Buzz Williams on Maryland-Georgetown rivalry, his team's strengths, emphasis in practice, building fan chemistry

Ahmed Ghafir
17 hours ago
8 min read

Ahead of the home opener, Maryland men’s basketball head coach Buzz Williams dives into what he knows about the rivalry, scouting the Hoyas and both what his team is doing well and emphasizing in practice:

On what Buzz knows about the Georgetown-Maryland rivalry

“I read a lot about it since the last question I had. I don't really remember much of it. I remember all of the coaches. I remember some of the players. I remember there was an issue with coach and coach. I didn't know that there had been such wide gaps of decades of not playing, but a portion of that is probably just I'm not a local so I didn't understand the importance of it. But I didn't know that there had been so many years that there had not been a game.”

On being part and what makes a great rivalry

“I think sustainability in the rivalry where it happens annually, where it's something that both programs know the importance of, those that are a part of the program understand. And then I think probably most importantly is just the support that comes from the rivalry, regardless of the two teams. And obviously that's a factor in this one, which I think is why there's so much attention to this game because it's been decades of in essence, inactivity.”

On assessing Maryland’s control of possessions and limiting turnovers vs. Coppin State

“We were better Monday against Coppin. I think against any coach [Ed] Cooley team, in order to have a chance to win the game, you have to win the fight. And part of the fight and how they compete defensively is not giving them the ball. When you look at - they've played this summer, obviously in the World Cup and then in their two exhibitions and in their game Monday night, they're gonna possession counts if you give them the ball, like any good team. But from a physicality standpoint, we haven't played a team that's thus far that's as physical as they are defensively.”

On Diggy Coit’s role

“It’s such a small sample size, not just for Diggy, but for everybody. We've played one game, and it's too early for me to ascertain what anybody's going to be. But part of the environment we're trying to create, from a development standpoint, from a learning standpoint is figuring out what their roles can be. But one game, hey, this is what you are. I don't think that's enough evidence, whether that's Diggy or anybody else. But we do want to use all the data and all the evidence to create what they can become.”

On how to prep for teams early in the season

“Coach Cooley has always been known as an offensive savant. When he was at Providence, his play catalog I would say was the most of any team in the Big East when I was employed in the Big East. I have obviously watched all of the games that you're talking about and it's my nature to want to maybe over explain too much to our guys, but in week one with 15 new players, I think the vote is it needs to be about us and the things that, foundationally, we know we want to be about. And so we're trying to bleed in some components of their personnel. We're trying to bleed in some of their core actions, not necessarily their plays, but some of the things that are interwoven in each of their plays, so that foundationally, we can grow from that, not just for the importance of Friday's game, but I think we play seven games in the next 19 days. And so we're hoping that if we can keep the focus on us, using the opponent to grow our foundation, that when we get to game six or game eight or game 28, there's remnants that we built it from a sustainable standpoint. But I do think that the emotion of the first home game, the emotion of the rivalry, all of those things outside of our program are very important and they have importance within our program. But to your point, we can't give away our entire practice itinerary based on coach Cooley's offensive prowess. But we can give attention to they run a lot of this. They run a lot of this. They run a lot of this. And we're going to see A, B and C in November, December, January, February, March.”

On importance of rebounding, free throws and getting into the bonus

“I think that's the key to winning, no matter the name of the team and no matter the name of the opponent. They shot 39 free throws on Monday night. I believe they shot 25 free throws in Lexington. [I] think they shot 19 free throws versus George Washington. [Malik Mack], [KJ Lewis], [Jeremiah Williams] get filed at an ultra-high rate. [KJ Lewis] was top 5% in the country last year in getting fouled. He is elite downhill and arguably the most physical [6-foot-4] guard in the country that will face this month. But his game is somewhat predicated on downhill, which is where he gets fouled. I think [Jeremiah Williams] gets fouled at a very high rate. [Malik Mack]has a little bit of anything he wants, all three levels, but a part of his points per possession is for sure his free throw attempt rate. I think the one thing that we have to pay attention to is [Vince Iwuchukwu] gets fouled - I anticipate he will be one of the leading forwards in regards to free throws in the Big East this year. I know he played in the Big East last year, but not trying to distinguish between coach Pitino or Coach Cooley. A lot of what I'm seeing they're doing with number three leads to him getting fouled. He was 8-of-9 at Kentucky, I believe. And so can we defend without fouling will be a big part of can we win a game. Not Georgetown - any game. We fouled more times on Monday night than Coppin fouled us. That's not a good start. I know that's a subliminal stat, but we're going to have to defend without fouling because a lot of our fouls, we can't guard the ball, and so we just foul and it leads to free points for the opponent. So that is one of the things that will be a part of what I talk about today and show. It applies to Georgetown, but it applies forward. We're not near as physical as we're going to have to be. Our nature is to watch the ball. Our nature is, I think you're going to do it instead of I need to do it. And so we've got to continue to make progress. We have some physical players. We don't have enough physicality when the ball is in the air.

