Kevin Willard quote book: Pitt

By Jake Copestick (@JakeCopestick)

On response after losing to Michigan:

“They responded great. We took Wednesday off, came in Thursday and Friday, and practiced really hard. I think these guys showed today, especially on the defensive end, coming in and letting a tough loss go. They came back and played really well.”

On how Bryce Lindsay and Duke Brennan help each other out when they both are scoring:

“I think the more we can get Duke involved in pick-and-rolls and get him on rolls, it just puts pressure on the weak side defense. And again, when you have young guards, you’ve got a team that hasn’t been together overly long, sometimes it takes a little time to kind of know what works and what doesn’t work. I think Acaden and Bryce are doing a really good job of trying to learn what we’re trying to do.” 

On team’s balance from the interior and behind the three-point line:

“I think it’s really important, just because I think Duke’s biggest strength is his energy, how hard he plays, and his rebounding. When we can get him some points down low, I think it rewards him for how hard he plays throughout the game. It also keeps him involved and keeps him happy a little bit, to be honest with you.”

On Brennan’s impact and how it affects wanting to play a smaller lineup:

“We kind of went small today. We put Devin Askew out there with Bryce and Acaden for a large stretch. So having those three guards out there with Matthew Hodge, who can obviously shoot the basketball really well, I kind of consider that small. It’s tough to go small when you got a guy like Cameron Corhen out there, a veteran guy that’s big. I thought they did a good job.”

On team dishing out 20 assists to just three turnovers:

“I think the two big things are when you have young guards, just getting them to understand what works in reading defenses. We saw a monster drop coverage at Michigan, something that these guys have never seen before. They’ve never seen that size, so to go through that drop and now see a little more switching, I think they’ll get used to what the defense is giving them. That’s just being more patient, letting them understand and kind of say, we still need to do a much better job when teams are switching on us, but they’re getting there. I think they’re starting to understand what to look for.”

Significance on having just three turnovers:

“Yeah, that’s pretty good. It’s really good.”

On giving up 16 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points:

“We switch so much on defense. It’s something that I’m going to go back and take a look at, just to see if there’s certain things that we shouldn’t be switching, make sure that we keep certain guys down low and not get as many mismatches as maybe that’s hurt us a little bit.”

Main thing to take away from this game:

“It’s a W.”

How his playing days at Pittsburgh impacted him as a leader:

“Well, I played for my father, so that impacted me more than anything. Getting to see my father coach and how much his players loved him, my father was an unbelievable coach. He had the biggest influence for me, obviously in my life. The best thing about Pitt, though, was that I found a woman that would stick with me for 25 years, and if you know me, that’s really hard.”

On if he got his edge from his father:

“I actually think I’m a really nice guy. I know people on Twitter and Maryland don’t think so, but I think I’m a nice guy. If we want to have a beer, you can judge for yourself.”