Billy Donovan Cent Quotations

I thought we left a lot of points on the board in the first half, because we had 11 turnovers and we were shooting 52 or 53 percent from the field. Second half we only turned it over three times and we shot 52 percent from the field and that's why we had a 52-point half.

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.

For our basketball team, it was a tale of two halves. In the first half, our guys were very, very impatient on offense. We didn't have the ball movement and the player movement we needed to have. We had good ball movement and player movement and we shot 57 percent in the second half. If we would have played similar to that and rebounded like we did in the first half, it would have been a different game. We couldn't put it all together.

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.

When you shoot like we did and the other team is shooting 71 percent from 3-point range, you expect to be down 15 or 20 points.

I've often said the greatest equalizer in college basketball is the 3-point line. They outscored us by 12 from the 3-point line. Our inability to limit them to one shot and inability to guard the 3-point line cost us. Anytime a team can come into your building and shoot 53 percent from the field and 47 percent from the 3-point line, you have to have a very, very good night on offense.

The big focus for us was the three-point line. I think we were able to hold them without a three-point shot for the first 35 minutes. We shot 34 percent in the first half, but the fact that we shot 40 percent from three-point line in the first half gave us a five-point lead.

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.

Statistically, that was the key to the game. We shoot 49 percent on the road, you're not going to get much better than that.

We missed a lot of easy baskets and missed a lot of opportunities. We had decent looks and couldn't convert in a lot of situations.

I would say it's gone the other way with him. I'm not anticipating him back Saturday and I'm not anticipating Corey back at 100 percent right away. We're probably going to have to keep going through this for at least the next couple of games.

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.

In scouting George Mason, they had been shooting 33 percent on their 3-pointers all year and as much as 42 percent. We knew we had to control their perimeter shooting. I thought we did a great job of shutting them down and keeping them off-balance.