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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW ORLEANS


March 26, 2011


Billy Donovan

Vernon Macklin

Chandler Parsons

Alex Tyus


NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Butler – 74
Florida - 71


COACH DONOVAN: Well, congratulations to Butler. You know, they had great, great heart tonight in my opinion. I knew they had that, you know, all year long. I thought our guys played really, really hard. I was really proud of the job that they did scouting report-wise with one-day prep because when you get to this point in time and you're playing Thursday-Saturday, even the first weekend and second weekend, I think preparation is very important. And how you balance your preparation and whether or not you give the guys too much or too little is always a fine line.
But I thought we were really, really disruptive defensively. I thought switching defenses to man to zone to press caused them some problems. I thought they guarded us very, very well. And I felt like Vernon was going to have the opportunity to play one-on-one from the post, and he had a great game, gave us a lot of big-time scoring presence inside. And Chandler just plays hard, and he always gets after it.
I thought the difference in the game was right around about the nine-minute mark, there was an enormous amount of loose balls that we did not come down with that they came down with. We had two three-point shots that we blocked that were kind of floating in the air, they came down with, scored. We had a couple free throws where they missed. One, I think we actually almost tipped the ball back in, I think. That hurt. And then there was another missed free throw that went out of bounds and they got back. But I thought the game was won by them on loose balls. I thought both teams scouting-wise took teams out of what they wanted to do. I just thought they found a way to come up with offensive rebounds, loose balls in critical situations, and it really came down to that.
I thought Erving had a pretty good look at the end of the regulation and he's made big shots for us, and I would have probably have liked to have seen Kenny drive the ball when we were down by one. I would have preferred that. But you know, he's another guy that's made some big shots for us.
But it'll probably take me some time to put the season in perspective. I'm kind of a guy about the here and now, and right now it's tough to end, I think, a season like that, especially for me, with Chandler and Alex and Vernon, who I think have provided so much for our program, and I'm proud of them.
The thing I mentioned to them in the locker room after the game, when a group of guys decide to come together and try to become a team, like a real team, a lot of great things can be accomplished. And what happens is when you go after trying to accomplish something, there is the threat, there is the other side that the losing is even more painful because you have so much vested in each other individually, time on the court, time away from the court. You've got a lot invested in each other. When you have that kind of investment in each other, losing at this time becomes much more difficult. I never felt like losing was a big deal for a lot of guys when they don't come together as a team. These guys came together as a team, and the losing part hurts. And you want it to hurt, because you want to get an opportunity to play for what we played for today. That's the thing, getting the opportunity to play for what we played for. And I'm happy they got the opportunity.
And hopefully our guys that are returning will have a chance to learn from this experience, and hopefully these guys as they move forward will understand what it is to be part of a team because for me as a coach they became a team. And that's really what you want is can your team really come together, and I think that they did that and they gave themselves an opportunity to go to the Final Four, and they fell short of that, but they did everything in our power physically, mentally and emotionally to try to win.

Q. Chandler, with nine minutes to go, it looked like you had the game in hand with 11 points. Did maybe you underestimate them? It did look like they imposed their will on the game at that point?
CHANDLER PARSONS: No, we definitely didn't underestimate them. We knew going into the game and we knew once we lined up with them they were a great team and that they were going to play hard. It's just we made some runs, and then, like coach said, the ball bounced their way a few times, free-throw line block out and hustle plays that we should have done a better job of that just ended up going their way.

Q. For all three seniors, can you just talk about the finality of this and what it means for it to be all over?
ALEX TYUS: Just move on.
VERNON MACKLIN: It's been a great run. I love my teammates, I love my coaching staff. I'm sad to see it all end right now. But it's been a great time at Florida. I'm glad I came here and got a chance to play with these guys and play under Coach Donovan and the coaching staff.
CHANDLER PARSONS: It hurts right now, but you know, it's what it was made out to be. It's everything I thought it was. I had a great career here. I loved every day coming to practice, playing with my teammates. I loved the opportunity that we had tonight. And just right now it's just disappointing because we fell short, and we wanted to be out there right now celebrating, and it just hurts to end this way.

