Elijah Saunders, Darius Adams talk Maryland's exhibition win, three-point shooting, conditioning

Ahmed Ghafir
5 minutes ago
4 min read

Everything that freshman guard Darius Adams and senior forward Elijah Saunders said after Maryland men’s basketball’s 82-81 exhibition win vs. UMBC:

Darius Adams on playing 40 minutes in his first college game

“Coach Buzz prepares us for that. I mean, I'm just doing whatever the team needs, of course, what the coach needs. We got a couple guys out, so I just got to step up. And we're prepared for that. We're prepared to play 40 minutes. We do conditioning every day.”

Adams on confidence gained after hitting game-sealing free throws

“I guess, yeah. I guess it would give me confidence. But, I knew I was gonna make those free throws going in. I just, I missed a lot of free throws in the last scrimmage that we had. So I've been working on it all week, so going into that was just mainly just focused and locked in on winning the game.”

Saunders on his first vs. second half performance

“I would just say settling in. We've been doing a lot of things on offense, so kind of trying to find my spot, be confident in the spots that I'm in, and just being more aggressive.”

Adams on his takeaways from the game

“I think our defense needs to get needs to get better. I think our physicality needs to get better. That's all the things we talk about. So it's mainly just, working on the things we talk about every day and getting the reps through practice, but we're going to be better.”

Adams as his role in the exhibition with guys out

“I didn't really feel that way. I just felt like it was a game and people were out, so I need to step up. Yeah, I don't think - I think it was just a regular game for me and just trying to go out there and do what I do.”

Saunders on the first game inside Xfinity Center

“I would say I'm just proud of the way some of the younger guys competed, me and Pharrel [Payne] being the only seniors that played, non-freshman that played a lot of minutes tonight, just proud of those guys and their confidence and kind of adjusting when guys come back, new guys are out. I feel like the theme this preseason has just been whoever's available, you get opportunity to try to prove that you deserve to play.”

Saunders on Myles Rice

“I would say I had heard about Myles story before we'd even came here, being at San Diego State. He was at Washington State, kind of West Coast, but just his energy every day. I mean, he was out today and he was in every huddle. He was letting his voice be heard. And he's just a confident person and he tries to breed confidence in the others. And you can tell that he's very mature with how he speaks.”

Saunders on the team’s conditioning

“I would definitely say boot camp has a positive impact on us, even I was thinking when I was inbounding the ball one time, how many times I've done an inbound from one of the drills we have. But it just builds resilience, builds confidence in each other. And when times get hard, we can just rely on - we've done harder things than what's at hand.”

“I would say it's a great way to get to know your teammates fast and how they compete, how they are when things get hard, and who's a natural leader, but also gives you confidence in yourself that, like I said, when things get hard, you know you can fall back on we’ve had harder times than that.”

Adams on transitioning to Maryland

“It's been great teammates. Been great summer preseason was great. Buzz is hard on you, but it's what I need. So I'm just, I'm ready for the season. I'm ready to play with these guys, and I'm ready to win with these guys.”

Saunders on his veteran role

“For myself, I'd say I got to be better in that role. Like I said, we only had a lot of freshmen playing tonight, and kind of being an example more of, I feel like I got time tonight, like you said in the first half, I wasn't kind of in the flow of the game and just stepping up and being a leader that we need me to be.”

Saunders on Aleks Alston

“His improvement has been really impressive. From the time that he got here to the start of boot camp and individuals to now, he's changed a lot and how hard he competes, and he's only gonna get better. He's so talented. I mean, he's 6-foot-10, can shoot the three, can get to the rim, can offensive rebound, so I'm excited to see how he embraces his role.”

Adams on three point shooting

“I think playing inside-out is going to help us do that. Pharrell is one of the best big men in the country, so just feeding him and having people double him and then they kick out. I think that that's just going to help our confidence.”

Adams on his intention to get downhill, whether he played more aggressive than usual in his debut

“No, I think I'm always that aggressive.”

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