Can you talk about that Vasquez shot that gave them a two possession lead?

It was a good bounce for him. Guys are going to make shots. There’s really nothing you can do about it.

You’ve played against him for four years. Can you talk about him as a competitor and his game?

He’s a good player. He plays with a lot of emotion. He makes their team go. He’s the guy for their team.

Talk about the start that they got off to and how you guys bounced back and made it the game that it was.

Well, we knew they made every shot and we missed every shot, but we were getting good looks. We knew that was their best punch that they could throw so we felt confident. That was a big stretch there at the end of the first half. Just to get some shots together. Then we thought we were in good shape going into halftime, after taking Maryland’s best punch.

Speaking of punches, that was kind of punch and counter punch there at the end, do you feel you got the looks that you wanted there at the end?

Yeah, I mean I had a wide open three there at the end, when we were down by two off of a ball screen. Next time, we got the ball back and Nolan had a pretty good look. I mean those are good shots and then we’re down six and I missed a lay-up and so those are all good shots. We just needed to make a couple of them.

The threes sort of brought you back in the first half and it seems like they may have tripped you guys up in the second half.

Yeah, I don’t know. I thought we took good shots, for the most part, you know. They just didn’t go, but we’ll shoot them any day. We feel confident in continuing to shoot those.

That atmosphere tonight was just unbelievable with it being Vasquez’ last game and everything else. Do you feel like you’ll have a similar atmosphere on Saturday for you, Lance, and Brian?

Yeah, I think so. Our fans are unbelievable. You always need to move on the next game obviously, but we really wanted to win this game and it was a great atmosphere. You know that it’ll be just like that for us on Saturday.

What’s it like when people are screaming expletives at you for four years like they have?

It’s fine, you know. At this point, I don’t even hear anything to be honest with you at this point. They’ve been doing the same thing for four years and we’ve gotten wins, you know. I just wish we could’ve come out with a win this time.

Despite the first game, did you expect this kind of performance from Maryland this time?

Oh, yeah, we knew this was going to be a war. They’re obviously a lot better at home and it meant a lot to them, just like it meant a lot to us. We knew it was going to be a tough game.

The ACC Championship is still there. What’s your mindset about it right and preparing for another big game in just a few days?

Just to move on. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves or anything. We just need to move onto Saturday and get that win. We just need to get that win and can’t worry about what Maryland does. It’s just on us to get a win on Saturday.

How hard is it to bounce back from an emotional loss and play your biggest rival in the Tobacco Road showdown, which is going to be one of the biggest games of the year? Do you think you guys can bounce back? Are you going to have a hard time getting a recharge for that game?

Well, it’s obviously not easy to move on from a game like this. You know a game that you want really bad and it’s a tough way to lose, but we’ll move on. We know that Saturday is even a bigger game for us now. It’s a huge game for us and we’ll be ready to go. There’s no doubt that.

Does your stomach sink in the final seconds of a game like this? Knowing that their fans are going to rush.

Yeah, you know, it’s just not a good feeling. You know it’s a game we had. We were right there, back and forth over the last couple of minutes. They got a couple of tosses, which went in. We’ve got to give them credit. It’s obviously a game that you really want to win.

Despite the loss, is this what March is supposed to feel like?

Yeah, you know, if worse comes to worst, we’ll hopefully, I know, we’ll learn from this game. I know guys wanted this one bad, including myself. This will make us better, but we need to move on.