Seton Hall vs. Hawai’i – Post-game quotes & Wooden chips

Coach Kevin Willard, Seton Hall – Opening Statement: “I thought both teams played extremely hard and brought great energy defensively. I think both teams were sluggish to start offensively, it was a late tip. Once the game got going, both teams settled in and played hard. Eran (Ganot) has an unbelievable basketball team and he’s done a great job at Hawai’i. I’m really impressed with what he’s done there. I’m proud of our guys for fighting, it’s 2 a.m. ET and we’re fighting, that’s pretty good for an east coast team.”

On Miles Powell: “He’s got a ton of heart and he’s not going to lose confidence. That’s not going to happen. He’s going to keep shooting shots and he’s going to take some tough ones. The ones he makes where people are surprised he makes it, but when he misses those shots we’re shocked he missed them. As he goes, we go.”

On limiting turnovers: “I thought Anthony Nelson came in for a really good six-minute stretch and did a really good job of settling us down, getting into pick and rolls. I thought his tempo was critical during the game.”

Hawai’i Head Coach Eran Ganot – (On his team’s effort): “I want to credit Seton Hall for their ability to really get us out of sorts offensively. I thought our defense gave us a chance obviously and I think late, it was pretty even on the glass. We haven’t done well when we turn it over like that. We had 15 turnovers and we probably had a couple more that you could consider turnovers with the late shot clock and tough shots. We fought, and our guys competed. I will say that for sure, our guys competed to give us a chance when we play that poorly. I credit Seton Hall for doing a better job in the second half.”

(On the Seton Hall defense): “We weren’t ready to go because of the way we handled it early with unforced turnovers and lazy passes. Their guys were ready for it and obviously we weren’t. Credit them, I think we were on our heels and we weren’t attacking. When we did break it, which we did, we were playing with 18-20 [seconds] on the shot clock. I think that was the biggest thing in the game. On the offense, the way we played on our heels.”

Hawai’i Guard Sheriff Drammeh – (On the gameplan to guard Myles Powell): “We always have the same gameplan. We guard as a team, whoever we play. No matter if you drop 50 the night before it’s a team coverage. Basically, we all just had to put focus on him and take care of the rest of the guys.”

On how Seton Hall’s guards freed themselves up in the second half): “Honestly I don’t really know how to answer that. I’m not really sure how they got by us like that. We were slow in our first step when they got by us but, I feel like the whole game, like Coach Ganot said, it was a great defensive effort tonight and it would have been different if we could have performed offensively.”

(On defensive intensity): “Honestly, whoever we play, we just want to make it tough on whoever we’re guarding. Whenever I go against somebody I want to make sure I make it tough on them.”

Wooden Chips

Seton Hall (3-2)

 Hawai’i (4-2)