Kevin Willard quote book: Louisville

On whether close losses like this are to be expected with this year's Seton Hall team:
"They're a good basketball team, so I was proud of our guys' effort, I was proud of the way they battled, but that's a good basketball team and Chris is a good basketball coach. You saw the game kind of very even just because I thought both teams were very even."

On differences down the stretch:
"I think offensively, we've got to learn at times -- especially at home, it seems to have happened two times that we've been home -- just kind of understanding when to run offense, when to kind of be more aggressive, and I think that's something that -- we got some good looks late and we got to the rim twice, missed a couple of layups, but I thought we took a couple of shots during the first half stretch and during the second half stretch that kind of -- we were up eight, up nine -- that let them get in transition and let them get some easy looks."

On challenges when scoring is hard to come by:
"In the Miami game, we missed four layups. I think the biggest thing is other guys have to get a little bit more confident in the fact that they're going to have to make a play. I think that's -- Q got to the rim twice, Myles Cale got to the rim three times -- it's obviously tough because you want your main guy to have the rock, but those guys have to continue to get confidence that they're going to get opportunities to make plays. And I think in the Miami game, we missed a dunk, we missed a layup, we had a turnover right by the rim. And then tonight, we took a couple of bad shots and then we had a couple of shots at the rim that we just didn't make."

"The biggest thing I'm getting used to is from an offensive standpoint is not having the ability to throw the basketball inside as much as we did late in games last year. It was just something that -- I talked to Angel out in California and I said, 'it's good to see my security blanket again.' That's something that I think we're going to work on over the next couple of weeks, just trying to get the basketball inside a little bit just so we can get pressure towards the basket without it having to be a drive. I love Q's aggressiveness, I thought Anthony Nelson had some chances at the rim, but those are freshmen, those are guys that haven't played a whole lot, so the more situations they get to do it, the more confidence they have. I have confidence in them. I wouldn't call a pick-and-roll for Q if I didn't think he could make a play."

On potential turning points after going up nine:
"(Ryan) McMahon hit a couple of big ones. I don't know how we lose him late in the game, but the one with the loose ball is we had a freshman and a sophomore on the court going after it, and they went after it with one hand. And they'll learn that in those situations, you've gotta go after it with two hands and you've gotta get that loose ball when playing good defense. That's just part of learning, that's a learning process, and they'll get it. That's the thing about this group: They understand that we're nowhere near a finished product, but there's so many things we can improve on. But little things like that, these guys will get."

On three-point shooting and shot selection:
"I never mind Myles shooting a three, but I thought there was a couple where -- especially on fast breaks, we fanned out and took a tough one where we could have got a layup -- but we took one again in transition when we were up five, and they came down and banged a three. Getting this group to understand time and score, and opportunities, there's no better way to do it against these teams. They made good plays and we didn't. You've gotta give them credit."

On Anthony Nelson's performance and similarities between this year's freshman class and last year's senior class when they were freshmen:
"No, I don't see any similarities. I thought Ant played good."

On Taurean Thompson not playing in the second half:
"To be perfectly honest with you, Mike Nzei and Sandro were just playing really well."

On Ryan McMahon's three-point shooting:
"We played really good pick-and-roll defense, we switched, we stopped him. You've got to give (Christen) Cunningham credit, I think it was Cunningham that found him. Those scramble situations are something that we're getting better at, but towards late games, you can't lose a guy like McMahon. He's just not gonna miss it."

On Seton Hall's defense:
"Where I think it is, it's where these guys are understanding what we're trying to do from a game plan situation. I think they're really starting to grasp it. We totally changed the way we guard pick-and-rolls for this game than we did the last three, and for these guys to pick it up on a two-day practice week, I was really, really happy. I think finishing defensive plays and finishing rebounds -- I thought the offensive rebounds hurt us in the first half -- that's still a work in progress."

On crowd environment:
"I thought the environment was great."

On making any changes before Saturday's game against Kentucky:
"We have New Hampshire on Tuesday."

On fouling off the inbounds with a 66-65 lead:
"With 15 seconds left in that situation, you try to get one trap and a steal, and if you don't get the steal, then you foul."