Kevin Willard quote book: St. John’s

On Myles Powell:
“We’ve been blessed to watch him play for the last three-and-a-half years. He always has that look in his eye. I never really worry about whether he’s throwing it to somebody or missing a shot, or turning it over. You’re looking at a pro, and I can’t say it enough, the best player in college basketball. He always has that look in his eye. I tell everybody it’s only a matter of time.”

On Powell scoring 2,000 points under his watch:
“It means I got a lot of wins.”

On adjusting to St. John’s after halftime:
“I give them a lot of credit. They came out and I thought their guards did a great job of dictating their tempo. I thought the biggest thing we adjusted — I thought we were either going to lose by 30 or come back and win the game — we were going to press them back, and I think it got them on their heels a little bit, it gave us a chance to turn them over and get some easy buckets, and I thought that just loosened us up a ton.”

On Powell in first halves and second halves:
“I think the big thing with first halves and second halves is he gets played so many different ways, it’s always the emphasis on him, especially as the game starts, is so fresh. Everyone can yell, the coaches are yelling, ‘Here comes fire, here comes this play, fade for Powell, iso.’ They all know it. When he’s in front of me and I’m calling something for him, they can’t yell out and tell the players what’s going on, and I think it’s a big difference. He just gets loosened up a little bit where everyone’s not so keyed on him.”

On winning close games this year:
“I think the biggest difference between last year and this year is when you have more experience — Ro was coming off a redshirt year, Sandro and Myles Cale were subs the year before — I think these guys know they have more confidence. They understand what we’re doing, what we’re trying to do. I just think it makes a big difference because of the experience they’ve had.”

On St. John’s being a potential trap game after defeating Butler:
“No, just because I think when we watched film on these guys, we saw how good they were. West Virginia came in here and took an L, they went out and played Arizona neutral, they took an L. This is a good basketball team, and I think the biggest thing was, coming after the Butler win, getting our emotions back a little bit. I think that’s always the big thing because obviously, I think we all were a little emotional after the game, and then coming to this building, playing this team and the way they play...I love the way Mike (Anderson) plays, so aggressive. They’re tough to guard because of all their movement, but in this league, you better bounce back or you’re going to take a quick L.”

On Quincy McKnight having his best game:
“No, no, I thought Quincy was terrible! Quincy has been — he had 13 assists, one turnover at Hinkle against Kamar Baldwin — I thought the last game was his best game, and again, I’ve gotten to the point where I expect this from Quincy. He was a high-level scorer coming out of Sacred Heart, and I think we’ve turned him into a really, really good point guard. He always has a little slow start when he has to defend guys the way he defended Kamar — 38 minutes defending Kamar Baldwin and then coming back having to defend these guys — I thought he did a really good job of just bouncing back and staying aggressive. I like where he’s at right now, he’s being aggressive.”

On throwing St. John’s off with Seton Hall’s second-half press:
“I think what happened was we were able to turn them over and get some easy buckets. I think that just kind of loosened everything up. We were really struggling to score in the first half and they were doing a great job, but I think in the second half, we were able — with turning them over for easy buckets — I thought that kind of got everybody into a good rhythm and was able to kind of relax everybody a little bit and get us going into a good offensive rhythm.”

On overlooked parts to Seton Hall’s 14-4 start:
“The funny thing about the beginning of the year was, and these guys will tell you, I thought we were in a really good spot. We lost Sandro, we lost Quincy for the second half of Oregon, we didn’t have Sandro for 37 minutes at Iowa State and I had to throw Jared into the fire, and then we lose him (Powell) three minutes into the game at Rutgers. I’m not BSing, I thought we were in a really good spot, and I knew we were a good team. The only loss I was really disappointed in this year was the Michigan State loss, because that was a great game and I thought we really had a great shot of winning that game...if we played the last two minutes better, we should have. But I don’t think our big guys get enough credit. I think Ro and Ikey — it’s funny, I always love looking at the opposing big guys when I send Ike in, because they’re like, ‘Okay, this guy’s out, now I gotta deal with that guy?’ And then you throw Ro back in, and I think they’ve changed the way we could play. I don’t think they get enough credit, the way Romaro Gill’s been playing and the way Ikey’s playing. Those two guys have been such difference-makers and when I watch film, I say it now, too. At the beginning of the year, I used to get mad because everybody was beating our guards, but then I started realizing — if you listen on film, I even say it now: If a kid goes down there, block party — you’re getting blocked. And I don’t care that we give up an offensive rebound. Both those guys — and Ro has been phenomenal — are just changing games and giving us big momentum stops and chances to get on the break. My guy next to me (Powell) deserves all the credit because he’s the best player in the country, but my big fella over here, man (Gill), and what Ikey’s doing, they just don’t get enough credit.”

On Madison Square Garden:
“I grew up in this building. I was a ball boy when I was in fifth and sixth grade, I used to take the train in by myself to be in this building because my dad was an assistant here. The championship team, you had Isaiah, Desi, Khadeen and Angel, all New York City kids, New York Knick fans. For the most of us who are local, this building is the greatest place to play a basketball game in the world, so when you step foot in here — and especially local guys — I think it means just a little bit more to everybody.”