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
giving jump living pull runners shots
The whole thing with them is, if they pull up on jump shots in the lane, they take runners in the lane, and we are giving two, we are going to live with that. But we were not living with threes.
block concerned focus guys rebound shot shots start telling
We're not at all telling our guys when the shot is up, you need to block shots. We're more concerned about challenging shots and then being able to block out and rebound to start the break. That's where our focus has been.
hopeful maybe rebound second shots starting worn
I was hopeful going into second half. I thought maybe they were starting to get a little worn down. We were hopeful maybe their shots wouldn't go in and maybe they wouldn't rebound as well.
air block blocking coaching emphasis good happen jumping last point saying several shots staff team trying
We're blocking more shots than we have in the last several years, but I don't think as a coaching staff we're saying this is a point of emphasis for our defense. We don't want to be a team that's just jumping up in the air trying to block shots because there are a lot of things that happen that are not good if you don't block it. So we just have to be selective.
corey critical final found game happy hitting night rebound shots stepped
This was a night when Corey Brewer really stepped up for us. He made some big shots and some plays. He was hitting on his 3s and also had the critical rebound in the final minute. I'm happy for him. He really found his game and his rhythm.
block broken cause defensive figure giving good helping lost missed shots team three understand
When we lost three in a row, I said it's good for our team because it is helping them figure out how to win. They didn't understand a missed block out, a broken defensive assignment, giving up 3-point shots could cause us to lose.
ball challenge defense knock maybe shoot shots won
Tonight, we won because of our defense and they didn't shoot the ball particularly well. I would say it was a combination, that we did at times challenge their shots, and there were maybe also some shots they just didn't knock down.
awful difficult hang shots team
Auburn is a very difficult team to play against, because they take so many threes. When they make them like they did - and I thought they made some awful difficult shots - they're going to hang around and play with anybody.
easily game shots taken turned
This could have been a game where he could have taken it easily 15 to 20 shots. He turned down so many shots it was incredible.
affect areas corey early game hit involved learned lesson shots tonight valuable
I thought Corey was very focused. I thought the most valuable lesson he may have learned tonight was he hit some shots early and you started to see him involved in other areas of his game. He was able to affect the game in a lot of different ways.
certainly chris defending difficult good hanging job line people percent phenomenal shooter shots tough type
I thought Chris Lofton had a phenomenal night. He made some very difficult shots with people hanging on him. But that is the type of shooter he is, so you have got to give him a lot of credit. We (Florida) did a pretty good job defending them - they only shot 31 percent from the 3-point line - but he certainly made tough ones.
bang burden came eight follow good half lee night obviously player release run second shots
I thought the release by one of them there in the second half at the end of the game, his follow through did not look good on it and it came up short. Lee was in here (Sunday) night getting shots up. I've obviously got to be intelligent here because I've got a player burden in Brewer and we're down to eight scholarship guys. It's not like every day Lee can run and bang and go up and down the floor.
easily good hard shots
I went off pretty good at halftime. It's hard if you're not making shots to get off to a good start. We could have very, very easily have been up 15 or 20 in the first half.
believe bench concerned control giving shoot shots type
Our bench has done good. I really believe if I could have control of when they shoot the ball, our bench making shots and giving our bench production, we would do it. But I'm not concerned about that. I'm more concerned about the type of shots we're getting.