Billy Donovan
Billy Donovan
William John Donovan, Jr.is an American professional basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He previously spent 19 seasons at the University of Florida, where his Florida Gators men's basketball teams won two NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships in 2006 and 2007. Donovan has more wins than any other coach in the history of the Florida basketball program, and he coached the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances,...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 May 1965
CityRockville Centre, NY
I went off pretty good at halftime. It's hard if you're not making shots to get off to a good start. We could have very, very easily have been up 15 or 20 in the first half.
I think the one thing that should be talked about more is our guys' will and passion to win. They've really stayed focused on winning. ... We really didn't get a lot of breaks. We had to grind it out and find a way to win.
The second half was a back-and-forth basketball game. Give Arkansas credit. They made some plays and their kids played hard and I thought it was a great college basketball game that both teams had a chance to win at times.
He was teaching us that sometimes less is more. Less of myself was more that day.
He is the whole key to their team. When he gets his 18 to 19 points, everything else seems to fall into place.
I really thought that maybe they were not as fresh coming down the stretch. That was kind of our hope in the second half, that maybe we could try to wear them down because they were really sticking with their seven guys.
I think our guys took great pride in facing a tougher road to get to this point than other teams. I think our team got better. They were a very, very focused group that worked hard. They peaked and probably played well because of some setbacks in February that helped us grow.
It was a great, great college basketball game. Both teams had a chance to win. I think Arkansas is as talented as any team in the league. They have more experience, much more size and physicality than we do.
It was a back-and-forth basketball game. Both teams had a chance to win, but give Arkansas credit. They were able to find a way to come out with a victory.
I don't know where he's at. Everything went well in terms of the procedure. A lot will depend on how he heals the next couple of days.
It's hard to win on the road when it's 42-20 (Arkansas' favor) in free throws shot. That's a big discrepancy. But Arkansas made only 5 of 12 free throws in the first half and that kept us in it.
Self-inflicted wounds. I knew it was going to be this kind of a game. I told our team we're going to have to grind it out and win ugly.
Corey just didn't have it today. And it's hard to expect him to have it when you don't practice for two days.
He gets bothered at a lot of the attention, or (that) people want to talk to him because it is a unique story. It is a unique family. He worries about getting too much attention and taking away from the rest of the guys. ... He doesn't want that.