Billy Donovan Press Conference Quotes
Monday, February 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Head coach Billy Donovan gave his weekly press conference on Monday. Read below to see his comments leading into Wednesday's game vs. Vanderbilt.
On hesitance to use the term “snake-bitten” in describing the close endings in last few games…
I don't look at it that way at all. Those to me are kind of excuses in a lot of ways. You could sit there and say bad luck, snake-bitten, all those kind of things. I've never, ever believed that. I believe that you put yourself in position, maybe if you want to use the word lucky, to be lucky. And I think if you go back, and certainly I've analyzed all those games, you go back and look at them, it's always been somebody from the other team who's made a shot against us. I mean that's really what's happened whether it's been [Stefan] Moody making a shot at the end of the game, whether it's been [D'Vauntes] Smith-Rivera against Georgetown making two. You know, we had the lead, he made a shot, we came back and got the lead, he made another shot. Whether it's [Angel] Rodriguez from Miami, you know, making a shot. You know, same thing happened in the Arkansas game, where we got beat on a loose ball for an offensive rebound, they scored, took the lead, and we came back and made a play. [Michael] Frazier made two free throws and if he doesn't make those free throws, you lose. But we could've defended better. And there's a lot of other things that we could've done better in the game that could've offset that. And the same thing, you know, I think with [Ole Miss' Jarvis] Summers at the end of the game, you know, going the length of the floor, we foul him, put him to the free throw line, makes two free throws. So, at the end of the game, the last possession, a lot of those games had been other players making shots. We probably need to do a better job defensively of being able to maybe get stops in those situations, but at some point you have to also give the other team some credit where they've been able to make a shot and there's been a lot of games where we have not made shots.
On the offensive possessions Florida is getting…
Well I thought in the Ole Miss game I mentioned to you I thought we didn't attack like I would've liked to have seen us attack. The Ole Miss game on the road I thought we had a great possession. [Michael] Frazier drove the ball hard and got fouled and made two free throws, put us up one. Dorian Finney-Smith at the end of the Alabama game, you know, really good possession, drove the ball, scored. I think the last couple possessions we had talked about we had a great tip-in on the break to put us up one, we came back, Kasey [Hill] had that turnover in the middle of the floor, up one, and then we had really, really good ball movement and Alex Murphy had a wide open three out of the corner that did not go down. So I think you always try to look at the shots that we're getting in those situations. I didn't particularly like the shot that we took at the end of the game against Miami or against Georgetown, those two shots. And I say that because there was a drive to the basket, we needed to make the extra pass and we didn't make the extra pass. I thought Eli Carter's play to Dorian [Finney-Smith] at the end of the game was the right play. He had two players on him, Dorian was open, he gave it back to him. Dorian probably needs to shoot the ball in that situation, but I give Eli credit for maybe growing and learning from those two experiences early in the year. He kind of drove the ball, he got some help on him and he's trying to finish a play over two people. You've got to make the extra pass.
On who should have the last shot in a close game situation…
Who else would you like to shoot on our team? And the end of the game we had the ball in whose hands? Who did the ball start with? And it ended with who? Who were the two players that touched the ball at the end of the game? [Dorian Finney-Smith and Eli Carter]. Right. So you've got them with the ball, someone's going to have to make a shot or make a play, and at times you're going to have to create ball movement. You know, it's not like a situation where we're asking Chris Walker to make a three-point shot to win the game. We're moving the ball and Alex Murphy's got to be there. I mean I think if you look at our three-point shooting percentages as a team, I'm all for any suggestions you have who you'd like to shoot the ball wide open. I'll take any one of them.
On searching for consistency…
I think that this team's had some struggles, you know, if you look at the consistency part. You know, Devin [Robinson] goes against Ole Miss and plays pretty well at home, scores 14 points and then, you know, we kind of…he comes back and goes 0-for-4. Kasey [Hill] goes 1-for-7, [Chris] Chiozza's, I think, 1-for-5. Our shooting percentages just, you know, they have not been great. You know, go six games where you're shooting 21% percent from the three-point line, then you know he comes back out against [Texas] A&M, gives us a pretty good performance and to be honest with you he probably single-handedly kept us in that game. So we've had some inconsistencies, you know, shooting the basketball and scoring the basketball and I think it's probably been well documented in terms of a low post presence and somebody to throw the ball inside to and we have thrown the ball inside a little bit more but we haven't gotten really great production there. So at times we are limited and have a difficult time scoring.
On a sense of whether or not the players are getting down on themselves…
I don't sense that. I've said all along I think this is a good group. I think as a coach I have to help them get better and I'm committed to trying to do that and work with them. I don't think there's any finger-pointing at all. I don't think, geez, you know, I think they've given up. I think as Kevin alluded to, I get a little bit concerned when we start using the word snake-bitten there because there's so many possessions in a game. You can kind of talk about the last possession and that is one possession in the game it's an important possession. But also, our defense, in the middle of the second half, with the amount of layups that we gave up. I mean we allowed [Texas] A&M last game to score 40 points in the paint. There's got to be a little more resistance there. So, I don't sense that there's frustration. Certainly I think there's disappointment, there's probably surprise considering of how they came into the season you know and the way they felt about our team. But I don't get a sense at all that they're frustrated. I don't sense that from them.
