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27.03.2006
Postgame Quotes: Manhattan 87, Maryland 84
We knew [Manhattan's] guards were good coming into the game, and we didn't do a very good job of stopping them, especially in the first half. You have to give Manhattan credit. They stayed tough the whole game, even when we were making some good runs. We just made some plays that didn't allow us to win the game. Manhattan certainly played with a lot of emotion, and that can make the difference in college basketball."
On the seniors:
"I told our seniors that they accomplished some good things here. They won an ACC Tournament and made a Sweet 16. The last two years have been the NIT, and that's part of the process as you go through college, to take the good and the bad and become a tougher person. They'll leave here and hopefully have a lot of success in whatever path their career takes. For all of those guys, including Chris McCray, I hope they are very successful."
On coming out flat:
"We knew that this was going to be a hard game to play. We knew the students weren't going to be here, and we knew Manhattan was going to be ready, and we had to match that from the beginning. We couldn't do that."
On the prospects for next season:
"I know what it takes to win, and it's up to each individual player to make that happen. We have to earn the right to be a good team. We have several returning players that got a lot of experience as sophomores and juniors, and we have four new players coming in that want to get things done. Hopefully that becomes infectious. We have the opportunity to be a good basketball team next year, but we have to start working towards that in April."
On returning players for next year:
"[Ekene] Ibekwe and James Gist give you two players with size that have some experience now. D.J. Strawberry has some room to improve, but he showed that he can handle some pressure for us this year. Handling the ball made him that much better as a guard. Hopefully Mike Jones realizes how close he is to being a really great player. Those are all things that you can build on."
Maryland Forward Nik Caner-Medley
On his final game as a Terp:
"Every team, unless you win the national championship, is going to be disappointed because there are only two teams, with the NIT, who end with a win. We're disappointed to end the year with a loss and the only way we couldn't have done that is if we won it. Obviously that was not the case."
On evaluating this season:
"Any time you don't achieve a goal you have to look within yourself and as a team, if a guy is coming back next year, at things you can do better."
Maryland Guard D.J. Strawberry
On improving for next year:
"We have to make basketball the number one thing in our life, from here until the end of next season, because the seniors only have one year left. If we want to make it happen, this is our last chance."
On playing Manhattan:
"It was a matter of coming out and being ready. They came out and jumped on us early, and when a team like that has confidence and has good guard play, we're going to be in trouble for the rest of the night. We really didn't have our heads into it and we made silly plays the entire game. It was a frustrating game. We had lay-ups that we should have made. It was frustrating because we're a better team than that and we definitely should have beat them. They just outplayed us today. "
Maryland Guard Mike Jones
On playing Manhattan:
"Everybody wants to play in the NCAA Tournament. Playing in the NIT was not one of our goals, but at the same time, we wanted to win. This team just wanted it a little more than we did. They were knocking down key shots and they were a little more aggressive than we were. It's basically little things we're going to have to change for next year to get our team to where we want to be."
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