All three of our contests thus far, we have lost the physicality part. Coppin State was more physical than us. They rebounded 25% of their misses. That's not a good stat. And so with the physicality on Friday, which will be more than I anticipate we've had thus far, our physicality is going to have to continue to improve, but some of that is gaining traction. I do think our guys are understanding what we're asking of them. Our execution of that physicality is not as consistent as we're going to need it to be, but we have made some traction. We were better Monday night in that regard than we were the previous Monday night. And so we need to be markedly better on Friday than we were Monday in that regard.”

On message to fans for the home opener, identity of his team

“We want as many students here as possible, whether they know us or not. We'll be happy to meet them. The best place to meet for us, relative to our schedule, is at the XFINITY Center. We're really excited for our first home game. John has mentioned they expect a great crowd, particularly with students.

I hope that the identity would be that we play with some level of physicality, that we play for one another, that we play with a low turnover rate, that we care about the possession, whether we have the ball or don't have the ball. That we give more daps and hugs than anybody in the country. That our huddles are tighter. That when the ball is on the floor, in the air or On the ground, we're the first to get it and that we're easy to cheer for. We don't have a lot of emotional outbursts making it about ourself. We have a lot of emotion towards winning and winning that possession. So all of the things that any coach would say in regards to what impacts winning in this era of college athletics, whether it's a basketball team or a football team, there's probably going to be a lot of students on any campus. It's like, I don't even know who's on the team, and transparently, all of us will be playing in our first game, right? So when the students come to their first game tomorrow, it'll be my first game too. It'll be Diggy's first game. It'll be everybody's first game as it relates to our program. And so as we start on this path together, we're grateful for all of the support.”

On his long-term recruiting philosophy

“Obviously, the era of college athletics has changed in relation to recruiting, whether you get the job late, whether you get the job early. There's a lot more factors than there were, maybe historically speaking. But I do think one of the reasons why both programs have been so successful is this area of the country is heavily populated with really good coaches and really good players. Without giving all of the answers, we always want to recruit inside-out and our staff is working really hard to establish relationships, not just for the current recruiting class, but long-term. Lot of the coaches in this area have been here throughout their entire career. As much as we want to recruit the players and establish relationships with their families in year one, as we're getting started, we want to make sure that we put down roots of solid, trustful relationships with all of the coaches as well. So that's important.”

On the emphasis on Texas prospects while at Texas A&M

“I think you would have to think through - I think we signed the Wisconsin Player of the Year five times during our time in Wisconsin. We signed either the Virginia or Maryland Player of the Year four times while we were at Virginia Tech, and then recruited the state. I think it's part of any establishing a home base of any job. Can you recruit your state? Can you recruit your area? Can you establish relationships, whether it's through recruiting efforts, through the people that are involved in grassroots, the people that are involved in high school coaching. There's just so many variables. And so whether it's Maryland, whether it's Georgetown, I think they have five players that you would say are from the DMV. And we did study and make 72,000 calls on local players that were in the portal. It's just so fast, no matter where you're from, but when you arrive April 2^nd, I think my first staff member was hired 11 days later after he cleared background checks. When you get to tax day, and you're making your first of 72,000 calls and you have zero players on the team. Where they're from is important and it will always be important, but who they are is always going to supersede where they're from. I think we did the best we could relative to the timing. And it took whatever, two months to figure out who those 15 players were going to be. And we've made a concerted effort since May, I think was the first time we could go out and see players in an event. April 9^th, I was the only person here. I went to eight high schools that day by myself. So I think we've been accountable. That does not always mean that it's going to translate to the result, but relative to the process, I think we've tried to be consistent. 225 days into the job of developing relationships with grassroots and high school coaches, not just for [2026]. I don't want my relationship with you or anybody else to just be based on one person. I want it to be based on I want to have a trustful relationship, whether something ever comes from it or not and I think our staff's done good with that.”

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