Buzz Williams on the second half vs. Virginia, playing without Pharrel Payne, fixing turnovers

Ahmed Ghafir
Dec 21, 2025
7 min read

More from head coach Buzz Williams after Maryland men’s basketball’s 80-72 loss at 23rd-ranked Virginia on Saturday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP5lxw-OH3k

On the second half vs. Virginia

“Yeah, I was surprised that we scored 53 would probably be my first response. I think the plan that the coaches put together was really good. And I thought there were times and stretches where the execution of that plan was good. I think our kids have had growth, not necessarily completely on the scoreboard, but they've had growth in some of the things that we're trying to measure and some of the margins that we need to improve. Great respect for Coach. His entire family really enjoyed studying them. They're just a unique team. So 48% of their shots from three, they make 42% of them - I think that's top 30 and top 10. And then fifth in the country in offensive rebounding and they play at a top 25 pace. And I think the thing that probably kind of even alters that flow is they're going to have some level of pressure on a made basket and their style of offensive rebounding is unique. And so I thought we did a good job in the first half relative to our plan on their threes. [I] didn't think we were great on the offensive glass, but okay, defensive glass for us. I thought we were great on our offensive glass, which was trying to be our counter. In the second half. I know they statistically made more threes. I think three of those threes came off our turnovers, which was a portion of the plan in regards to through their first ten games, in transition, they had shot more threes than they had lay ups, which is built into their field goal attempts. So we did a great job throughout the game on the offensive glass. We didn't limit them on the offensive glass the way that we should. But instead of 48% of their shots coming from three, tonight, 32% came from three. That was good for us. Instead of making 42% they made 35%. That was good for us. The problem is, when they get the offensive rebound, it's probably leading to another three. And so that was the thing that kind of hurt us from a statistical standpoint, I thought, in the second half with some of it coming from the live ball turnovers we had.”

On playing without Pharrel Payne

“I don't know. I mean, as you know, you've been to most of our games, I think. Like we've made adjustments relative to the healthy bodies we've had and I've really been thankful and appreciative of the effort our staff has given because sometimes it's specific to the players that are going to play for us. But the calendar is not going to change and I think tonight was our fifth top 20 NET team of our 12 games. Unbelievable environment, losing [Pharrel Payne] does change our team and it changes the plan. However, I thought the ten guys that played, we did a really good job of practicing our plan on both sides of the ball, we just have to figure out, how can we have more endurance in that execution? Because I thought there were spurts, yeah do that. Do that, do that. And then call it timeout and take a drink. And we called that timeout in the first half, I can't remember how much we were up. And then the last five possessions, turnover, turnover, turnover, block. No, shouldn't have called timeout. All of the guys, the seven games without [Pharrel] is different. I think George the eight games he has missed, or seven games he's missed. However many Myles missed. Like, yeah, but again, like I've said before, that's just part of sport. I think that was the second game without [Pharrel]. But we had more time. I think [Pharrel] didn't play against Mount St Mary's. We had more time for our plan. Obviously respectfully playing here is a little different than playing at home against Mount St Mary's.”

On getting Diggy Coit more looks in the second half

“We don't have all the answers, and coach has been much more successful than I have, but one of the things that we have said to our group - I don't think they're going to let you be a video game like you were against Michigan. And so their coverage of you off the ball will be different. Their coverage of you on a ball screen will be different. And so we practice some of the things that we thought UVA would do - and I think that will continue. He does have the ability to score in bunches and transparently, that helps our group, particularly when [Pharrel] is not playing. And so coach did a good job tonight, Lyle [Wolf] in the adjustments that we made at halftime. I thought that did help Diggy some, but they also did a really good job in their plan in the first half of taking away some of his typical looks.”

On holding Thijs De Ridder to five points in 22 minutes

“He's good. I think - I can't remember how many graduate transfers they have, but those two freshmen - [De Ridder] and [Johann Grunloh] - analytically, they are off the charts. And [Chance Mallory is] sneaky good too, in my opinion, analytically. [Dallin Hall] is deserving of whatever you typically write about him. But [Mallory], [Grunloh], and [De Ridder], they will stick it in your ear if you don't have a plan. And I thought George did a really good job. I thought Elijah [Saunder], for the most part, did a really good job. But similar to what Gene was saying, if they're so good behind the arc, there's a little bit of - so what's your decision going to be at the rim? And that was some of the things that our coaches had been studying all week. Was your decision at the rim offensively? Because [Grunloh] and [Ugonna Onyenso] are, I think they're averaging 7.1 block shots going into tonight's game combined. And we count a block shot as a live ball turnover. And then the flip side of it is you have to make really difficult decisions defensively at the rim, because as soon as you converge on [De Ridder] who probably is demanding that [Grunloh], [Mallory] at times. [Jacari White] is a bucket wherever he's at on the floor. As soon as you make that rim decision, if it's the wrong decision, baby is hitting the three.”

On live ball turnovers impacting the game

“Well, just I wasn't brought up in this generation, but when I was growing up and trying to figure out how to do some of this, old school coaches, before there was all the software and money ball, they would say, you want to shoot more balls and you want to make more free throws than the opponent attempts. And the way you do that is, don't give the ball to the other team and the other thing is, if you want to be aggressive defensively, maybe you can take their ball. And then when the ball's in the air, you can't let them get it. And if you shoot it, try to get it more often than they do. And so we lost by eight, and they shot 12 more balls, and it was a push on the free throws. When you're playing a top 20 team, 12 more balls, when you're as potent offensively as they are. So they turn the ball over 10% of the time. We turn the ball over 23% of the time. That's a high tax to pay. When you got the ball and you give it to the other team 23% of the time. The weight that that carries on you the other 77% of your possessions. And then to your point, and that was part of some of the things that we studied. They were averaging, forcing 11.2 turnovers and 7.1 blocks. So we're at 18.3. So 18 times Virginia doesn't allow a shot. That doesn't mean that every turnover is a live ball. And so tonight we have 19 turnovers and four blocks and 15 of the 19 are our live ball. So we got the ball 19 times, and we gave it to them, either on the ground or in the air…I know I grew up in a small town and went to a community college - that's bad math no matter where you went to school. It's just hard. And I've got to do a better job helping our guys not give the ball to the other team. And in some ways, four blocked shots is 60% of what they've been doing. So some of our rim decisions offensively, for us, against them, they were better. They were better. Michigan had six blocks tonight. Virginia, who's slightly better, only had four. That's [an] improvement. We were so much better. The reason why four times it was a game against Michigan is we played with our lowest turnover rate and tonight we may have played with our highest turnover rate. And the types of turnovers when they're live you, it just correlates. And we're going to give up threes and Gene [Wang] is going to say why’d they score so many points?”

Whether any memories, nostalgia being back at Virginia as former VT head coach

“It's been a lot transpire in good ways, a lot of emotion. Playing in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, that was kind of strange, taking the family picture with my children here. If you look back at those family pictures we took before we played here the five years we were at [Virginia] Tech and see the ages of our children and how blessed we have been. This is the first time that I've played here when Coach [Tony] Bennett wasn't the coach here, and Coach [Ryan] Odom is going to do just as good a job as coach did…the ACC, Maryland, Virginia, and I wasn't a part of that, but I'm aware of that. So, yeah, there was a lot of like storylines in my heart, in a good way.”

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