N.C. State’s first-round ACC Tournament meeting with Maryland is stirring up some unpleasant memories of Terrapin guard Greivis Vasquez and the end of a 71-60 Wolfpack loss on March 1 at the RBC Center.
Vasquez upset N.C. State fans by taking – and making – a 3-point shot at the buzzer with Maryland leading by eight points. Vasquez apologized later.
The teams meet again at 7 p.m. Thursday.
During the ACC coaches’ teleconference Monday, Maryland coach Gary Williams said he told Vasquez that he shouldn’t have taken the shot. But Williams indicated that Vasquez was reacting to some harsh words from the fans at the RBC Center.
“I just want to leave it at this,” Williams said. “There were some things said to Greivis that weren’t very nice during the game, which anybody that was at the game heard them, I believe, if you were sitting on press row or whatever.
“So Greivis shouldn’t have taken the shot, but at the same time I understand his feelings at the end of that game.”
N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said he didn’t like seeing Vasquez shoot at the buzzer. But Lowe was disappointed with his players for relaxing before the game ended and was more upset about losing in general.
“If I’m out there on the floor, I’m not going to let a guy just shoot it. I’m going to stay there,” said Lowe, a former Wolfpack point guard. “And that’s what I told my team. You stay there until the horn blows, and you won’t be (faced) with that situation.
“But you’ve got to play. I’m not blaming him for doing it. He did it. He wanted to score. That’s the way he is. He’s very aggressive, very confident, very cocky in all the positive ways for him to help them play as well as he does. You’ve got to have that same edge and that same attitude, and when you know you’re playing against someone like that, then you’ve got to be prepared for that.”
Monday, March 9, 2009
Williams: Vasquez was heckled at RBC
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4 comments:
Shame that the Wolfies were not playing nice and being mean to a visiting ACC team. Maybe Gary Williams could use the UMD Crowd as a role model for behavior as well for the rest of the league. Vasquez, what goes around, comes around...
This story is a joke. I am tired of the whole "they're picking on me" excuse. There are people who are going to talk at each and every arena in the ACC. Not saying it's appropriate, but it's going to happen and Vasquez using that as an excuse is juvenile. Pot... kettle...
I had courtside seats to the first round NCAA Tournament game between Davidson and Maryland in '07 up in Buffalo. Vasquez is an absolute piece of trash who runs his mouth and absolutely LOVES the back-and-forth with opposing fans. Not only did the guy shout at fans before the game began, he also jabbered with fans throughout the game.
Thank you! Maryland players are notorious trash-talkers and basically deserve whatever gets said back to them. Vasquez in particular is absolute low class on and off the court. I don't buy his sob story.
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