Kevin Willard quote book: Penn State

*Audio courtesy of Josh Adams, College Hoops Digest

On defeating Penn State:

“Yeah, I’m really excited for my guys. For being on such a tough road trip and playing three tough teams, to kind of get down the way we got down and then to fight back just showed a lot of heart, and showed me a lot about what this team can become in the future.”

On first half fatigue and finding energy to come back:

“I think they were. That’s part of the problem of staying in hotels and because of COVID, we can’t go out and eat, we’re not allowed to let them out of the hotel, so being on the road this long, you’re worried about a lot of things, but I just think that first 10 minutes was more or less — I think they excited to go back out there, they were excited to go out and play — I just think they gassed themselves a little bit and once they got their second wind, I just thought we settled in and played a much better end of the first half, and obviously, the second half.”

On Ike Obiagu:

“We missed him a ton of times against Oregon, and when you can throw it down to him and get him to give a dunk or an easy layup, it kind of makes life easier on everybody. I mean, he’s setting pick-and-rolls and he’s rolling, and we’re not finding him. I kind of saw it on film, there’s times where he’s ducking in and he’s open, and we’ve got to find him. I thought we did a good job early on, and I thought he did a good job of making himself available.”

On Shavar Reynolds:

“I said it after the Oregon game: Shavar’s giving us everything he’s got. He’s playing extremely hard, he’s got a very, very heavy load, and what we talked about in the Oregon game — what I talked to him about — was trying to get guys involved early, trying to pick his spots, and it’s a hard thing to learn for a guy that’s never played the minutes that he’s played. But I think he’s doing a really good job of staying aggressive, and he’s working really hard defensively. That’s something we really need from him, because that was what Quincy gave us last year — Quincy giving us some big stops — and I thought Shavar, late in the second half, did some great things defensively.”

On Takal Molson:

“Yeah, Tak embraces being a junkyard dog, being a guy that’s going to get deflections, create plays. He’s a great passer, and I think what he’s done the last couple of games is he’s kind of been that guy for us, and we put him in — he kind of gets off to a slow start and all of a sudden, the next thing you know, he’s got two assists, he’s got a layup, and he’s just doing a lot of good things for us.”

On playing Molson with Myles Cale:

“Yeah, absolutely. I think the hard thing is I’m trying to keep it simple because moving guys around in February is easy. Everybody knows the offense, everybody knows everybody’s positions, but right now, it’s very difficult to ask Tak or Jared to play the wing and say, ‘Okay, you’re playing the wing for 20 minutes, now I need you to slide to the four.’ And because we haven’t had a lot of reps and we haven’t had a lot of practice, I’m trying to keep guys in positions, but with Tak out there, with MC, it gives us two wings that are dynamic.”

On Sandro Mamukelashvili and his effort:

“I think it’s a combination of those things, to be honest with you. I really made it a point yesterday in our team meeting, I told the guys he’s going to start getting a lot of attention and there’s times where you have to help him get the basketball. And you have to understand we’re playing our basketball and he has the basketball in his hands, he can create and get you guys shots, he gets his shots. And the other thing, I challenged Sandro last night. I said, ‘Sandro, I think you’re the best player in the country, but I shouldn’t have to remind you of that. You’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to be the best player in the country, because I think you are.’ It’s an attitude. I never had to remind Myles Powell he was the best player in the country, Myles Powell knew it. I said, ‘you have to go out there, you have to prove it every night, you’ve got to know it every night.’ I think that’s something me and him had a good talk about and again, he’s growing into that role and I think he’s doing a great job of it.”

On Mamukekashvili passing to Reynolds for the go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime:

“That’s what makes him so hard to guard, and it kind of reminded me of the play against St. John’s a couple of years ago, where he drove and kicked it out, Shavar hit a big three. It’s something that he’s got the ability to find people, he’s a great passer, and he’s a willing passer. And now that we get to come home for five days, maybe six days, I’ll look to put some stuff in there where I can get him in more situations where he can be just a playmaker.”

On Seton Hall’s non-conference schedule:

“I think every night, I’ve been questioning myself. Obviously, the best advice I’ve given coaches who have gotten COVID — they’ve called me and said, ‘How did you handle this?’ The only thing I’m going to tell you is don’t schedule games when you have COVID, because it obviously doesn’t make you think right. Adding the Oregon game and obviously playing these two, this is what I wanted. I needed to challenge this team. Coming out of quarantine, I’m not sure it was the right move, but I needed to find out where we had to get better, what we needed to get better at, and I think the only way we were going to find that out was by playing high-level teams. Being on the road, to be honest with you, I think me and my trainer, Tony Testa, learned a lot about how we need to travel to keep our guys safe for when we travel in Big East play. We learned a lot about what we need to do and how we need to travel. It was a tough road trip, we learned a lot, I’m really proud of the way the guys battled every game, but I think we learned a lot and it’s going to help us moving forward.”