Everything Maryland Said After Alabama Ran Away From the Terps in Indianapolis

Maryland ended the season 17-14 while making the program's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in six seasons. The Terps rallied from a 4-9 start in conference play to earn the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament while knocking off four ranked teams on the way.

Aaron Wiggins scored 27 points and Eric Ayala had 13 for Maryland (17-14), which was seeking its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2015 and 15th overall. The Terps defeated UConn 63-54 in their opening-round game on Saturday night.

Here's what Maryland had to say after the 96-77 loss in Indianapolis:

Coach Mark Turgeon

It's not the way we wanted to go out, obviously. We started well. I think we were up 12-4. And the game got away from us. But I think Alabama was terrific. Quinerly was off the charts. I mean, he controlled the whole game. We couldn't keep him in front of us. And nine assists at halftime. Not sure what he ended up with. I think they made 16 3s. They shot the heck out of it. They haven't been shooting it well lately, but they shot it well today.

And we're a good defensive team but we were just a step slow all night. We never could get caught up with their offense. So our offense was good enough at times for us. It just we just couldn't guard them. But give them credit. There's a reason they won the league and won that conference tournament. They're a heck of a team. I said before the game they were the fifth No. 1 seed in my mind and they played like it tonight. They were terrific.

Q. You mentioned Jahvon Quinerly and how much he attacked off the dribble. Do you think that was just a byproduct of the guys not being in the right spots and not being quick enough defensively or do you think that was just his explosive quickness from the point guard position?

COACH TURGEON: Probably not quick enough would be an answer, but also you've got a lot of really good shooters around him. They were all making shots. It's hard to come help. They spaced the floor well. And some teams will have one guy out there that can't shoot. And you can come help. And they were all making shots tonight. So it made it difficult for us.

Were we a little out of kilter, a little bit out of it? Yeah, and I think it took our mojo a little bit when they just kept making them. The start of the second half it felt like everything they threw up went in. And so, yeah, it took a little bit of our mojo out of us. But I think they were really good and we were just a little bit off our game. But you've got to give them credit.

Q. How much do you think the lack of depth kind of hurt you guys when Alabama is running and gunning like that and really just being able to sub in and play as fast as they wanted tonight?

COACH TURGEON: Well, Charles Barkley will say it: You are who you are; you are what your record is. And we are who we are. Certain teams we can match up with and really guard and figure out how to win games. And certain teams that were elite, like Alabama was tonight, was tough for us.

So, yeah, we couldn't sub. I subbed in that first half and the game got way from us. And guys got tired. We had a couple of guys that didn't play up to their potential tonight, which is disappointing.

But we are who we are. We talked about it all year. So it doesn't take away how proud I am of this group and what we accomplished this year and the fight we had. And we could have quit many times; we could have went a lot of different directions. But we stayed the right direction.

And we were able to get here and win an NCAA Tournament game when we were picked 12th and looked like our season was over in late January, early February. And we just to get here and be a part of this game says a lot about the young men in the locker room.

One, that we never had a positive COVID test. One, that we showed up for every game to play. That our coaches never had a COVID problem. We sacrificed a lot. So they're going to look at the record and say, oh, man we were 24-7 and this team was 17-14. But I think this team's going to be remembered for just unbelievable grit, unbelievable fight, unbelievable sacrifice.

We had Hakim Hart move to point guard just because we had to. We had Donta move to center just because we had to. And a lot of guys sacrificed -- coaches, players, managers. So many people sacrificed for this to happen.

So, I'm proud of every team. But this one will -- this takes it to another level for me. I always remember this team what they went through, how we fought. And we could have quit easily and never did. We were able to play in this game. Didn't play well we were able to be in a final 32 game with a chance to play in the Sweet 16 when it was a rebuilding year. I know I answered more than your question but I had to get that out.

Q. In the coming days, weeks, months, whenever when you think back on this team what are you going to remember the most?

COACH TURGEON: I think what I'm going to remember most is that we figured it out. And, so, like we kept losing and I'd look at my upper classmates and I'd say, guys, I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to figure out how we're going to be the best team we can be. Just stick with me, do what I ask.

And we did it. And we started on the defensive end. And to not have a shot blocker, which was really evident tonight, you know, we did some amazing things. We never became a great rebounding team. We were below-average all year, but on the defensive end we became a really, really, really good basketball team. It started there.

And just the fight. Just great leadership of Darryl Morsell and Aaron Wiggins and Eric Ayala, just to never give in. Just a, all right, guys, we're going to do this. We're going to practice hard. They brought it every day.

