Billy Donovan Game Quotations

I was really so proud of the way they fought their way back to tie the game up. . . . But there is a huge difference between Tennessee and ourselves.

I got on them because our thought process going into the game was go inside first and then come back out. We were letting the ball sometimes go on the perimeter with the ball never touching the paint, and I think South Alabama wanted us to do that early in the game.

He just felt like where he was at physically it was best for Walter to start. I think that takes a kid with unbelievable character, a kid that cares about the team, a kid who has started every single game since he's been here walked into my office and said, 'Coach, Walter needs to start, I need to come off the bench.' . . . I don't know how many sophomores in college would come in and say that.

For us, it was a game we had to grind it out. It wasn't always our style of play. ... Tonight was about consecutive stops and defending the 3-point line. They shot 19 percent from the 3-point line and 39 percent from the field. That was the difference.

He's got great ability and great talent. But the best part of his game is he's a great competitor, has great enthusiasm and he plays to exhaustion.

He made the game easier for the entire team. He really got everyone else involved. Some guys had some really big nights because of his dribble penetration.

He needed to have a game like this. I was happy for him. The last week or so, I think he's been doing some soul searching, just trying to find a way to come up with some answers to help our team. He helped out big-time tonight.

I was concerned about trying to double him. I wanted him to score and to take those other guys out of the game the best we could. It worked out for us.

I think sometimes when you win people think you're not challenged, but I don't necessarily agree with that. (Wake Forest and Syracuse) were won by five points, then we went to Miami and with two minutes to go in the game the score was tied. Sometimes people think if you win, it's been all easy. I think our guys have had to grind out games and find ways to win some games. I'd rather learn through winning than losing.

Our kids just kept battling and playing hard. I mean, to win a championship game and not even get to 50 points is truly remarkable.

Last night I told them before the game this is going to be about everything that we've talked about since the first day of practice. Unselfishness. Team work. Team defense. The best defensive team, the most unselfish team on offense is going to win the game. That's ultimately the way it played out for our guys.

I think the difference in the game was the three-point line.

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 blocks in the Miami game came the right way. They came with our big guys playing good post defense, moving their feet. When someone from Miami committed to shooting the basketball, most of our blocked shots were on the ball.

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.

I thought the key to the game was the three-point line. They were shooting 32 percent for the year but shot 42 percent in the tournament. We knew the three-point line would be critical.

I was really happy for Adrian, especially after the game he had at South Carolina (no points, two turnovers in two minutes. It allowed our starters to get a little bit of a breather.

We shot ourselves in the foot a lot of times in the second half. . . . I thought both teams had fatigue settle in as the game went on.

Corey had a very good game shooting the basketball.

Every guy comes in and thinks they're going to play 40 minutes, and after the first game when they don't play as much as they want, you've got to be able to address it and get guys to accept their roles. If selfishness creeps in, teammates can sniff that out pretty quickly. Then all of the sudden the barriers of trust get broken down.

We all deal with issues and challenges. This is a game where we needed different people to step up.

To start this tournament over again, I may not be sitting up here. It is a one-shot game, one-shot deal. Sometimes the best teams don't always advance on in the NCAA Tournament. This team, starting the season, I felt had all the team makeup (to go far). They were unselfish and they wanted to win.

Someone told me his comments after the game was he put blame on himself. That's wrong. If anything I hold myself more accountable than I would hold him. The only thing I told him in that situation is not get ahead of himself and say, I probably should have called time out. That's probably what we needed to do. But hopefully next time he'll be able to learn.

Self-inflicted wounds. All just self-inflicted. We contributed to them getting back in the game with our mental errors.

Coming out of high school, he was one of the few guys that could dominate a game without scoring, ... He was special. The way he played against us was the way people thought he'd be. If he played like that every game, he wouldn't have been at Villanova very long.

You're playing a game right now, living each moment. Play each moment. They peaked and probably played well because of the setbacks we had in February that helped us grow.

Our faculty rep said before the game that the greatest thing is to build something from scratch. This is a huge milestone.

Our faculty rep said to me before the game that when you start with something from scratch and you build it up to win a championship, that's something special.

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.

This will be our second time to face South Carolina this season. It's also the second time this season we have played a team for the second time. They played with great emotion the last time we played each other. We got off to a good start early, but they were the better team that night. It was a six-point win for them, but they had us down 15 points at one point. This game will be a challenge for us. They have competitive kids and they totally out performed us. They beat us in every facet of the game. The challenge to our team is to take it one game to the next. Our last time against them is over. Our last home game is over.

This could have been a game where he could have gone 8 for 11. He just didn't have one of those nights.

