Kevin Willard quote book: TCU

On attacking the offensive glass:

“TCU, they get 40 percent of all their misses, which leads the country, so it's obviously a big concern. I think the biggest thing for us was having a little bit more rest. I thought the fact that we had to play the night before and had to play a very tough UConn team was a little bit of the reason why we got hurt on the boards so bad. But we definitely have been practicing our box-out drills.”

On enjoying the NCAA Tournament experience:

“I think, first and foremost, I think you always have to enjoy the experience. You never know when it's going to be your last. For these guys — for six of them — it’s their last time. What I've really enjoyed about this group over the last five days is the two days off that we took after UConn, they've been very focused on what they want to achieve, and at the same time, I think I've tried to let them understand that when you're an at-large team — I always say this — when you're an at-large team, it means you've had a good year all year long. And they've had a great year. And I want them to enjoy this as much as they can, because for six of them, it's their last one.”

On Seton Hall being rejuvenated after a layoff:

“Coming out of a COVID pause is much different than a bye week. The COVID pause, we had four guys in quarantine for 14 days, then had two practices and had to play Providence and Villanova. This has been a great break. We didn't have a bye week, our last bye week was January 22. We went from January 22nd to the Big East tournament, so these guys have been refreshed. I think it's been great for them mentally, I think it's really been good for our team. I think we're a little bit sharper, guys like Kadary, who haven't practiced have been able to practice. It’s so much different talking about COVID pause than a bye week, so I like where our team's at, I like their attitude and I like the way we're playing.”

On Kadary Richmond:

“Kadary’s good. Kadary took three days off after the Big East tournament, which I think really helped with the sprain in the thumb. He's gotten much better mobility. He's shooting the basketball much better, he's got more strength in it. I wouldn't say he's 100 percent, but he looks great.”

On differences in NCAA Tournament officiating:

“I think the NCAA is — it's funny, I was watching the Providence game and their first foul was at 11 minutes, they went nine minutes and 51 seconds of straight basketball without a foul called. So I've actually watched the games. I think they're being called really — I think they're letting teams play physical and I think they're letting them play a little bit, which is really nice. I do think there's a little bit of an adjustment period early in the game, but we get the refs and we get their full bios, where they’ve reffed, how many calls they make per game, how many technicals they've given out. We do that for every game. We do it for every NCAA Tournament game. So you just don't get the refs that say, ‘okay, this is who it is, he’s from Idaho and this guy is from South Dakota and they're nice guys.’ We really dig into who they are, who they've reffed, where they've reffed, how many fouls they've called, for me, how many technicals they've called. It goes a lot deeper than most people think.”

On his relationship with TCU head coach Jamie Dixon:

“I went to Pitt and played at Pitt, my wife went to Pitt, so for 14 years, he was unbelievable for my alma mater. He was terrific. He went to the tournament every year, he got them in the top five, so I was always a big fan of Jamie's for what he did at Pitt. When I coached against him, I became a huge fan of his because his teams are always consistently great at rebounding and great defending. No matter what type of talent they had, no matter what year it was, you knew when you played against Pitt or Jamie's teams that you were going to have to play a very physical rebounding team and an unbelievable defensive team, so he's a good friend. I love what he did for my alma mater. I think his teams play — I respect him so much for the way his teams play, because that's the way pretty much we play.”