Kevin Willard quote book: Stony Brook

By Jaden Daly (@jadendaly) and Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

On Myles Powell's ankle injury and his availability Thursday against Michigan State:
"Yeah, Myles is getting X-rays right now. He got a really, really good ankle sprain, and it's going to be a while. More than likely, no chance on Thursday."

On how Seton Hall responded in Powell's absence:
"I didn't think we responded well to start, I think we were all a little bit -- I think we did okay at first, and then when the news trickled down the bench that he wasn't coming back, I just think everyone kind of understood that if he's as tough as he is and he's not coming back, he had to be hurt, so I think that kind of shook us a little bit, and I think in the second half, everyone else kind of understood what they had to do and did what they needed to do."

On playing at Walsh Gymnasium:
"I like the Rock. I'd much rather be at the Rock."

On Powell not playing vs. Michigan State being a tough pill for him to swallow:
"Unfortunately, injuries happen, and especially where he's at in his career, I'm going to probably be a little bit extra safe. I'll hold him out as long as I need to to make sure he comes back to where I don't affect -- or we don't affect -- his future, so this doesn't look like a one-game, two-game, this might be a prolonged absence."

On what changed defensively in the second half:
"I think the biggest thing was understanding I thought we played really good defense in the first half, and then as we kept missing shots, we got a little deflated. I thought the biggest thing was we shut down No. 1 (Makale Foreman) and kind of just made them take some tough shots, and got on the break and got some easy buckets. It really helped us."

On Romaro Gill in the second half:
"Yeah, having Ro back out there really helped us just because of -- Ike (Obiagu) was still struggling from his ankle sprain in the last game, so that's one reason why Ike didn't play that much. He went out there and gave it his best, he just -- he's still not back -- he should be fine for Michigan State, but having Ro out there -- again, I said early in the year -- the reason we struggled last year a little bit, in the middle of last season, was because Ro went down for seven games. He just gives us a presence, he knows what he's doing offensively, he's got confidence. Ro just is who he is. He doesn't try to be who he's not, and I think that's the biggest difference."

On Shavar Reynolds:
"Shavar's been one of those guys that just -- I thought he played the best of anybody. His two minutes last game, I thought, changed the tide last game, and I've got a lot of confidence in Shavar. He could shoot it, he can defend anybody, he's tough. I loved his energy, I thought the team fed off his energy."

On coming back after a two-game suspension:
"Actually, watching it on TV was much easier than this! It was hard. The hardest thing was not being able to communicate with the guys. They shut you down, you have no communication, you're not allowed to do anything. I knew Grant (Billmeier) would do phenomenal. Grant's going to be an unbelievable head coach, so I had no worries that we were going to win the game. The team prepared all week, Grant is as good of an assistant as I've ever had. The hardest thing was not being able to communicate. I still did the practices, but for 24 hours, I was dark, and it's hard because you want to text your guys, you want to talk to your guys, your players, your staff. That was the hardest part, but I had total confidence in Grant."

On primary emphasis for Michigan State:
"I think for me, trying to find a rotation now. I really struggled a bit in the first half trying to find a rotation that would work, that would be natural. I think we'll have to spend all day tomorrow and the next couple of days trying to find a rotation that continues to let us play offense smoothly. I screwed us up more than anybody with the rotation, so I think that's the biggest thing."