Ben Howland
Ben Howland
Benjamin Clark Howlandis an American college basketball coach for the Mississippi State Bulldogs and former player. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Arizona University from 1994 to 1999, the University of Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2003, and the University of California, Los Angelesfrom 2003 to 2013. Howland became the first men's coach in modern college basketball history to be fired shortly after winning an outright power-conference title. He is one of the few NCAA Division I...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth28 May 1957
CityLebanon, OR
Coach watches every game. I knew that and embraced it. He's the greatest coach in the history of basketball. What he did in college basketball will never be repeated. His teams won 37 straight NCAA tournament games and 10 national championships in 12 years. You know how everyone wants to be like Mike -- Michael Jordan -- as a player? Every coach wants to be like John. So I don't feel a shadow. I embrace it.
I wanted to be Jerry West. That was my dream as a little kid.
Ryan Hollins is coming to the realization that this is it. All seniors seem to come to that realization about this point in the year.
That's my expectation, that we're going to feed off this win and it's going to make us better. We're going to need to be better, a lot better, to have a chance to beat Memphis.
This is an incredible defensive team. It's why we are where we are.
This is his second broken nose of the year. He's got two broken noses and a broken leg going right now. Hopefully, he can stay healthy here the rest of the way.
It was another outstanding job defensively. In the second half, we did a much better job of getting to the line and getting fouled.
Our defense kept us in the game when we really had an inability to score. When you go on the road you've got to be able to rely on your defense.
Our defense is what kept us in the game. I thought Oregon played very good defense as well. Somehow we hung around because we were playing good defense, playing every possession really tough.
Our defense was outstanding in the first half. It forced turnovers, they sped up and it keyed the game for us.
If they come back, God bless them, I'll be so happy. If they elect to stay in the NBA and they go in the first round, that'll be great, too.
I don't feel any of the shadow. I know who I am. I'm proud to be the one carrying the torch at this time.
Obviously, we don't have the depth we'd like. Everybody has to do a little more when you face adversity.
Obviously, we're real pleased to get the win. That was a great finish for us. It's really just a testament to the character, the toughness, the heart of our players to have the never-quit attitude. I'm really, really proud of them.