Kevin Willard quote book: Butler

On Sandro Mamukelashvili:
“I think the biggest thing that I’ve been talking to Sandro about is just trying to get back into the grind of things. He was on vacation for seven weeks, technically. He didn’t have to watch film, he didn’t have to game prep, and now all of a sudden you throw him in during the middle of the Big East, it’s a little bit overwhelming, and so the biggest thing I’ve been trying to preach to him is trying to get him back in a way of preparing himself mentally, not physically. Physically, he’s out there working and he’s been working, but just being a little bit sharper mentally. I thought he did a good job Monday in practice of coming out, and I thought he set the tone pretty good in practice. We played a little tight in the first half, and I thought they played really good defense in the first half. I like the way he just kind of settled in and played.”

On Mamu’s game-winning layup:
“The Sacramento Kings ran that play about two months ago. I watch a lot of Synergy at night and I’m always looking for ways to get Myles shots, late-clock situations, and they ran a really good — they brought Buddy Hield off a triple just like we brought Myles off, and they stepped him out and they lobbed it, and they got a really good late clock. That’s kind of where I saw it, and we put it in about a month ago. I put it in because it’s a good play to get him an easy bucket — to try to get us an easy bucket at times — and I thought we just, at that point, you still have enough time to catch it and chuck it, but all you really have time for is to chuck it up at the rim and just tap it in. I thought Q threw a good pass, and I thought they executed it great, I thought the timing was really good. We waited for Myles to come off, everybody kind of turned their head looking at Myles, and then it executed really well.”

“I think the way he tapped it would have been good even at 0.4. That was the play at 0.4 or 0.6. There’s not much you can draw up at that point because you can’t throw a bounce pass, because you’ve got to catch it and gather it and go up. It just has to be a lob pass, that’s the only thing we have in.”

On what it means for Sandro’s confidence and having his father on hand:
“I think it’s huge. I know his father was happy, he came over and gave me a hug. Whenever you play well — and again, it’s really tough for guys like Tyrese, Ikey, Ro and Sandro, whose families aren’t able to be here — all these other guys get to see their families every night, so when you have a chance to play in front of your family, it’s a little more special.”

On Seton Hall’s attitude:
“It wasn’t a bad attitude, it was more or less I didn’t like the fact that we accepted the loss to Creighton. I thought our practice on Thursday was way too loose after the Creighton game, and I thought Friday’s film session was way too lackadaisical to play a road game against a really good Providence team, so my anger and my frustration, everybody got it. It wasn’t one person, I started with Powell, McKnight and Gill, then I went to the juniors. The only guy that didn’t get it was Tyrese because he’s a freshman, but everybody got it. The staff got it, I got it — I yelled at myself, I did — I was just not happy with the opportunity that we had. We were down 27 and we cut it to two twice, so the effort was there. I thought the way we came into the game, accepting the loss — I don’t mind losing at all, if we lost tonight, I thought the way we came in Monday morning at 7 a.m. showed me they understood what I was talking about. They came in with a great attitude, we practiced for an hour-and-a-half at 7, we practiced for an hour-and-a-half at 2:30, and we came back and watched film at 9 for an hour. And they were great, and that’s when I knew that they understood what I was saying, and I knew that no matter what happened today, we were going to be in a good spot going forward.”

On Romaro Gill’s offense:
“I’ve been getting on our guards a little bit. We just haven’t been looking for him quite as much as earlier in the year, and I also have to give teams credit, they’re really crowding and really chucking all his rolls, and I thought we did a good job. MP coming off screens early did a good job of hitting him early and getting him some buckets.”

On Seton Hall’s second half:
“I went in at halftime and told them this is the first time we haven’t been down double digits in like, six games at halftime. To me, I felt like we were winning, and I said, ‘Guys, we’re only down six, this is great, so everybody relax and just go out and play.’ We haven’t played well here, so I think there was a little tension early in the game trying to get off to a good start to get our fans into the game. I know our guys, once we started scoring and our fans got into it, I think our fans really relaxed our guys. It was great, but the biggest thing I told them was at least we weren’t down 14, so I kind of felt good.”

On responding to Butler’s clutch shots:
“We did some stupid things, that’s for sure. Our turnover when we were up three to give Baldwin the and-1, and I thought we did a good job making free throws. I had the group out there that usually switches everything, we didn’t switch, they ran a double hammer, which is really good for (Jordan) Tucker, and then I never foul. I hate fouling at the end of the game, I told them to foul, and I think they were shocked that I told them to foul. I wanted to foul (Aaron) Thompson even though he’s a decent free throw shooter, I just thought the way (Sean) McDermott and Tucker were flying, it never fails. That’s why I don’t foul.”

On leading the Big East:
“I think it’s huge and I just think when I looked at the second-half schedule, I knew going forward, it’s a brutal schedule. We have it as hard as anybody, and I think everyone this time of year is great. It gives us — from Big East seeding, NCAA Tournament seeding, all that stuff — every win this time of year, especially against a really good Butler team, that’s a team when Aaron Thompson’s healthy, is as good as any team in the country.”

On Myles Powell:
“I thought he played phenomenal. I thought that was the best game he’s played in a long time. We’re working a little bit on his shot, but I think his unselfishness early in the game, his willingness to pass, that’s contagious. I didn’t think he took a bad shot all night. I thought he attacked when he should have, I loved the pull-up three in transition in the second half with about 6:20 to go, I thought he played like a true pro.”

On Sunday's matchup against St. John’s:
“I think it’s going to be a battle. The Johnnies, they come at you, they’ve been off a week, they just had a tough loss against Xavier where I thought they played their best game. They’re really driving the basketball, (Marcellus) Earlington’s really starting to shoot the basketball, making shots — which I think has really helped them a little bit — and we’ve got to do a better job against their pressure. That kind of bothered us a little bit in the first half there, so I think it’s going to be a battle, just like all the other games.”

On the plan for the last shot:
“The plan was to throw it up and let Sandro go get it, and hope for a miracle, to be honest with you. You only have 0.6, so you have to throw something up where you can tip it. You can’t throw it down where you have to gather.”

On maintaining focus:
“It’s the end of February. We’re in first place in the Big East, I don’t have to worry about that. I’ll make sure that they’re ready, and I think they understand the opportunity that they have. They understand how good Creighton’s been playing, to stay one game up on Creighton’s huge, but every game right now is too important.”

On Myles Cale’s second-half minutes:
“I needed Myles Cale on the floor. I needed Myles Cale, I just needed him on the floor. This was a game where Jared’s been playing great, but he’s a sophomore. I thought they did a really good job of getting after Jared a little bit early and making it hard for him. I needed Myles Cale’s presence on the floor, defensively, offensively. It’s just what I needed. It goes with everybody, but he’s one of those guys when he’s on the floor, his box scores don’t show everything he does. He’s playing those minutes because he does everything right. He’s a guy that when he’s on the floor, he’s always in the right position, he’s doing the right play, he’s always making the right decision and when you have a guy like that on the floor, he complements Myles at times unbelievably well.”