Saturday, November 11, 2017

Kevin Willard quote book: FDU

*All quotes courtesy of Seton Hall's Facebook Live stream, joined in progress

Presumably on the makeup of his team and their efforts Friday:
"These guys enjoy passing, they enjoy making the extra pass. And then when you have four or five guys that can score, it usually leads to -- you get more assists when you have guys making shots who can finish."

On concern during FDU's 12-5 run to start the game:
"I like (Mike) Holloway a lot as a player, but he banked in a three and then he hit a 17-footer and you're kind of like -- I knew once we got to the first timeout, 'alright, just kind of relax, everybody take a deep breath, you have four seniors out there and a sophomore. They're gonna take care of business.' They settled down, they did a good job, and I thought the young kids came in and did a very good job."

On using a full court press:
"This was because he (FDU head coach Greg Herenda) had a freshman point guard (Jahlil Jenkins) and (Darian) Anderson was not playing, so the goal today was I wanted to speed him up. I have a lot of -- I think Jenkins is going to be a very good player for them. His stats in the two -- in the exhibition -- I forget who they played, and Fairfield, they were very good. He had very good stats. Knowing that they didn't have Anderson, (I wanted to) pressure him, speed him up a bit, try to get him worn out. That was kind of the plan. We knew we'd give up some shots, but to wear him down."

On how he sees Seton Hall's press translating through the year:
"Just a bit. I really do that, in all honesty, game to game. If I feel that we have an advantage, we could take advantage of somebody, then we'll be a little more aggressive. If I feel that they've got two little quick guards that are going to wear my guys out, then there's no point in doing it, so it's just a game-by-game thing."

On whether or not opening night went as he had scripted it:
"Yeah, I think ten guys (with) double-digit minutes considering a quick turnaround Sunday, getting the older guys' feet wet a bit, getting the younger guys comfortable, I thought it was -- Greg's teams always play hard, always defend, they're always well-coached, so to play as well as we played, with 22 assists, I'm pretty happy with that."

On Myles Cale and his debut:
"Yeah, I mean -- Myles, he's a good player. There's a reason why he was a Top 50 kid. He's -- for a kid -- again, what's impressive about Myles is that for a kid who had surgery in April and not to start practice until October 7, he's really worked hard to get his game back to -- I don't think it's where it was before he got hurt, but as he gets more comfortable, I think you're going to see a really good player."

On using different combinations at different times:
"I think I stayed pretty close to the groups, first and second unit, for the most part. That first unit was together, that's the unit that practices together. The second unit is -- I think they played most of the time together. I'm trying to keep those groups together because they're comfortable with each other because of practice. I'm sure as the season goes on, we'll mix and match a little bit more, though."

On Greg Herenda's assessment that Seton Hall was akin to a fine bottle of wine:
"I don't drink fine bottles of wine, so I'm not quite sure I know what that is. We're aged, let's put it that way. I'll take an aged steak. I haven't eaten today. I think we're definitely -- when you have as many seniors as we have, five of them -- redshirt junior, you have a lot of confidence in the fact that you know that they're going to get things done that they need to get done, and I think the younger kids see that, and I think they're feeding off that a little bit."

On benching Romaro Gill and whether or not he will redshirt:
"No, coach's decision."

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