Q. Chandler, you guys did a really good job, I thought, mixing defenses and disshelving them for the first 30 minutes. How were they able to gain composure in the last ten minutes?
CHANDLER PARSONS: I think it's a combination of things. They are a good team. They're tough. They have good players. You know, they're physical, they have all the characteristics of a good team. You know, it's not like it's their first time here. They were in this situation last year, so I think their experience helped them and I think they just came up with big plays when the team needed it. They got a stop or they got an offensive rebound, little things like that that they did all game long.

Q. Vernon and Alex, it seemed especially in the first half, the first 30 minutes, you guys were really dominating in the low post, and something seemed to change as the game went on. What did you guys see that went differently that last second half and then in overtime?
VERNON MACKLIN: I think they just beat us to a bunch of loose balls that we should have got our hands on.
ALEX TYUS: I feel like our players just really weren't looking for us, and I also feel like it just happened. I mean, I don't know. That's just how the game went.

Q. Vernon, how agonizing was it for you to be on the bench for so much time late in the game with the foul trouble?
VERNON MACKLIN: I mean, it's frustrating. I mean, I wanted to be on the floor. It was two different reasons. I'm not that great of a free-throw shooter, so I didn't want to jeopardize my teammates anyway. I think Coach Donovan made a great decision, and I picked up some early fouls and some dumb fouls that I shouldn't have got. And that's what I mean, I should have been in the right position.

Q. This is for Alex: Alex, in the years to come, will you remember this as a game that Butler won or a game that Florida let get away?
ALEX TYUS: Definitely. I felt like they were all right, but just move on.

Q. Chandler, I know it's an incredibly difficult moment right now. How long do you think a loss like this, especially it being your senior year, will stick with you? Is this a lifetime thing, or is this let a few months pass away and the hurt will wash away?
CHANDLER PARSONS: I mean, I don't really know. I haven't been in this situation. Like I said, it hurts right now, so right now I have a terrible feeling, and I almost feel sick to my stomach. But you know, my career is not over. I plan on playing basketball for a long time. So I can't dwell on it my whole life, but it's definitely a disappointing time and a sad time for me because I wanted to keep playing with these guys.

Q. Billy, do you think it'll take a while for these guys to realize what they actually did accomplish this year and how significant the journey was to get to this point?
COACH DONOVAN: Um, yeah, I mean, I think they'll all get over it. It will take some time. You know, I think when you -- a lot of times I think people sit up here and talk about all that happened. But right now we lost, but there will be a time when they'll look back on where they were after the Jacksonville game or after the Central Florida game in December, and then they'll see a better picture of how far they came. And you know, you never want it to end. You want it to keep on going.
But that's -- I think that's the price when you try to really become and make a commitment, like they did as a team, to try to get better and improve. And when you make that commitment, you have the chance of moving on and advancing. You know, it gets more and more and more in line, and every loss hurts a lot more. For those three guys, it probably hurts more than any loss they've had because it's the last loss of their career. Now the last phase of their life starts.

Q. Alex seemed a little frustrated that the ball wasn't going more in the post in the second half and overtime. Did you think the guards maybe looked away a little bit and settled a little for threes?
COACH DONOVAN: I don't think so. I mean, Vernon had 27, 25 points. Alex had 14 points. I mean, they really did the bulk of our scoring. I think if you looked at our backcourt, Kenny Boynton only took nine shots. Going into the last shot there in overtime, he had eight shots. So I don't feel that way. I think -- you know, I think that Vernon we went to and he was able to score, and he did some good things. Alex made some plays, he offensive rebounded. I don't think Alex has ever been a guy for us that we've just gone to him. He's been a pick-and-pop guy, knocked down some shots, inside pivot, offensive rebounds, run the floor. That's really how he scored his 19 points against BYU the other night, and that's kind of what he does. But I think like anything else, those guys would like to impact the ball.
But give Butler credit because they really got out there in passing lanes hard. And we've got smaller guards and it made it harder for them to throw the ball in there. I was pleased with our balance offensively. I thought we had really, really good inside-outside action. I would have liked to have utilized Vernon a lot more in the second half but it was hard because he was in foul trouble.
And then really once we got into overtime at the end of regulation, because of his free throw situation we had to play Patric. And I think then a lot falls on Walker and Boynton to try to get in lane and try to make some plays. I thought Erving and Scottie a couple times drove it down and made some great dump down passes to Alex for some finishes around the basket.

