Kevin Willard quote book: Rutgers

On Myles Powell:
“He has a pretty bad concussion. He got whacked, he took the charge and whacked his head on the floor, and then him and Tyrese ran into each other. I was kind of wondering, he asked me during the game, he goes, ‘Why are we practicing at Rutgers?’ and I kind of looked at him and I was like — I didn’t see him get hit by Tyrese — I kind of looked at him and I was wondering what the heck he was doing out there, and we sat down in the timeout and his eyes kind of just rolled into the back of his head and kind of just hit him like a wave. He got whacked pretty good, so...luckily, he’s starting to come through it just a little bit right now, so we’ll just watch him overnight and put him into concussion protocol, but he’s probably going to be — I’d say with concussions, you’ve really got to be careful with that.”

On Rutgers’ start in the opening minutes:
“I think they did a good job and just jumped on us. I didn’t do a very good job getting these guys ready for this atmosphere. The only ones that really played in this atmosphere before were Myles Powell and Myles Cale, and Sandro played a little bit, but we talked about a little bit, I didn’t want to kind of get them thinking about it, but I didn’t do a good enough job of just getting them to understand what this game and what this atmosphere is like. I’ve been here now, 13 times, and I should have done a better job.”

On the atmosphere of the RAC:
“I think, by far, this is the best atmosphere I’ve seen it, I really do. I’ve said it a lot: Steve’s done a phenomenal job here, Pat Hobbs has done a phenomenal job, but this is by far the best atmosphere I’ve seen it. It was a great atmosphere.”

On starting Ike Obiagu over Romaro Gill:
“I’m trying to get Ike going, to be honest with you. That’s about it. Ro’s going to bring the same energy no matter what when he comes in. I’m trying to get Ike going just a little bit. When you’re a big guy and you’ve sat out for a whole year, and now you’re coming off the bench, sometimes it’s a little bit tougher. But I think both those big guys, I have confidence in both those guys.”

On getting Seton Hall to regroup amid injuries and losses:
“I’ve got to go to church a little bit more, I think, to be perfectly honest with you. I still have the same amount of confidence in this team as I did three months ago, two months ago, last month when we lost to Michigan State. I just have to figure out the four spot, because more than anything, that’s just really hurting us right now. It hurt us against Iowa State, and again, it’s not like they’re not — Jared and Tyrese can’t do a good job — but to expect them to fill the role that we had put Sandro in — in a matter of a week is just unrealistic expectations, and I don’t want them — they’re going to get it and it’s going to be really good, but I just have to be really patient. And I’m going to be patient and I’m going to figure it out, because they’re both capable. But to ask them to do what I asked Sandro to do is just impossible right now, and I’ve got to figure it out.”

On Thursday's game against Maryland:
“They’ve all been big. I think it’s our first home game in 30 days. I’m just looking forward to being home and catching a home game. It’s — the schedule — not having the arena last week before Iowa State, at Iowa State, kind of hurt us, because I’d have loved to have had another home game at some point in this stretch. We’ve only played four games, and we’ve almost played more road games than we have home games. No one else has done that, so I think that’s hurt us tremendously. I’m just looking forward to having a home game.”

On Ron Harper, Jr.:
“Yeah, I thought Ron played really well. I thought him and Yeboah — I think Yeboah’s a difference-maker for them than they had last year, just because of his ability. He’s such a smart player and he’s a veteran guy. I thought he was a bigger difference than anybody, I just thought the way he can spread guys out and the way Steve has kind of gone away from what they were doing early in the season, just kind of giving it to Geo and spacing the floor, putting a lot of pressure on your pick-and-roll defense, having him out there, you can just tell he’s a fifth-year guy and he just knows what to do, so I thought Ron played great — I’ve been big on Ron the whole time — I thought Yeboah was a big difference-maker.”

On Seton Hall-Rutgers and how it benefits New Jersey basketball:
“I think it’s phenomenal, I think it’s great. I just think from where we’ve all started to where we are now and where this game is now, where the juice is, to me, it’s a home run. There’s nothing but positives to it, same thing with Steve and what he’s doing, phenomenal things. There’s nothing but great things for us.”