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
Our team battled through the adversity of the game. They battled through not shooting the ball, and we found a way, defensively, to win the game.
Our starters didn't play a lot of minutes, and it was good to see us score as many points as we did with those guys not playing. For our team right now, playing this midweek game before getting back into the (Southeastern) conference at Tennessee (Saturday) was good for us.
Our schedule has been balanced. There are generally times when you have to play those guaranteed games. You wonder what it does to the mindset of your players, but we've played on the road at Providence and Miami and up in New York against Syracuse and Wake Forest. I think we've been tested.
They've been totally selfless and they've been all about the team and they've been all about winning.
They've been able to inspire a lot of different people... people that maybe are really, really in need.
They started to understand that playing hard isn't enough. I think that stretch helped them understand that there was another piece to winning.
A lot of it was their slapping, their reaching, their grabbing, experienced ways they know how to do things. I don't want to say they frustrated us, but they made things difficult.
A lot of our guys don't have shirt, jacket and ties, so we wanted them to be as neat as possible.
They made it very difficult for us to get prepared. Just trying to space the floor. And you have to extra pass against them.
They played great tonight, they really did. I was proud of how hard they played and competed. They gave me everything I could possibly ask.
They play college basketball way they should play it. We're looking at this game as playing one of the best teams in the United States of America because that is what they are.
They outplayed us, outperformed us and hurt us in the backcourt. You have to give them credit. They are a quick, explosive team. They rebound well. We are going to have to play a whole lot better than we did in Columbia to have a chance to win.
They have given us low-post presence, they have given us shot-blocking, and they certainly add a different dimension to our team. They are different types of players and they compliment each other pretty well.
They generally come out and say, Billy if you continue on, you're going to get one. It's very clear where you're at.