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
realize season stretch toughest
We realize the toughest stretch of the season is here.
environment faced gave great played possibly proud road team toughest
We played great tonight, we really did. They gave me everything I could possibly want. I am really proud of the way our team responded here. This was the toughest road environment we faced all season.
best fiery mike official tough view
I don't know what the official said. I actually thought it may have grazed the rim, but I didn't have the best view of the play. Mike is a fiery guy. He's a tough competitor.
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.
across appreciate coming country family graduated playing respect ryan saw tough
I respect and appreciate him for coming across the country and playing at Florida. I think Ryan being away from his family and not playing as much was tough on him, and he saw that (since graduated guard) Anthony Roberson was coming back.
facing february focused great group guys helped peaked played point pride road setbacks team took tougher worked
I think our guys took great pride in facing a tougher road to get to this point than other teams. I think our team got better. They were a very, very focused group that worked hard. They peaked and probably played well because of some setbacks in February that helped us grow.
against basketball early everybody four knew last played playing six stretch talented teams toughest
If you look at our last four to six games, everybody knew it was going to be the toughest part and stretch of our schedule. Our basketball team, when we had all that early success, I don't know if we've played against teams as talented as we're playing against now.
ability maybe physical tougher year
I don't know if I would necessarily say we're just tougher. But we have the ability to play more physical and tougher than maybe we did a year ago.
anyone extreme floor great john luxury next playing prepare problem score taking tough underrated
He's a problem for anyone because he can rebound, he can score because of their great spacing and he's a very underrated passer out of the post. John (Thompson) has the luxury of playing him and going big or taking him off the floor and going quick. They can go from one extreme to the next because of their balance, so it makes them tough to prepare for.
feeling game georgia kids playing road tough underdogs
These kids are about challenges, competition. I don't think they look at playing at Georgia any differently than they do playing St. Joe's. In their minds, being 13-0, they are going in there feeling that they are underdogs because it's a road game in a place that's tough to play.
felt gave half offensive outside rebounds score second tried
We tried to make them score outside their offense. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, but in the second half I felt like their frontcourt was fatigued.
assistance function fund kids notice players recently short student suit
We just recently had a function where we had to go into the student assistance fund to get players some clothes. Some of our kids come from backgrounds where getting a suit on short notice is difficult.
attack mix
We just wanted to continually attack and mix up our defenses.
attack continue defend extra game guys mix pass tried year
We just tried to continue to attack and mix up our defenses. I told our guys this game would come down to the same things we've been doing all year - unselfishness, making the extra pass and being able to defend and rebound.