Kevin Willard quote book: Marquette

On Seton Hall’s defense, particularly in the second half:
“We tried to come out and press a little bit and play a little zone. We played Wednesday night late, they played Tuesday, so they kind of had an extra day of rest on us, so I was a little worried about our legs and how we were going to come out a little bit, so I tried to speed the tempo up a little bit — and we gave up a couple of threes early out of the zone that kind of got them going — so I think once we kind of just started simplifying what we were doing on the defensive end, we kind of locked in a little bit and were able to kind of chase some guys off the line and make it as hard as you could possibly make it for Markus.”

On his bench’s effort, namely Anthony Nelson:
“I was worried about Myles Cale and Quincy, because they had to work so hard the other night — Myles Cale played the best defense on Naji (Marshall) the other night and really expended a lot of energy — and when you have quick turnarounds, sometimes it’s tough to kind of bounce back. It was 45-45 and they had the kid (Jayce) Johnson in the game, and I wanted to kind of go at him, and Ant’s our best guy with pick-and-rolls and I thought he did a great job of just getting in the lane finding guys, and kind of changed the complexion of what we were trying to do offensively.”

On envisioning Shavar Reynolds being an impact player:
“We’re not a non-profit, we’re not a charity. He’s on scholarship for a reason. He’s a good player. Is he Myles Powell? No, but he’s a really good player and he brings a lot of intangibles that don’t show up on stat sheets, and he’s a terrific kid, too, that can help you win games. I’ve always loved him just because of how well — I could put him out there defensively on anybody — he guarded Naji Marshall for four minutes the other night, and I don’t have anybody else that’s tough enough to do that or physical enough, and he was able to do it. The more confidence he gets on offense, the better off he’s going to be. That takes a little time.”

On Wednesday’s game at Butler:
“This is a big one, just because I think it’s going to be — tonight, you had Markus and Myles, and now you’re going to have Kamar Baldwin and Myles Powell go at it in one of the best places in college basketball, so it’s a big one, and they’re really good. LaVall Jordan has done as good a job as anybody in all of college basketball, he’s got his kids playing great — (Sean) McDermott’s playing great, Jordan Tucker comes in last night and plays phenomenal — they’re not just Kamar Baldwin, they have guys that can get you, and they’re as good defensively as probably anybody in the country.”

On Seton Hall’s second unit erasing an 11-point deficit:
“Tyrese, Ikey, Shavar and Ant, those guys all play with each other in practice, so I have a lot of confidence in them out there. They’re very familiar with each other, I think that’s one thing about why I mass sub. Sometimes I put guys out there and they haven’t played with each other. Those four guys play with each other every day and have a good feel for each other, so I wouldn’t have put them in there if I didn’t think they were going to do something good.”

On winning by 14 despite struggling on 3-point shots and free throws:
“These guys know who they are. I think that’s the one thing that I’ve been harping on over the last month, it’s the fact that we still are a team that needs to defend at a high level every night to have a chance to win. We’re just not built to outscore people. There’s times when MP gets going and he’s making threes left and right and we can outscore people, but on a daily basis, we are a tough, hard-nosed team that needs to defend to win games, and I think these guys are embracing that and they understand that.”

On worrying about Myles Powell’s shooting:
“No. He loves those big matchups, and he wants to play at a high level every time. And again: He’s still, I’ll give him 85 percent right now. I can start to see it in practice a little bit, he’s starting to get back to where we need him to be. He played 35 minutes tonight, he’s not ready to play 35 minutes. He should probably be at that 30 range, but I’m trying to get him to that point.”

On Powell vs. Howard as an advertisement for the Big East:
“I just told Gary Cohen that I would have paid to come watch those two guys play, especially since they’ve been doing it at such a high level their whole career. This is not a flash in the pan. Markus Howard is as good a player in college basketball as there’s been in a long time, and obviously I’m going to be biased, and I think Myles Powell’s arguably the best player in college basketball, so when you get a chance to watch those two guys play in a high-level game with their teams playing hard, I think it’s pretty fun.”

On Romaro Gill and Ike Obiagu:
“Ikey and Ro, they’ve been playing great. They’re guys that we don’t throw them the ball all that often, but they’re really working hard. They’re doing a good job of picking and rolling, picking their spots, I think our guys have gotten a lot of confidence in throwing it up to them, which takes time, and I’ve gotten used to having two seven-footers. Early in the season, I tried to force-feed them at times and tried to give them the ball in certain areas, and I think I’ve gotten a lot of confidence in what they can do. They work so hard defensively, they’re both doing a phenomenal job.”

On Sandro Mamukelashvili:
“He’s still out for at least another couple of weeks, until at least February. We get a bone scan on Sunday, after he does the bone scan, the MRI will be read on Tuesday, I’ll know more by Wednesday. We’ll have a definitive timeline on Wednesday. I will not say doubtful, and I’ll make sure you have a definitive timeline on when Sandro is coming back. I will not play the cat-and-mouse game.”