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
Well, I tried to guard him. That's the key. We played mostly half-court, so it was easier to hold, grab and foul as opposed to when you've got Johnny between the top of the keys. Once in a while when that happened, it was over for me.
Typically if we get out-boarded by nine and shoot 5-of-13 from the foul line and allow someone to shoot 61 percent in the first half, we are not going to win. We gutted it out, found a way.
We'll work on our foul shooting, I promise you.
We will practice our foul shots, I promise you that.
The bottom line is if we make our foul shots, it doesn't come down to Steele taking a 3-point shot at the end.
The bottom line is, we make those foul shots, Steele doesn't have that shot down the stretch.
If we make our foul shots, it's probably not as tight.
I'm the foul shooting coach, so blame me. We'll get better. I promise.
We feel very, very fortunate to move on to the next round.
We hit some tough shots. It was a night of tough shots.
It was another outstanding job defensively. In the second half, we did a much better job of getting to the line and getting fouled.
The very best players are my kind of players.
Florida was terrific. Credit Billy Donovan. They were really well coached. They did an excellent job handling our pressure.
Florida has a great offensive team. It really is going to be a big challenge for us to be able to try to defend such skilled players and good passers. Everybody can shoot it.