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
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.
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.
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.
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.
I think you could see how hard it is to play back-to-back nights. I didn't like our defensive intensity in the first half. In the second half, we did a much, much better job.
I think in the SEC tournament if you can get a bye that's always a great thing. It's certainly very hard playing four consecutive games in a row to win an SEC championship.
Tennessee has been hardened by all those losses in the past, and now Bruce has brought in hope.
It is so hard when you have departures all the time to stay at the highest level. It's almost like coaching junior college now, and people want to level to stay up high.
Kevin does a good job moving him around and creating shots. He's got a very good feel and he's a good, hard cutter.
In the SEC Tournament if you can get a bye, that's always a great thing. It's certainly very hard playing four consecutive games in a row to win an SEC championship.
I think the tournament is wide open. Is it any more wide open than in years past? It's hard to say, but I just think on a neutral site with the way this league is anything can happen on any given night.
I think it was a great experience for our players. Obviously, it's hard to prepare for the White House on such short notice, but I think they enjoyed themselves on the trip.
Our guys have really tried to work hard at it.