight, he's got to help us on the glass more. He's getting fouled at a high rate. He's doing a good job scoring. His turnover rate's way too high, and then we need him to help us on both sides of the ball from a rebounding standpoint. But also didn't think he would be back as fast as he is, so that's a credit to the medical staff and all the things that have transpired since he got hurt.”

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