Billy Donovan Against Quotations

What this goes to show you is that in our league, coming in with a team that was 1-4 against a team that was perceived as being a top team, we were basically manhandled today.

We're 16-0 right now, but we could very easily be 11-5. It's that fragile. We have to work for everything we get. We had to work against Auburn all the way to the end. We had to work all the way until the end against Mississippi State.

If that happened, I'd be really disappointed in our team. We're playing against a team that really out-performed us a couple of weeks ago in Columbia. The final score says 6 points, but we were down by 15 in the second half, we were dominated in the game. I would hope our guys would be excited about having the opportunity to compete again and play again.

Going into this game, we don't have any excuses. We have enough to get out on the floor and dress. We're not going to be playing five against four.

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.

Right now so much changes, there are so many games going on, and different things happen during the course of the year. So much of your RPI is affected on the teams that you play, how they do against somebody else, how all those things happen.

With the teams we're playing and the stretch we have the next seven days, these guys need to get to a crossroad. Their backs are against the wall. They're either really going to try to do those things, or they're going to put themselves in a position where we can't play to the best of our ability.

When you win, it creates unbelievable opportunities in life. It's nothing negative against Florida, but they have to look at these opportunities.

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.

We've had some good quality wins on the road at Providence and Miami, but our guys still feel like they have an enormous amount to prove. The mindset of our basketball team is we feel like going against Georgia is a lot to prove.

The reason he shot it so far to the left was he never really got his left arm up and he shot it across his body. This is going to be another one to two weeks before he's back to probably feeling healthy. I would think that he would be available against South Carolina. How many minutes? What type of role? Will he be able to get back to his shooting form? I'm hopeful, but I'm not counting on that.

I've been fortunate since I've been here in that when our back has been against the wall our guys have responded very well. A lot of that has to do with the mindset and mentality of your team.

These were two teams that were very well balanced going against each other. We were fortunate to come out and top.

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.

This is going to be another one to two weeks before he's back to probably feeling healthy. I would think that he would be available against South Carolina. How many minutes? What type of role? Will he be able to get back to his shooting form? I'm hopeful, but I'm not counting on that.

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 are a terrific team and for us it's another challenge against a great team. They've proven that with what they did against Connecticut and Michigan State and North Carolina. I'm excited for George Mason and it's great for college basketball.

They're so hard to get the ball inside against. But I felt if we could just get the ball up against the backboard, we had a good chance at getting offensive rebounds. It was good to see Al and Jo play the way they did.

It was a great win against a very good team. From start to finish, LSU has really had an unbelievable season, individually and as a team. They've been the most consistent team all year long.

They've had some very heartbreaking losses that they've had chances to win. They're coming off a big win against Kentucky. To me, they're playing as well as anyone in our league.

Arkansas fans are great fans. It's a shame because you have two really great teams playing against each other and it wasn't a sellout because of the weather in the area.

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.

If you do the same thing against those guys every single time down the floor, they're eventually just going to pick you apart. So we just tried to change. We tried to get some weak-side help sometimes. We got up in the lane to try to discourage post feeds. We tried to get around and front.

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.

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 don't know if we've played against teams as talented as teams we're playing against now. Playing hard, playing unselfish, doing all the right things, team-wise, is great. ... But it's not good enough to beat good teams.

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.