I learned a lot about coaching. I learned a lot about myself. I think I became a better coach this year because of the things I had to go through.

So, that's how I'm going to remember it. It's a team that I'm going to be really proud of and it's the building blocks hopefully for a better season next year. So we could have went the other way. It's easy to go the other way. We didn't do it. We kept fighting. And just really proud.

Q. It seems like when a team plays so fast it can unravel equally as fast. Especially at the beginning of the second half, what's going through your mind, what's it like when you're kind of watching it totally get away from you?

COACH TURGEON: I had to use two timeouts in the first half and probably waited too long on the first one. And the second one I was down 15. I almost had to call another one. We just couldn't get anything going offensively during that stretch either and they were making some tough ones. They're good when they get going. They haven't been shooting the ball that well the last few games -- the SEC Tournament. They haven't been shooting the ball well. Tonight they made some tough ones.

We knew they could make them. It wasn't like, there's certain guys we wanted to shoot it, and there's certain guys we didn't want to shoot it. But I just thought Quinerly was -- their best player didn't play. And so instead of playing through him they played through Quinerly. And it actually -- they probably learned a lot about their team tonight, too, which might help them moving forward.

It's no fun, especially for the last eight or nine weeks, we've been able to guard everybody but Michigan and maybe Ohio State at home, we've been able to guard pretty well. There was no answers tonight. We really had no answer.

Q. Specifically that first sub, usually you might bring in Galin and Jairus in at the same time or one of the two. But you brought in all three of the subs. Seemed like that was kind of different from what you do normally. Could you explain that?

COACH TURGEON: There wasn't a dead ball until almost the 13-minute mark and our guys were tired. That's why I did it. I probably should have called timeout earlier, but I didn't. You've got to play your guys. I mean, only got a few of them. Gotta play them, gotta give them a chance.

Q. What did you sort of tell your guys, especially like Darryl Morsell there in the locker room, this possibly being his last game? I know he could come back next year. But especially after such a loss like this.

COACH TURGEON: What I told him is don't let this night ruin what we've accomplished. I mean, as coaches you know and as players you know how hard it is to win. So we ran into a hot team that played extraordinarily well. So we kept battling. It wasn't like we stopped trying. We just couldn't guard them.

Our offense was pretty good. We had ten assists on three turnovers in the first half. I don't know what it ended up because I just left the meeting. But I told our guys, don't let this night ruin what you accomplished. Let's talk about all the great things. I said earlier -- and I went through every senior and all the players -- and I love 'em and love being the leader of this program.

And we could have gone -- we could have quit -- I'm telling you, it was dismal. And losing is no fun. And we didn't have a ton of confidence. And we just kept battling. We just kept trying to figure it out. And we had some really good stretches. We became more consistent. And I think they're going to be remembered as a team that sacrificed, was undersized, guys played out of position, and they went to the final 32. Right? I mean, come on.

We weren't a Final Four team. Come on, let's be real. And I think we maximized this team extremely well. And that's what I told them. I said you guys need to walk out of this building with your head up and proud of what you accomplished, because a lot of teams would kill to be where we were. There's 359 teams. There was only 32 playing this week, this last two days. And we were one of them. And it was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

I told Darryl, I didn't think Darryl was going to be player of the year and 1,000-point scorer. Reese Mona was incredible. Galin Smith is a guy that we respect like crazy; I feel bad for him because came from Alabama. But, hey, you can't control everything. We're not control; God's in control. But I'm really proud of this group, and I'm proud of every group but this one will have a special place in my heart as I grow older.

Darryl Morsell

Q. For you, just what were the emotions on the court after the game and kind of going into the locker room tonight?

DARRYL MORSELL: Just all so surreal. You know, this team, they fought. Everybody counted us out the whole year. We was 1-5, counted out. We was counted out before the year. We was 1-5 in Big Ten, counted out; 4-9 in the Big Ten, counted out. Lost our last two regular season games, still counted us out. So we just -- I just told everybody how proud of them I was. Never giving up. That showed a lot of character and just carry that same mindset in life. Words can't really explain it right now. But it was surreal.

Q. You just mentioned how you told the guys in the locker room how proud you were of them. Obviously not the result that you wanted tonight. But what do you think the legacy of this year's Maryland basketball team is going to be when you look back on the team and people outside of the program look back on this year's team?

DARRYL MORSELL: It's the grittiest group of guys I ever played basketball with. We were resilient. There's so many adjectives to describe this team. We are the smallest team in the best conference in the world, playing the best big men in the country that you could throw at us. And we just kept fighting.

