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
When I finished watching the tape from last year I was embarrassed with our effort. I am so much happier with where we are now than a year ago.
We're playing our best basketball of the year by far.
I mean, come on. That is very, very unfair of him to characterize his team like that after the kind of year they've had and some of the quality wins they've had.
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's been frustrating, because we haven't been able to stay healthy. We've had one practice the entire year where we've had all 12 scholarship players healthy. But that's part of the game.
This year has been exceptional in that we've had so many injuries, more so than in any other year.
We had a great year. Our goal is to get back here again next year and win it.
This team never, ever gets affected ... they just battle back. We're playing our best basketball of the year by far right now.
We went through a lot of adversity earlier this year with injuries and we played a lot of people. I have complete confidence in our entire team.
They're obviously a great shooting team. Any time you shoot 39 percent on the year from three as a team, that's outstanding.
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.
What a great feeling. To still be playing. To beat an outstanding team in Memphis. We're thrilled to be heading to Indiana.
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.
With the last play of regulation, we didn't have any timeouts left and I am trying to be judicious, but also use my timeouts to the best of my ability. After all that and then go into overtime on a great shot by Robertson is just a testament to these kids' character.