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 was concerned. I just wanted to get through that stretch even and not to have to bring our big guys back in and get more foul trouble. I thought that Garrett and Brett came in and actually did a pretty good job for us.
I thought the release by one of them there in the second half at the end of the game, his follow through did not look good on it and it came up short. Lee was in here (Sunday) night getting shots up. I've obviously got to be intelligent here because I've got a player burden in Brewer and we're down to eight scholarship guys. It's not like every day Lee can run and bang and go up and down the floor.
Our blocks in the Miami game came the right way. They came with our big guys playing good post defense, moving their feet. When someone from Miami committed to shooting the basketball, most of our blocked shots were on the ball.
As a basketball team you have to go through it. They need it. The game came down to our inexperience on the basketball court to their experience.
I told I think it would be great if that's what they want to do if they came out public with it so everybody knows. No more questions about it or talk about it. It's over and done with and this is where they're at.
Our bench really did some good things, some encouraging things. That really kind of sparked our main guys when they came back in there late in the first half.
That takes a kid with unbelievable character. It takes a kid who cares about the team, a kid who wants to win.
Corey was a definite spark for us at the start of the second half. He made a couple baskets to get us going and he did some good things defensively.
It's teams like George Mason that give so many people hope in their lives, just seeing what great things can be accomplished.
You're playing a game right now, living each moment. Play each moment. They peaked and probably played well because of the setbacks we had in February that helped us grow.
That's generally a recipe for disaster, but because we defended the 3-point line that gave us an opportunity.
It's hard to win a road game when it's 42-20 at the free throw line. It really disrupted our flow and made us stagnant in our offense.
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.