I think we go down in my record books as the grittiest team ever to put on that Maryland jersey. I can't do nothing but applaud these guys. You know? Donta didn't come here to play center. We were all playing out of position. We're all sacrificing but we all put the team first. And I just applaud and appreciate everybody for that.

Q. Along with that, what do you think it says about this group about how you were able to get to this point in the season even if it wasn't the result you guys wanted? And just as a senior leader on this team, what did you kind of see in the resilience from a lot of the young guys?

DARRYL MORSELL: I said it earlier. We were on a roll against a ranked team, I forget who it was, but I said we're a team full of dogs. We've been fighting our whole life, everybody on this team. Fighting on the basketball court. That's nothing.

That's what we did every day. I really can't put it into words right now. But this team wasn't supposed to be here. You put us on paper. You ask anybody, we're not supposed to be here, man. But we're here. We kept fighting.

Coach Turgeon did a phenomenal job this year, with this group of guys. He made us better. And he brought the best out of every single one of us. And that's all I'm going to always remember about this team.

Q. I know the loss is still fresh, and obviously you're emotional, but what will the next couple of days and weeks look like in deciding whether to come back for another season?

DARRYL MORSELL: First, get the shoulder fix. I'm going take a couple of days to remember this time with my guys, take a couple of days off. But first thing first, I'm going to get my shoulder fixed. I gotta get surgery.

But then after that, I'm just taking it day by day. I really can't tell you. I wasn't expecting to lose today. You know me; I'm always thinking positive. I'm always thinking for the best. So I really can't tell you what the next couple weeks are going to look like. But the next couple of days I'm going to get my legs back under me, rest, see what I'm going to do about this shoulder, get surgery, and move on from there.

Q. Following up on the shoulder. What kind of surgery? What injury is that, and how have you been playing through it all year?

DARRYL MORSELL: I don't know the exact surgery. But it's a fracture in my labrum. And it's really nothing you could really do about it but just fight through it for real. And when I dislocated it, when I came back, the doctor said it's up to me if I could tolerate the pain. It's based on my tolerance or whatever. I just wanted to go out and fight for this group of guys and give it my all. So that's it.

Q. Obviously tonight Alabama really shot the heck out of the ball. When a team's able to get to point where they're able to throw pretty much anything up and walk to the other end of the floor, it's got to be difficult, I guess. What's your mindset playing against a team that just can't miss?

DARRYL MORSELL: Hmm, um, it's definitely something we haven't seen before. It's the first team all year to score 90 on us. They came in locked in, had a great game plan. They have great spacing on their drives. They look to attack mismatches. They found a rhythm. We got out early and then they found their rhythm, started hitting shots, and never stopped missing shots. So just a credit to them, credit to their culture and how they play. They are really good.

Q. With how bruising the Big Ten schedule was for the entire season but also in the final stretch with so many games postponed and rescheduled to the end, what kind of toll did that take on your team or the conference in general as you're heading into the biggest, most important part of the season, including the Big Dance?

DARRYL MORSELL: It's gruesome. The Big Ten is a gauntlet. Every game is a dogfight. No matter who you play, whether you're playing the worst team or the best team. It's going to be a game. Not too many blowups in the Big Ten. But I think it prepared us for the NCAA Tournament. This team has seen so many different teams creating that toughness and that resiliency to fight through adversity that we found. It's what you can ask for, growing up as a little kid, you just want to play basketball at the highest level. Big Ten is that for Division I. That's all I can say about the conference. It's crazy. And it prepared us.

Q. Obviously the emotions are heavy right now. But looking back on the season, and you mentioned how this was the grittiest group of guys you played with. What was your favorite memory of the season, which game for you kind of sold it on this team?

DARRYL MORSELL: Had a lot of memories. I'm trying to think. It's just so many good ones. It's crazy. But just all the talk leading up to the NCAA Tournament about us not being here, us not being able to do nothing, us -- just everybody doubting us. That win against UConn certainly felt good. But you know, we had a lot of great moments this year. The win at Illinois. Went on a five-game stretch. We was 4 and 9. Won five in a row. We locked in on five in a row.

There's so many memories from this team, it's crazy. Shucks. Just practices with these guys. Being in there, about the fight, and being gritty. I have so many memories with this team. I can't really point out one. But I know that I enjoyed all those memories. And I'm always going to cherish it with these guys. They helped me become a better basketball player and a better man. And that's all I could ask for.

Transcript courtesy of asapsports.com