On approaching James Siakam of Vanderbilt…
He really, I thought, did a great job in the game [against Florida earlier this season]. He really was the difference in a lot of ways, I mean, scored the ball well around the basket and a lot of it was off offensive rebounds and put backs. He had blocked shots. He really dominated, he and [Damian] Jones I thought in particular played extremely well up front and they, in particular, did a really, really good job on the glass, so we're going to have to do a much, much better job on Wednesday than we did last time we were in Nashville because he I thought in particular had a terrific game and was the difference in the game in a lot of respects.
On Vanderbilt playing at a higher level recently…
I don't know if they weren't necessarily playing at a high level than I think sometimes people look at the result of winning and losing and determine whether or not a team's playing at a high level or not. I think that they have always been playing really well. I think if you looked at some of their scores, you know, when they started out the league maybe 1-7 or whatever it was, I mean they were really, really competitive. And they had a couple of games they got beat handily but I mean, they were right there. They were in some games and really had some chances to win a lot of those games. I think probably like most teams, you hope that your team's getting better and improving. They've obviously got a lot of freshmen, in particular, in the back court, that I think continue to grow and get better. But I think winning always maybe changes or makes you feel a little bit differently or better about yourself and I'm sure for them, winning some games or going on the road and winning they're probably a very confident basketball team right now.
On the direction in which Florida men's basketball is heading in the future…
I don't think you ever really know, you know. We came off a pretty disappointing loss in the NCAA Tournament one year, I think it was a 12 o'clock game against Manhattan in North Carolina. And I would've said at that moment in time, geez, we've got a long, long, long, long way to go. Two years later, we're in the National Championship. We went to two NITs and then got to the NCAA Tournament, and as you mentioned, went to four Elite Eights and one of those years a Final Four. So, it's really, I've never, ever really been a big believer of projecting out of what things look like because so many different things can change for your team. So, I think that we have obviously a lot of these guys coming back. I think we as a coaching staff have got to continue to work with them to help them get better and address the areas they need to get better in. I think we do have a good group of guys. I'm not looking for this to be like a State of the Union of what the future looks like. I think it's hard to do that, you know, because I certainly…you know losing to Manhattan I was really, really disappointed with the way our team played and we lost I think that year in maybe the SEC Tournament Championship game, Matt Walsh had a foot injury. We didn't really play particularly well as a team. And then I think it was one more year with those guys maybe and then we won a National Championship. So, you know, I've always believed, you know if you would've asked that question coming out of the Final Four you would say, geez, Florida's going this way. And now Florida's going this way. I don't know. I just know this happens a lot. That's going to happen in life there's going to be some ebbs and flows. I don't think there's ever a steady incline in anything. There's up, back down, back up, back down. That's just the reality of it. And for our program and our team, these guys have got to learn through these experiences. I'm more concerned more than anything else if you ask me, okay, going forward what are you most concerned about, the state of the program, those kinds of things. I'm more concerned, what have our players learned from this season? I know what they need to learn, but what have they learned and what are they really, really willing to take to heart? That's way, way more of a concern for me as you go through a season and an experience like these guys have gone through because I think in the face of winning and in the face of losing, there's an enormous amount to learn and what you learn is really the most important thing of what your future is going to look like. So, those teams that went to the NIT back-to-back years, I didn't think that we learned anything from the first NIT to the second NIT. Did not learn a thing. It took two of those to actually start to see some change. And I'm hopeful that these guys can learn some stuff and as a coaching staff we can help them internalize and see and visualize this for what it is to help them grow.
On how the ineligible/injured players are doing…
When you're in the situation we're in right now, it looks like Dwight Howard, LeBron [James] and Kobe [Bryant]. Guys are never as good as people want to make them out to be when they are sitting out. The expectation part gets way too high. Certainly, I think we all saw that with Chris Walker sitting out in terms of the expectation. John Egbunu is going to be a guy that's going to be able to help our team. I believe Brandone Francis has got a long way to go. I think hopefully he could help our team in some way. I never ever believe guys are sitting out just because they're seen visually, but they don't play and the legend grows every day that goes by -- I don't believe in that. How much they can help, I don't know. I like coaching them, I like having them in our program, but I'm not prepared to put that kind of expectation or pressure on those guys since they haven't really done anything since they've been here.
On Schuyler Rimmer…
I do like Schuyler, I like him a lot. He's a big physical guy. I think the biggest thing for him right now is the way Stanford's academic calendar is set up, he had a long period off from playing basketball over the Christmas holidays and then coming back to school here. What we've been trying to do is help him to get in a little bit better shape. That's not to say he wasn't in shape when he was playing at Stanford, he just had so much time off from playing that he probably got himself out of shape. He works hard and he's a great kid. I'm happy he's here. Hopefully, again, he's another guy that can provide some help for our team.
