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
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.
Everybody is contributing to this program, even the guys that aren't playing or don't get to play as much.
He's a complete player. He is going to be an excellent pro and he could be playing for the Sonics right now just as much as for the Huskies.
He's a great player. He'll be playing in the NBA whenever he leaves college.
We were the tentative ones in the first half. I think we did a better job of playing way more aggressively at both ends of the floor in the second half.
This team never, ever gets affected ... they just battle back. We're playing our best basketball of the year by far right now.
It's that magic third year. That's the plan. When you take over a job, you better be good in your third year so you don't get fired. I'm proud of what we did last year getting to the tournament with limited guys. We had four guys on the perimeter playing down the stretch. Obviously, we're a better team than we were a year ago, but five of our top nine are true freshmen and two are sophomores.
It was brutal. I was uncomfortable just standing there . . . And the kid is playing like you can't believe, just the fundamentals.
They both are premier players that have grown through a lot of adversity already. Both of them got a lot of experience last year and playing over the summer.
It means something. These kids are playing for themselves. But we're also playing for the program. They represent those four letters. It's a very special fraternity.
There are a lot of games yet to be played. It's going to be a great year. The thing that's good about the Pac-10 is anyone can beat anybody on any given night. And Oregon is playing solid basketball.
We're playing our best basketball of the year by far.
We're playing our best basketball of the season by far right now. We're improving, we're getting better.
What a great feeling, to still be playing and to beat an outstanding team like Memphis. I'm really proud of the defense we played today. The defense was just incredible.