GEICO PLAYERS ERA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 25, 2025

Buzz Williams

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Maryland Terrapins

Postgame Press Conference

Gonzaga - 100, Maryland - 61

Q. What went wrong tonight, and how much of what went wrong tonight was you guys not doing what you needed to do versus Gonzaga just being a really good basketball team?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: I would say probably both. They are incredibly good. And I think relative to the infancy of where we're at, as difficult as this is, playing in a tournament like this affords us an opportunity to diagnose even more at a faster rate. And none of that is fun.

But to be able to play a team that's good enough to win the national championship in the fourth week of the season, there's a lot for us to grow from. And to some degree, without being too simplistic, the best thing may be that we're going to play in 24 hours.

So without the schemes and the strategies involved and whatever that opponent will be, how will we respond to what just transpired?

And, so, I will always give credit to the opponent. They made us not play well. But our urgency and our response in not playing well is not near at the standard that it's going to have to become.

Q. Myles, basically his minutes were cut in half from yesterday. Was that related to him still working back from the injury or was it more on-court-related?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: I think he's probably getting healthier. I don't think it would be Myles or any other person. We tried to alt people, with some layer of lack of success.

And so as this unfolds, whoever that group is, however old they are, however many days they've practiced or games they've played, we've got to find the right combination. Whether that includes Myles or not, we're not at the point where we weigh that. But who can help us, who can impact winning on both sides of the ball.

Q. Gonzaga knocked down a season-high 14 3s tonight. Kind of what was the game plan defensively, and what went wrong in defending the pockets?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Of all of the things that they're the best at, shooting the 3 was what they were worst at, and they weren't terrible. I think they were 208th in 3-point percentage entering today's game.

34, 14, commands so much presence inside. And I thought our plan was right. Our execution of the plan wasn't great. And then it kind of just disintegrated on being able to do one or the other.

Q. Wanted to touch on the turnovers. 20 last night, 18 tonight. What sort of pace do you hope to play at and hope to cut down on those moving forward?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: We need to shorten the game. I don't know the overall possession count. At halftime, I thought the pace was probably a bit our way. I think there were 32 possessions at half. We finished the game, it looks like, we had 70, they had 79. It's because we're giving them the ball too much.

But in Vegas, we have had a turnover-rate problem and that correlates with many other things that we're struggling with.

Giving the ball to the other team 20 percent of the time is not just one person, it's our group. And, so, we're playing in a broken floor, we're playing in transition defense too much. And however we can shorten the game, regardless of the pace, we can't give the ball to the other team at the rate we are.

Q. Anything that encouraged you from tonight? Stupid question in a 40-point game. But anything you're feeling better about?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: I think our urgency has to increase. I thought the two timeouts in the first half, the first one was similar to what happened when we played Georgetown at home. We didn't step towards the competition. The competition stepped towards us.

And then I thought we kind of settled down. I thought the first A.T.O. of the second half, I think they outscored us by three. But I thought there was remnants of, okay, we're doing okay. Offensively, we weren't giving them the ball, but we weren't getting any stops.

So, anytime you get beat as bad as we did, there's not just one problem and there's multiple things to look at.

I think that, like I mentioned at the start, as discouraging as it is, it's encouraging that we get a chance to respond tomorrow. And how we go about the response is probably more important than the outcome of this game. And I think that's the next step for us is we did an okay job in some ways yesterday against UNLV. Not many things that we did well, if you lose like we did tonight.

So how are we going to respond 24 hours later? And like I mentioned, playing in an event like this, that's going to be exposed. And when you're playing a team like Gonzaga, there's nothing that you can hide because they are so good. And you are going to be exposed. And we were exposed on multiple levels. And that's the ownership we have to have. And that includes me.

Q. Do you think Maryland fans are excited to see Solomon Washington back, dressed and warming up? I know the privacy considerations you take there, but the [inaudible]?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: It's ongoing. It's not that I'm never trying to hide anything from anybody. I do want to be somewhat of a layer of protection for our medical staff and all of the things that transpire privately, and also for Sol and for his mom.

But I think he's making progress. But this has been an ongoing deal for seven weeks. But similar to what I said when Myles was out and we've had other guys out, I also don't want to create this expectation that that's going to change everything.

We have multiple things that we have to improve at. Do I think he will help us? Yes. Do I think one person is going to answer all of these lists of things that we need improvement at? No.

Q. I don't think we've asked you about Pharrel these last two days. How do you think he's looked coming back?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: I'm so thankful that he's playing. The angle that I had on Saturday -- I guess that was last Saturday -- it was gruesome in regards to the fall. And that's the first time I had seen him in on the ground like that in practice or a game.

Then obviously, they took him to the hospital. And so that took some time before all that was completely diagnosed. Very thankful that he's playing.

I think he does command a presence. I think the thing that he has to help us at more in the minutes that he played tonight, he's got to help us on the glass more. He's getting fouled at a high rate. He's doing a good job scoring.

His turnover rate is way too high. And then we need him to help us on both sides of the ball from a rebounding standpoint.

But I also didn't think he would be back as fast as he is. And so that's a credit to the medical staff and all the things that have transpired since he got hurt.