Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon met with reporters Friday to preview the Terps' next game versus No. 6 Michigan Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
Read what Turgeon had to say about his team ahead of their game with the Wolverines below.
On Aaron Wiggins’ assertiveness as a shooter:
“We see it in practice. It’s getting more comfortable in the games. But yeah, he has been aggressive. He was really aggressive the other night. I actually didn’t love his first shot but he made it from the top of the key down there, but we need him to be aggressive. We’re much better when we have five guys in double figures than when we have two. He knows that. We’re always trying to get better offensively. The league is so well-coached and so well-scouted we have to constantly try to stay ahead of it. Now that we have a little bit more time in between games, we have a chance to tweak a few things, which I think has helped Aaron.”
On what the Terps can do offensively based on the way teams are guarding them:
“I think Stix is a guy who can be more consistent for us, and then Aaron. And then Serrell [Smith] can really score. He just really hasn’t had the opportunities. But Serrel puts up buckets in practice and he makes good decisions. But I think Serrel, Aaron and Stix are all guys that can help us. And to be honest with you, Ricky [Lindo] is a much better offensive player. He’s just trying so hard to do the right things and not hurt the team. But as his career goes on, and hopefully this season, he becomes more of a scorer for us.”
On Bruno Fernando’s evolution as a passer out of the post:
“He was so good offensively he kind of made it happen. He was shooting, what, 82 percent there for a while? So teams eventually were like, ‘well, we better double him.’ And much like last year, the game was too fast for him when he was getting doubled-teamed. Now, the game has slowed down for him. He still gets tired and when he gets tired he’ll make a bad decision out of the double team, but for the most part he’s seeing it and the other guys are getting to the right spots. He likes it. He gets double-teamed every day in practice. He gets double-teamed in games, so I think it has just become very natural for him. And he recognizes it quickly, which is good.”
On how comfortable he is with Stix shooting threes:
“I’m very comfortable with him shooting threes. I didn’t like the one where we had a post-up play called for Bruno and he was struggling a little bit. I didn't like that one and I told him and he gets it. But we’re really hard to guard when he starts knocking down some threes. The good thing is that he got 14 shots up, so Stix is getting more involved in our offense, which is what we need. And it just takes time when you have so many new guys to implement them and figure out what we’re doing. Stix is getting more aggressive, but we like him shooting threes. We think he’s going to make them. He has proven over his career that he can make threes.”
On what makes Michigan so tough defensively:
“I think what makes them good is they’re really long and they’re athletic. They’re 6-foot-7, 6-foot-6, 6-foot-8, at the two, three, and four, and then their center is 7-foot-1. And then their point guard is as tough as my point guard, Anthony. So tough little kid who can really guard. So they have a lot of toughness to them. They hired a guy and he’s a good coach and they’re really good defensively. So it’s just getting used to how they’re going to guard us. Are they going to switch every screen? Are they just going to switch handoffs? Ball-screens? We’ll find out. They’re going to switch something, so it’s just about getting used to it and taking advantage of what’s given to us. But they’re good defensively and they really improved as the year went on last year. They’ve hung their hat on their defense quite a bit this year.”
On the value of playing well away from home so far this year and playing well in Ann Arbor in the past:
“We have such a new team, but we’re comfortable on the road. So it is what it is. And you should be this time of year. We’re young and my young kids have grown up, but we know how good they are, especially in that building. We’ve played well there and I expect to play well [Saturday] and I expect Michigan to play well, so it should be a great college basketball game.”
On if he’s surprised with the success his team has had so far this season:
“If you looked at our road schedule when it’s done. We’ll have played seven of the top eight teams (in the conference) on the road, and we’re the other team of that eight. So that’s tough for our schedule. But has it surprised me? Yeah, a little bit. I mean, it all started at Purdue. Our guys really dug in there and I think that gave them a lot of confidence because that building is electric. So terrific building, a really good team. I think that game gave us confidence moving forward.”
On what he can take away from teams who have beat Michigan this season:
“Well, every game is different. We’re all copycats. We all try to steal. We watch a lot of film, so you see what works. But then again, Michigan is probably working on what Penn State did to them, so they’re trying to get better. So we’ll do what we do. It has been pretty successful. But we’re always trying to watch teams that have success against teams (we’re about to play) to see if there’s something we might steal that helps us.”