Q. You sort of forewarned that this is one of the most physical teams that you guys would face this year. Can you talk about what they did in terms of that aggression today?
COACH DONOVAN: It's really a hard game to officiate because I thought to start the second half the officials came out of the box and they were calling everything really, really tight. If you noticed it was three quick fouls called against Butler; there was three quick fouls called against us. And it really seemed like they're going to clean up all this contact.
Then I really thought about the ten-minute mark, they removed themselves. And we probably fouled them; they fouled us. It was like one of those kind of games. You know, and it was really, really a hard game because I really thought it was two differently played games physically. But there was no question that there was some physical plays that they made that had nothing to do with necessarily contact, because what I recall those 50/50 balls when they go up in the air, they do a great job of just finding -- like we played defense twice really, really well, blocked a three-point shot and our guys are going to blockout thinking the ball is going to hit the rim and there was an awareness they had to be able to come up with those kind of plays.
But I really thought the amount of contact that went on the last 11 minutes of the game by both teams was probably something in my opinion that we listened to back in October about that. But I also understand you want to let the kids play and let them decide the outcome. So I don't think that Butler got away with anything more physically than we did, it was just a very, very physically played game.

Q. Billy, at the end of regulation, did you discuss at all with your team the option of trying to get the ball inside to maybe draw a foul the way Butler had done in the previous possession with Howard, or did you just want to live with an outside shot and not have a missed shot that draws a foul on an over the top by your team?
COACH DONOVAN: I mean, we went to Vernon to start overtime the first two times and he was one for two from the free-throw line. He got the ball inside a couple times and got fouled. But here he is at the free-throw line and we're in a double bonus and he made two, I think, when he got the ball. Certainly we were trying to go inside. But when Vernon comes off the floor, I don't know if we have necessarily a low post offensive presence when he's off the floor. And he probably came off the floor -- when he got fouled twice in overtime, he went one for two from the free-throw line. And I knew at that point in time they were just not going to allow him to do what he did in the first half. If he was going to get an angle, they were going to foul him. So I kind of made a decision to at least pull him out and go with Patric, and Patric probably as a freshman is not as seasoned or as polished as Vernon is as a senior, so he's a hard guy to go to, and Alex is not that kind of physical presence.
So we tried to get some penetration down the lane as we did to get the 11-point lead with some dish-offs and some dump-down passes and some good shots. Erving Walker made a tough three, which I think tied the game back up. And then Mac, I thought a big play in the game was Mac's three. I mean, he made a huge three. We tied the game, I think, and then he came back with a hand in his face and made a huge shot.

Q. You're up 49 to 40 there, and both your press is working and you're getting the ball inside. What in your mind happened that really changed the momentum for you at that point?
COACH DONOVAN: Well, we were up, I think, 11, and the first thing that happened is underneath out of bounds play where we got kind of back cut on the weak side, and we fouled for a three-point play. We may have -- that may have been the play where they back cut us, missed a free throw and then tipped the ball back in. It was like a four-point play right around there.
But there was about three possessions in a row that there was some loose ball opportunities for us to clean up and get down in transition and get on the break that we did not come up with. So nine and a half, ten minutes, whatever it was on the clock, up 11, it went to four pretty quickly from that point on, and then they got right back in the game.
But I really thought the difference in the game was those last nine minutes there was just some plays -- we had a loose ball play, I think Patric dove on it, and they called a foul on him. It was kind of by their bench, their end of the floor. There was a couple free-throw situations. There was a couple blocked shots that we didn't come down with.
Marshall grabbed an offensive rebound and got a three-point play. It really wasn't anything either team execution-wise necessarily was doing. I think it was just two teams really playing hard and playing aggressive, and really I thought they won the battle when the ball was up in the air. Those 50/50 balls where the ball is in the air or on the floor, I thought they won those plays. And I thought that was the difference in the game.

