Buzz Williams on Maryland basketball's shooting vs. Georgetown, free throw shooting, on-ball defense, Myles Rice's debut

Ahmed Ghafir
9 hours ago
8 min read

Everything that head coach Buzz Williams said after Maryland men's basketball fell vs. Georgetown:

On Maryland shooting 25% vs. Georgetown

“I will always give credit to the opponent in every possible way. I thought they were physical from start to finish. We didn't handle their physicality very well. 42% of our shots were in the chart circle and we made 33% of them. And so we have to finish at a higher rate, regardless of the shot, but particularly when you're that close to the rim. We got fouled at a high rate, which was encouraging. We did a good job making free throws, but categorically, the rest of our shots - our shot diet was good. But other than free throws, we just didn't shoot them at a high percentage. And so Georgetown can play, at all times, defense, except when we're shooting free throws. So I'll give them credit.”

On Georgetown’s 30 points in the paint

“In many respects, we got to the paint and didn't finish. They got to the paint sometimes in a different way, whether it was off the pass or off the bounce, but we got to the charge circle, shots attempted in the charge circle 42% of the time, and they were 49% of the time, which is too high of a percentage. Too high of a percentage.”

On defending without fouling

“Yeah, I don't know exactly why that was stirring in my heart as much as it was. I mentioned it to our team on Thursday. Can we play to get fouled? Because I think that's going to be important, relative to our roster makeup. And then can we defend without fouling? We always, like all coaches, we want to make more than they attempt. We made 30 free throws. Statistically speaking, if that's the only stat you knew, you would think that it would be a really close game, if not a win. 50% of our points came from the free throw line. So we do need to get fouled, but we have to defend without fouling. And to your question, to start the game, to start the game, it's 11-2, timeout Maryland. Changed the players to start the second half, and it's 2-10, Georgetown again. So in those two four minute segments, the game was 21-2, Hoyas. And so we fouled too much and we didn't get fouled and I think that only time will tell - I'm not a genie - but I do think that we have to defend without fouling more, and we have to play with the shot selection, thought process collectively of we want the team to be in rotation, whether that's by throwing it to the post or getting it to the post off the bounce so that we're shooting uncontested threes more and/or we're getting fouled. And most fouls occur at the rim and that's where we were fouling and that's where we were also getting fouled.”

On Buzz’s message to his players after the loss

“Well, it's the first week of the season and what we're trying to do is continue to create the right environment for them to learn, the right environment for them to develop. I think we've made some strides. I think our staff has been outstanding. We had nine days in between our scrimmage and our exhibition and then we had seven days. Obviously, we follow NCAA rules relative to days off, but in real time, seven days off from the exhibition to our first game in Baltimore. I think our guys are beginning to understand what we're trying to accomplish. And instead of it being my opinion all the time, I've tried to as we're laying the building blocks foundationally, like he just asked on can we defend without fouling? Instead of just saying those words, I've tried to analytically show them some evidence so that they can understand it and then give them some measurable so that, as we're going like we talked about it at halftime, some specific numbers. And that's what we just finished talking about there. So I think there's been some growth. The environment was incredible. The student section, the genre of people that were here, regardless of season ticket holders or because they were excited about the rivalry game, we're grateful. I just didn't think that from start to finish, we competed with the edge that you have to have, but I do think that we've made some strides. You can't play 32 minutes of many college games that we're going to play and have a chance to win. But removing the first four minutes, if you could, from each half, it was a different game. And so we've got to figure out, maybe how we warm up, maybe what I say or don't say, because what I said pregame didn't work and what I said at halftime didn't work. I think the consistency of our competitive stamina, physically, mentally and emotionally, we have to continue to accrue more consistency.”

On four fastbreak points

“I think the problem specific to tonight. I don't know that you will categorize us as a fast team. I think tonight, our transition volume rate was in the mid 20s. We're probably a low 30 team in in truth. Our problem tonight was they were putting so much pressure on the rim that we've got four guys down there trying to figure out how not to let them get a layup. We didn't do it very well, and so that is going to slow your pace going the other way. And the other thing from just a thought process relative to pace, we want to make free throws so that we get our defense set in hopes that we can shorten their game and lower their transition volume rate. But in order for our transition volume rate to increase, we're going to have to do a better job of getting consistent stops. So we call three stops in a row a turkey. Monday night, we had eight. Mathematically, you will win 98.7% of your games if you get three stops in a row. Tonight, we had two in the first half, and we have one in the second half. And so the end result of that is they're putting a lot of pressure on the rim, but also we're taking the ball out of the basket a lot too. And so not just Maryland, any team, if that's happening at a high clip, it's going to be a slower game.”

