Kevin Willard quote book: Queens

On preparation for his first home game:

“We’ve just been working on practice. We’re trying to get in a better flow offensively.”

On maintaining physicality and a large lead:

“I think not having Chris Jeffrey and Zion hurt us today. When teams go small, these guys end up playing a whole lot of minutes on teams that are small, and it’s tough to put Duke out there trying to guard a guy that’s a pick-and-pop 3-point shooter. So you gotta give them a lot of credit. I thought they did a really good job of just cutting and moving and keeping us spaced, but we’ll work on that.”

On how much time Chris Jeffrey willl miss:

“I have no idea.”

On Duke Brennan and Villanova’s rebounding:

“I think we talked about that after the last game, about not being so dependent on shooting the three. I thought we took way too many threes in the first game (against BYU). And Duke just plays so hard. If you’ve never played against him, he’s gonna outwork you and that’s what I love about him.”

On playing at a faster pace:

“We’re trying to. I think we have a lot of guys that can get in and out, especially in the first half. The second half, you’re not gonna sub as much, but I think it’s still a work in progress because we’ve had so many injuries.”

On not attempting as many threes being a focus:

“No, I think Acaden did a great job of just kind of keeping the tempo and not settling, and attacking. I think you’re gonna see him continue to get more and more comfortable, recognize switches. It’s only his second game, so I think the more he learns, the more he watches film, the better he’s gonna get.”

On what has impressed him about Villanova:

“Really nothing so far. Just how hard we play. But we’re not good on defense and we’re not good on offense right now.”

On Villanova’s passing:

“Again, when you have some good guards out there — and again, I thought Duke made some good passes — it’s an unselfish team, which I love. They’ve got a great attitude, they’re unselfish, but man, we’re a work in progress.”

On Brennan’s improvement and rebounding:

“I mean, I played against him when he was at Grand Canyon, so I got to watch a lot of film on Duke, and he’s had my utmost respect from day one when we played against him last year, how hard he plays, his motor. Now we’re just trying to put him in some different situations, keeping him down a little bit lower. At Grand Canyon, he’d come up a lot away from the basketball. We’re trying to keep him a little bit lower at times because I think he could be dominant down there with rebounding. So again, you’ll see sometimes where it’s a little disjointed because of what he’s doing.”