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.

This game was all about the 3-point line and our ability to guard it. They made very, very timely 3-point shots. ... The great equalizer in college basketball is the 3-point line. It's the No. 1 stat I look at.

This game was all about the 3-point line and our inability to guard it.

You play the game out and you play the game with your best players on the floor. I think Tubby would agree with that.

I'm very happy for John. He's done an absolutely fantastic job with his team this season. It's always difficult playing a game at this level against such a close friend.

I'm not really concerned about that with us at this point. I'm concerned about us going into each game being the best we can be.

The biggest thing for David is to make good decisions and play very hard. There are some games, athletically, where what David can do is stretch the defense and really shoot it. So, we have to make sure in this game (Ole Miss) that we have him in the right match-up situation because they have so much quickness.

The biggest thing is, our kids play the game the right way. They're going to make the extra pass and move the basketball. We're averaging almost 20 assists.

The biggest thing to with Villanova to me is it's not only quickness, it's the physicality. I thought last year's game that we played them, they were by far the most physical team we played against.

The last 32 minutes of the game, we were totally outplayed, outperformed, out-everything. I don't think the score is indicative of how they outplayed us in this game.

His game is slashing, driving, getting into the lane. He made some spectacular, athletic plays.

I really feel like the only game where we were outfought was at South Carolina. For whatever reason, we didn't play how we normally do.

I really felt like probably the last 32 minutes of the game we were totally outplayed, outperformed, out everything by South Carolina. Their kids played a great game. I don't think the score was indicative of how much they outplayed us in this game.

I have said before that we are not the most talented team, we are not the best team and there are always ugly moments in games. But you are always going to feel good as a coach walking off the court coaching these guys because they give you everything they have. Whether that is enough to win the game (against Tennessee), we'll see.

Because the game was close, our weaknesses got magnified. We had the same weaknesses against Kentucky, but when you win by 17 ... you have a tendency to look past all the mistakes and focus on all the exciting plays.

I didn't feel like the game was over. They made some 3s to cut it to 12 and we had to make some free throws.

I didn't think our guards did a very good job of blocking out. There were a couple of key situations in the game where our guards didn't even attempts to block out.

I didn't think that Vanderbilt's game plan was to come in and back off Corey. I didn't think that Corey was being left open on purpose, I think it was through our ball movement. He got some looks, and he knocked them down.

George Mason has been playing great. But I thought the key to the game was the 3-point line. That was one thing missing from what people were talking about.

The second half was a back-and-forth basketball game. Give Arkansas credit. They made some plays and their kids played hard and I thought it was a great college basketball game that both teams had a chance to win at times.

It was a great college basketball game with both teams going back and forth and they were able to take the lead on a play. We got Lee a pretty good shot and if he makes it, we're up by one. It was a little bit short. I thought it had a great chance to go in.

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.

These kids are throwbacks. It's very, very refreshing. You're dealing with different, different kids. Does Chris Richard want to start and score 35 points every game and grab 15 rebounds? Yes. But they're willing to put the team before themselves.

I told them this would be a 40-minute battle from start to finish, and if you let frustration creep in at all, you guys are going to lose the game. This is going to be an ugly game where we may not shoot well, but we have to defend and rebound.

I told them before the game, this game was going to come down to everything we talk about being. Team work, unselfishness, sharing the ball, and being able to defend and rebound.

That's something we'll have to look at on film. You look at the last two minutes of the game but sometimes you don't look at how it got to that point. The offensive rebounds Tennessee had in the second half really hurt us.

That's one of the things we talked about with our guys. How are we going to respond when we don't shoot well? Here was a night where we didn't shoot the ball well. This was a game where we had to grind it out and find a way to win.

As a basketball team you have to go through it. They need it. The game came down to our inexperience on the basketball court to their experience.

They are a team that is as talented as anyone this year. They are an outstanding team. We will have our hands full at every position in this game. We don't have a physical advantage at all. It will be a hard game for us.

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 are a real big rotation team, a real big help team, and we talked about coming into the game offensively and spacing them, and trying to create some middle pick and roll and help situations.

It's a totally different team. This one is special because these kids have shown a level of selflessness and play the way the game should be played. They look out for each other. They care for each other. That shows on the court.

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.

It's hard to win a road game when it's 42-20 at the free throw line. It really disrupted our flow and made us stagnant in our offense.

I don't think that we have played against anyone with his size and athletic ability. He is very impressive because he is so skilled. He is a good passer which is impressive for a guy who is 7-foot-2. He runs, he catches and he alters shots. You just don't see a lot of players in college basketball like him. This will be a unique game for us to play against a guy like him.