Q. Chandler and Erving never seemed to really get in a rhythm of the game. Do you think somehow that the fact that they were such a low post team in the first half that maybe that worked against them finding their rhythm?
COACH DONOVAN: I think the one thing you have to do in order to be a really good team is you have to have balance. You know, and in the BYU game, they sold out on Vernon Macklin on every post catch. They sold out on him. So he had to be a post passer.
This was a game where they decided to take our perimeter away, and you've got to throw the ball inside to Vernon and you've got to let him score. I don't think he's had -- maybe he has, I shouldn't say this, but he had 25 points. I mean, he's not a guy that averages a lot of points. He did a heck of a job tonight when we needed to throw the ball to him.
I thought the other thing, too, the biggest differential in the game, and I've said this before, we did as good of a job I think you can do guarding the three-point line in terms of their percentages. They took a lot against us. But we really struggled and even if we could have made a couple more because what happens is the game is going on, we didn't -- Erving Walker was 1 for 10, and he's been such a clutch shooter for us. But I did think -- I thought our guys threw the ball inside and I thought we needed to do that.
Again, I think if you looked down at the stats sheet and Vernon Macklin's 6 for 6 and Walker and Boynton are -- both of them are 3 for 16, then you look at the shot distribution there, it's pretty, pretty evenly balanced the right way. I mean, in the game Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus took the most shots for our team, and that's kind of what you want to do.
Erving Walker made a big three for us. He also had a couple of drives when the ball didn't do go in the basket. We created some good looks in the first half that didn't go in. I thought Kenny Boynton really played within himself. He was 5 for 9 from the field, he shot over 50 percent.
You know, I thought, like I said earlier, the loose ball situation, the fact that they got to the free-throw line five more times than they did. And if you look down at a huge stat on the stat sheet, they had 16 offensive rebounds to our eight, and that offensive rebounding by Marshall, by Howard, by Smith, it ultimately -- when you get into those situations where the game is coming down to the wire like that and it's one-possession games, anything can happen. And you're in a position to win it, you're in a position to lose it.

Q. What's it mean for a non-Big Six school like Butler to get to two straight Final Fours, and also, your belief in the three-pointer, I guess you really don't have a question about shooting the three-pointers at the end of regulation in the end of overtime?
COACH DONOVAN: Well, I think you want to put the ball in a guy's hands that you feel like can make that kind of shot. I thought in regulation we got Erving Walker a great look. I was blocked off. I think Chandler kind of ran in front of me so I couldn't see how clean it was, and he told me he had a great look, he was really wide open, and he was disappointed he missed that one.
Erving came off in overtime, he knocked down a three, and then he got fouled, he made one out of two free throws and we kind of came back to see if he could turn the corner and use his speed because we just -- with Vernon off the floor didn't really have anybody to throw the ball inside to to go get fouled.
Kenny came off. I would have liked to have seen him drive the ball to try to create some contact. But he's made some shots in some really, really big situations for us to even be at this position, so it's hard for me to sit there and say it was a bad shot. I would have liked to have seen him drive the ball. But like I said, he's made some huge threes in the second halves of games and overtimes for us all year long, and if it goes in, we're talking about how Boynton's clutch shooting continues. But it didn't go in, and that's what happens.
I think it's terrific. I'm happy for Brad. I think what happens is the one thing that gets overlooked, I think, when you get to this point in time in the season is -- and I had this with Noah, Horford and Brewer and those guys. There was such an internal will, and I thought our internal will was terrific. I thought we played really hard. I think our internal will was great all year long.
And Brad and I have talked about this because when we played Butler in '07, he even said, that internal will of the Florida team that played us, we thought we had a great internal will; those guys were at a different level. I thought today their internal will and coming down with some of those balls and being -- not that they wanted it more than our guys, they just were quicker reacting. They got it. They made those plays. We blocked a shot and the ball is tipped and our guys don't even realize it and one of their guys just goes and grabs it. It's like in football, there's a fumble there and guys are blocking and have no idea the ball is on the ground and certain guys just have an awareness.
I think their awareness and their will at that point in time and their maybe refusal to be denied, so to speak, was something I thought really stood out. I thought our guys were terrific in that but maybe not as good as they were.

