More from the players after Maryland basketball cruised to a 24-point win over Bucknell as forward Tafara Gapare and guard Selton Miguel break down the performance:
Gapare on his poster dunk in the Bucknell win
“To be honest with you, I landed on top of him, so I was just already there. Had to find my way out of there. Their whole team came together.”
Gapare on whether that was his best in-game dunk
“Yeah, it's probably the best one I had in game and practice too.”
Gapare on to have a breakout game in Jordan Geronimo’s absence
“I think my teammates could probably speak for this too, trying to find myself in practice and find what I do best and just keep doing the same thing every day. For me, it's a consistency thing.”
Miguel on a season-high 12 made three-point shots
“We emphasize a lot of threes in practice. Coach Willard just tells us every time we’re open just be confident and shoot. It was a lot of space open, especially in that [2-3 zone]. So we just taken advantage of it.”
Miguel on the added confidence when the team shoots well
“Just step into the line and take the three. Just be able to be able to be comfortable and just shoot. Every game is different so it’s just taking advantage of it.”
Gapare on whether there was moment it clicked during the Bucknell win
“After the second three, I kind of felt a lot of confidence in myself, and just I [didn’t] really try to force things. Just let the ball come to me, let the shots come to me as we go into offense.”
Miguel on the full court-press
“We try to recognize our team as defense, be a defensive team, because that press opens up a lot of things for us. No matter if we down ten or up ten, we gonna keep pressing the whole time. Coach Willard really emphasizes every day, just make sure we give the first bump so you know we’re here.”
Gapare on how it feels when Willard calls plays for him
“Call your number. Execute and make a shot.”
Miguel on balancing taking a bad shot vs. turnover
“I mean, we’d much rather take a quick shot than get a turnover because even if you take a quick shot, we might be able to get the rebound. Turnovers, other team will get the ball so we might as well do that.”
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