On the signs of growth and learning from the team this year so far…
When you come into a season like we've come in to and there's a lot that's come of the Final Four and the preseason hype and what happened last year in the SEC, and all that other stuff, it probably wasn't realistic. It probably wasn't a realistic expectation for this team starting out the year. I kind of sensed that, I saw that, I felt that. I think if you would have told those guys the first day of practice: 'by the way, on February 16, you're going to be 12-13.' What do you think those guys would have said? That's my point in terms of them learning from that. The things that we have to address, that we have to get better at, I think they are working on and trying to do better -- we're playing better together as a team. We're competing harder. We're moving through the adversity. I feel we have gotten better, there have been a couple games now coming out of our last Vanderbilt game where we competed better. I thought we competed well in the Kentucky game, the Ole Miss game and then the Texas A&M game. The other thing we have to get better at is our consistency and our discipline. Those have been two things that have hurt our basketball team. This year it needs to be addressed, that we constantly keep talking about it and help them with that. They are coachable, they're good kids. There are a lot of things they can learn from this experience, and I'm hopeful they can learn those things. Ultimately, some of them are going to have to make the commitment to the areas of consistency and things that can help them from a consistency standpoint.
On Chris Walker's success in Florida's last two games…
Chris did a good job, he gave us good rim protection, he was energy. Going back to what I said: sometimes when a guy makes a jump, that's the consistency part I'm talking about. Can he be consistently relied upon every single game? That's his plot, that's his thing he has to overcome right now as a player. Can you come back and do that again? Not that he needs to go 5-for-5 and score 11 points or whatever, but can you come back and do that again? It's like Eli Carter has a really, really good game against Texas A&M, but can you come back and be consistent? Can you have another consistent performance? Kasey [Hill] plays fairly decent against Ole Miss, but he's 0-for-7 against Texas A&M. He had 10 assists, which was good, but just that consistency every single day, that's been the hardest part. For any really good team, you can always point to a level of consistency. You look and you say, I know what I'm getting from this guy night in and night out and you can rest assured this is what it's going to be. That has been our struggle in a lot of ways, there hasn't been that. There's been a lot of guys -- one minute it's Devin Robinson who plays really, really good against Ole Miss, then there's Eli Carter, then it's this guy or that guy. We need more consistency and discipline on a regular basis. That's what I've been trying to work on and stress with those guys is the need to be able to do that.
On the traditional college basketball powers struggling right now…
You can point to almost everybody's program and look at some points in time where there's been that up and down that you're talking about. I don't think anybody stays on top forever and I don't think anybody necessarily stays on the bottom forever. There's just these things that you go through as a program. Is it alarming to me? Yes. It's alarming just from the standpoint of: what have we learned and how are we going to grow and get better from this? I don't have those answers yet. I'm coaching the team and I'm responsible for the team -- in a large part, I have not been able to do a good enough job, been able to get through to them, or whatever tactics I've tried to use to expose the things we've got to get better at -- I've been unable to get them to do those things. Talking about the outlook long term, those things are going to have to change for us to get to a point of being consistently playing well. Right now, I feel in a lot of ways I have been unable to help them in a lot of those areas. For me, as a coach, I get disappointed in myself because I couldn't be of more help. It's not necessarily from a lack of trying, it's not like we have bad kids that don't listen, but for whatever reason, we have not -- and I have not -- been able to get them to do those things on a consistent basis. At times for me, I feel like I've let them down in some ways and that bothers me.
On being one of the lower point-scoring teams in Florida history and when he realized they would struggle…
A couple things have happened. Certainly, Michael [Frazier II] being out doesn't help that. I really thought Eli [Carter] could be a little more consistent, just seeing him in workouts and practice. He has actually shot the ball better in practice than in games on a consistent basis. That gave me a little bit of optimism. I saw a little bit more consistency from Dorian [Finney-Smith]. Last year, he was really up and down with his shooting. He could have one really good shooting game and then he could go five or six -- I just thought I'd see more consistency from him shooting the basketball, I thought that would give us a little more. I thought Kasey Hill's speed, quickness in transition and being able to finish around the basket [would help]. That's been something he probably needs to still get better at. I knew going in from the beginning that we were not going to have this physical presence like Patric [Young] to just dump the ball inside to, that was going to be a little bit of a challenge, but I still thought we could maybe manufacture some points on the baseline on some dump-down passes and some penetration. I knew Devin [Robinson] came in as a pretty heralded three-point shooter and a good shooter, but in defense of him and [Chris] Chiozza, like most freshmen, most of the time those guys' shooting percentages, like Brad Beal in practice was one of the better shooters I've ever coached and been around, certainly had his struggles as a freshman, and those guys are going to have it. I was a little bit optimistic seeing what I was seeing in practice, but if you're going by the games, we have been an up and down team -- an inconsistent team -- shooting the ball.