On what sparked Maryland’s second-half run to tighten the game

“I understand that we will be judged in accordance with the results and I understand the importance of every home game and the success that Maryland has had. And I also understand the importance of the rivalry and the history of that rivalry. I think in that run, my answer, without watching the tape, is the same thing that I just mentioned to him. The reason it was 26-13 is that's when we were getting consecutive stops and so we were able to play in a broken floor more. And I also think that the tenacity that we played with in those stretches needs to be closer to that from start to finish. And I don't think that I would say that our guys stopped, but we weren't prepared to play with that level of juju from start to finish. I thought there were stretches, that stretch you're talking about, it was better. I think we were down five at half, and we started the game down 11, so we made some strides. And then we're down five at half, and they scored ten and we scored two, so now we're down 13…As we continue to figure this out, what I've tried to tell them and I've tried to make sure my actions match my words, I'm coaching you for who you're going to become. I'm not coaching you for who you are today. Who we are today is we lost and we lost because we didn't do the things that we know that we're going to have to do in order to have a chance. But if I'm only coaching them because it's five days into the regular season, then I'm failing them for their future. And so we've got to continue to coach them and teach them and hold them accountable for where they're going to be, and sometimes that's hard to deal with, but they have received that in a very positive way.”

On becoming more of an analytical coach

“This was before all of the analytic groups came in and I didn't talk about numbers at the rate some coaches were at that time. And so I do a poor job. I've tried to improve. I've hired people to teach me. I watch every press conference. I take notes. I'm just not really good in this environment because my brain is fried, my emotions are out of sorts, and I try not to say things that I'll regret. But I spent an inordinate amount of time before Moneyball became Moneyball trying to figure out how can you win games? Not that I thought that I was going to be the coach at Maryland or even at Marquette. There's been a lot of people that have helped me when I didn't deserve it. But even the second question tonight, like our shot selection, to your point, statistically speaking, we didn't make the shots that we need to make at the rate. But if you only think about our shot diet, what percentage of our shots did we shoot in the chart circle? What percentage of shots did we shoot from three? What percentage of shots did we shoot were twos? If you looked at our shot diet, all of it would be green, as in good. If you looked at the percentage, hey 42% of our shots, we had five toes in the chart circle. We made 33%. You're not going to win a game when you make 33% of your layups. The thing that hides it is our points per possession only has a chance to be in the realm of this being a game is that we, 20% of the time when we had the ball, we got fouled and we made 80% of our free throws. I have felt this coming - couple of the student radio, newspapers have been asking me like you're shooting a bunch of free throws. And I don't ever want to come across arrogant or egotistical. We're going to have to shoot a lot of free throws. But our shot selection is red light, green light and we kind of define what that is, and we watch other teams - guys, is that a red light shot? Is that a green light shot? And you can now hear them, since we taught them that in practice - that was red light, that's green light. And I told Diggy yesterday, when you go to a stoplight in Jersey, do they have a red light? Yes, sir. They have a green light? Yes, sir. What's the other color? Yellow? I'm in charge of yellow. And so we're making strides. We've just got, after week one, I think we're trying to solve problems at a fast rate and we have solved some problems, but the problem with the problem is we have a litany of problems.”

On Myles Rice’s debut

“We need Myles to play. We need Myles to play with a low turnover rate. We have a turnover rate problem. We don't need him to be one in four going the wrong way. We need him to be four and one going the right way. To his credit, he has missed significant reps of practice, but I do think his IQ is high and I do think that his speed changes our team, whether we're trying to play fast or not. But offensively, Maryland needs to play with as low a turnover rate as possible and particularly the primary ball handler. And I think he will do that. And I'm glad that he's healthy and we need consecutive weeks of our team being healthy so that we can play five on five in practice so that there can develop some level of Ying and Yang from an offensive and defensive standpoint.”

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