Kevin Willard quote book: Wagner

On Sandro Mamukelashvili’s ejection:

“It was — both guys got flagrant-2s, so they both got ejected — it was more or less two guys trying to make a good basketball play and getting a little bit heated. It happens. I think moving forward, Sandro knows he’s going to be challenged night in, night out. It was more or less two guys diving on the floor, one guy fell and there was a little frustration at the time, so I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

On Ike Obiagu and his becoming more of a focal point:

“That’s something we’ve been trying to do a little more, just getting guys to look at him and get him to be a little bit bigger and be a big target, and I thought he shot his free throws great. I think it was a huge assist. When he made his first free throws, it gave him good confidence — he had missed a couple the last couple of games. I’ve been trying to keep plays a little bit simpler for him, and I think Grant (Billmeier)’s just doing a great job with him on just creating better angles with him. We’ve been working with him — angles on screens, angles of rolls, angles with ducking in — and he’s starting to get the reps and getting a little bit more confidence.”

On Shavar Reynolds and Takal Molson:

“I think, obviously, we challenged ourselves in the non-conference, but I think it’s really rewarded us in the fact that we’ve gotten better every game. We’ve learned a little bit about each other. I just don’t think if we had stayed at home and practiced against each other that we would have learned what we really need to work on, what we need to get better. Although no one likes losing, I think it’s really helped us kind of grow as a team. We’ve challenged ourselves, Shavar — for not having ever started, not playing — has done a phenomenal job at point guard, really handling the game and managing the game, and I think Tak — now that he’s starting to get a little bit better in game shape — I think we’re really starting to see what he can bring. I have confidence in him bringing the ball up and running offense, and I also have confidence in him being off the ball. So I think both those guys, I think these games have really helped them gain confidence and also get them in great shape.”

On Bryce Aiken:

“Bryce shot today for the first time, he looked okay. We’re hoping to have Bryce maybe back — again, it’s tough to put a timetable on it, but maybe back for the homestand — after these first three, maybe for the second homestand. I’ve got to get him some practice time. Obviously, him coming off the other injuries, I’ve got to make sure he’s protected and he feels confident on both sides. I forget who we play after we get off this road trip — who knows if we’re going to play — but I think that’s the 20th. I think that’s a good target date for us right now.”

On Molson fitting into the rotation:

“It’s helped a lot, because he gives us a great boost off the bench and he also gives us a dynamic, a guy that can score in multiple different ways, and he also gives us another ball handler right now. He might not come off the bench all year long, there’s going to be games where I think we’re going to have to start him and give us another ball handler. I think as he’s gotten into shape — because he had a really tough summer and a tough preseason — as he’s gotten into shape, I just think he gained more confidence in what he can do for us.”

On coming back to defeat Penn State Sunday:

“I think it was important — I think it was huge, to be honest with you, not only because we were down 19 — I think it was really important because we were down eight with two minutes to go, and to me — it was 66-62 at Rhode Island with two minutes to go and we lost by 13, we had cut it to eight against Oregon with three minutes to go and we weren’t able to kind of make plays and do what we had to do — so I think more than anything, the way we were able to close that game was huge. I think that gave us, that showed them, ‘hey, if we stay solid, if we get stops, we do what we’re supposed to do, we have chances to win games.’ So I think that, more than anything, was huge for us.”

On a potential midseason bubble:

“We just crisscrossed the country and we were fine. I’ll be honest with you: Traveling’s not your issue. What your issue is — when we went to Rhode Island, the department of health in Rhode Island mandated that when you have a buffet, you need to have people serving you. When we went in for our team meal — we’ve all been tested, so everyone’s been tested in our group, we know that no one has COVID. But when we walked into our first meal, there were seven people that a) hadn’t been tested, and b) had been sitting in our room waiting to serve us food. And those are the situations that, as a team, you’ve really got to try to avoid. Those are where you’re going to get in trouble, so I kicked my team out and I made everyone leave the room, and then we went in there by ourselves. So I don’t think traveling’s as big a hassle as you believe. We’re not the NBA, we’re not the NHL. Our guys aren’t going to be going out to clubs or going out to restaurants, so for Xavier, we’re getting in at 8:00 at night and going to do a shootaround, we go to a team meal, we do a walkthrough and then we go to our game. So I think for the travel part to be successful, you really have to eliminate all the other people that are around your team — like when you’re checking in for your plane, people in meals — but for the most part, hotels are empty. There was no one in our hotel at Penn State, no one in our hotel at Rhode Island. I think it’s doable. You’ve just got to keep as many people away from your team as possible, because I’m not crazy about bubbling. We were in a bubble in Louisville only for three days, and I couldn’t even go out and get a cup of coffee. I was like, ‘What are we doing here?’ So I’m hoping that if we can survive these next couple of weeks and keep it moving and be flexible, I’m hoping that the travel schedule will work.”

On what he learned about Seton Hall:

“We got shut down November 9, and our first day of practice was November 24. We had individuals the 24th, we practiced the 25th, practiced the 26th, and we started our schedule on the 27th. The other reason I scheduled a lot of games is because that’s what my kids wanted to do. They were tired of — obviously the way the season ended last year, my kids wanted to play games — so I thought it was my responsibility to give them as many good games as possible, give them as many good opportunities. Because as you said, the mental health side, to me, was really important. I just didn’t want them sitting around doing nothing. I thought it was really important, even losing games, I just wasn’t worried about losing games, I was worried about my guys wanting to play games. The fact that we got six non-conference games in after being shut down on the 9th, they’re happy, I’m happy. I think we’ve achieved a lot and I think they’re in a good mindset because they’re playing games. It’s what they want to do. These kids want to play games, and I’ll be honest: I think our games — our non-conference games this year have been more competitive without fans than, I think, the last couple of years. I’ve just been so impressed with how hard these kids are playing, how excited they are to be playing. Everyone misses our fans and fans in general, but it just shows you how much they want to play games because of how hard all these teams are playing. Every game I watch on TV, every game we’ve played, I give all these kids credit because they’re doing what they love and they’re doing what they want to do.”