Kevin Willard quote book: UConn

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

On how the game went after Villanova led 30-27 in the first half:

“I give them a lot of credit. They came out and (Braylon) Mullins hit a really good three off an ATO. Then for us, offensively, the ball wasn’t popping. The way we came out in the second half was kind of disappointing. That’s both times that we’ve played at (Xfinity Mobile Arena) that we’ve come out that way. St. John’s kind of jumped us at the beginning of the second half, and UConn did coming out. Give them a lot of credit. They came out and were really physical with us. They got into us and had us on our heels a little bit offensively.”

On UConn’s 13-2 run out of halftime, where Villanova had four turnovers in the first four minutes:

“The same thing happened against St. John’s. I think it was very deflating. Again, give them credit. They’re an older team, they can impose their will on you at times. The game (at UConn), we did a really good job of taking care of the ball. We talked about turnovers, and especially live-ball turnovers, and I think the live-ball turnovers really hurt us.”

On using his timeouts early in the second half to try to find answers:

“I ran out of timeouts.”

“On the road, we have a much different mentality. We’ve really struggled at home at times, just playing well for good stretches. Some of it is a little bit of youth. This is really only our second time playing in this building. The crowd was unbelievable. They were into it. I think some shots that we’ve been making, we were a little juiced up and we missed some shots early. We didn’t take advantage of when the crowd was going early. Sometimes it’s just when guys don’t have it going, or they got into us pretty good. We missed a couple layups, missed a couple free throws, and it just snowballs.”

On his message to the team about handling a game like this and moving forward:

“Every once in a while, you get your ass kicked. I think the last one we had was Michigan. We bounced back really well against them. We’ve been playing good basketball. You’ve just got to bounce back. It’s not the end of the world. That’s a good basketball team. They’re coming off a tough loss against Creighton. I thought their defensive intensity was so much different than it was against Creighton. I think them being on the road was probably good for them at this point. Sometimes you come off a tough home loss, you go on the road, and you can really find a way. I think Danny did a great job with his team with that.”

On if Duke Brennan was hurt:

“Duke had to go against Tarris Reed. He’s fine. Duke’s been battling. He’s probably a little worn down just battling the guys he’s had to battle and doing the things he’s doing.”

On UConn’s defensive intensity:

“He doesn’t get a lot of credit for his defense, but Tarris Reed, he’s a very smart basketball player as a center. He knew like four or five of our play calls and actually jumped plays where you don’t see centers do that very much. He really did a good job. When he played the way he played tonight, they’re going to be tough to beat. Obviously, he can get a bucket anytime down low, but I thought defensively, he was just phenomenal. I just thought that he was jumping our high-post action, his pick-and-roll defense was really smart. He was hedging on the guys he wanted to hedge. He didn’t hedge on other guys. They’re diving on Acaden’s pick-and-rolls, so he wasn’t hedging that. (Silas) Demary didn’t have a great night offensively, but he’s as good as any guard in this league. He just runs their stuff really well. But I think defensively, Reed had a heck of a game.”

On UConn’s defense after the first media timeout in the second half:

“Probably a lack of execution on our part, but also give their guys credit for playing good defense. It’s a little bit of both probably.”

On if the second half was more self-inflicted or because of UConn’s play:

“I think it was a little bit of both. I’m a big believer in giving credit where it’s due, and you have to give UConn credit for playing really good, really physical and hard. We went some stretches that we had some lineups that probably were self-inflicted by me, to be honest with you. There just wasn’t a lot of foul calls for like, long stretches, so we got caught with some lineups that probably hurt us a little bit more than it has in the past.”

On Silas Demary, Jr.’s play:

“I just kind of talked about that. I think he’s a really, really good player, he runs their team. I think I just said that before. So just go back to that one. He’s a really good player.”

On UConn’s offensive performance:

“I think the biggest thing is that you’re so worried about Mullins and (Alex) Karaban, and then, oh, by the way, you got Solo Ball. They’re a veteran team, they’ve been together. You’ve got to give Mullins a lot of credit for going into this group and really complementing that group. That’s a group that’s been together. Again, Demary, I just think he runs their offense really well, like he just doesn’t try to do too much, makes the plays. They’re good. They’re a really good team.”

On what he was pleased with in the first half:

“I thought the first half, we didn’t start off good. I think the first 10 points was just kind of things that I hate to blame it on being home, but things that we haven’t done on the road. We’ve been so much more solid on the road. I thought we came out with good intensity, and we had opportunities to kind of open up a lead, and we just couldn’t take advantage. We had a couple threes in the corner, I think Matt had a three in the corner and missed. We had a couple shots, Dev had an open shot that he missed that, you know, you gotta make against a UConn. You got to take advantage of the building, and the students were unbelievable, we just couldn’t take advantage of that, which kind of put us in a hole.”

On playing in larger venues:

“I mean, we played pretty well at Creighton. This league is really unique in the fact that we play a true round robin. Coming from the Big Ten last year, like you could play Illinois, then you might not see Illinois for another year-and-a-half. where in this league, everyone’s watching everyone every night, and everyone’s so familiar with everybody. I think the older teams take advantage of that. That’s what I’ve always thought about the Big East. Really difficult league games, and we don’t have a bottom. It’s like top, then middle. We don’t have like, six teams that are 1-13, 1-14. Since we play round robin, the second time around, it’s going to be brutal. They're a veteran team. I thought that Tarris Reed did a phenomenal job on his pick-and-roll defense. He made a great adjustment from the first game. We hit Duke a lot in the first game, we couldn’t hit Duke in the second game. I think that’s what veteran teams really kind of excel in this league, because you play true round robin.”