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 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.
Actually it's going to start next year. It's a five for one. We've got you guys coming here five times and then we'll come back and play you guys there.
They are a real big rotation team, a real big help team, and we talked about coming into the game offensively and spacing them, and trying to create some middle pick and roll and help situations.
Our bench coming in has to have a little more confidence when they're out there, that there's not going to be a drop off.
Coming out of high school, he was one of the few guys that could dominate a game without scoring, ... He was special. The way he played against us was the way people thought he'd be. If he played like that every game, he wouldn't have been at Villanova very long.
My biggest thing with the crowd coming on the court was just in terms of the players' safety. It looks good on TV, but you're always concerned or worried that there is going to be some type of altercation.
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.