Q. Is it especially frustrating that your season ends in a game that's so atypical for your team, not getting rebounds and Erving having a terrible shooting day?
COACH DONOVAN: Yeah, you know what, there was a lot of talk about close games and us winning close games and how many overtime games we've played. But you know what, you also realize when you play in enough of those games, there are some that can go the other way. So maybe we'd like to trade one of those SEC overtime games for a game like today, but we can't do that.
Butler has played obviously in some games close and they've had a couple tip-ins and some wins at the buzzer here in the NCAA Tournament and played some plays at the end of the games to win some games. You realize how fragile it all is. Howard tipped one in against ODU and obviously the whole Pitt thing that happened at the end of the game with Mac fouling and then Pitt unable to make free throws and they foul Howard and he makes his free throw. You know, when you get into these close games, it's all so fragile.
But certainly I think offensively, I wish we would have played a little bit more like you said, to our character. But it wasn't that type of game. I don't think Butler played offensively to their character, either. They're a terrific offensive team, and I thought the press really kind of at least disrupted their flow. I thought the zone maybe took them out of some of their offensive actions, and we switched back and forth man to man, so I think you look down at the stat sheet and you say 40 percent from the field, 20 percent from three, did a pretty good job. It was the offensive rebounding, it was us going 3 for 14, and again, we shot a fairly decent percentage: 43 is not great, but right around 44 percent. But we struggled to shoot the ball from the three-point line.
I think if you look at the BYU game, I think at the half, more than half our shots were from behind the three-point line. This is clearly not the case in this game. I thought our guys took what was available and what they needed to do to try to win the game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




Butler – 74
Florida - 71


COACH DONOVAN: Well, congratulations to Butler. You know, they had great, great heart tonight in my opinion. I knew they had that, you know, all year long. I thought our guys played really, really hard. I was really proud of the job that they did scouting report-wise with one-day prep because when you get to this point in time and you're playing Thursday-Saturday, even the first weekend and second weekend, I think preparation is very important. And how you balance your preparation and whether or not you give the guys too much or too little is always a fine line.
But I thought we were really, really disruptive defensively. I thought switching defenses to man to zone to press caused them some problems. I thought they guarded us very, very well. And I felt like Vernon was going to have the opportunity to play one-on-one from the post, and he had a great game, gave us a lot of big-time scoring presence inside. And Chandler just plays hard, and he always gets after it.
I thought the difference in the game was right around about the nine-minute mark, there was an enormous amount of loose balls that we did not come down with that they came down with. We had two three-point shots that we blocked that were kind of floating in the air, they came down with, scored. We had a couple free throws where they missed. One, I think we actually almost tipped the ball back in, I think. That hurt. And then there was another missed free throw that went out of bounds and they got back. But I thought the game was won by them on loose balls. I thought both teams scouting-wise took teams out of what they wanted to do. I just thought they found a way to come up with offensive rebounds, loose balls in critical situations, and it really came down to that.
I thought Erving had a pretty good look at the end of the regulation and he's made big shots for us, and I would have probably have liked to have seen Kenny drive the ball when we were down by one. I would have preferred that. But you know, he's another guy that's made some big shots for us.
But it'll probably take me some time to put the season in perspective. I'm kind of a guy about the here and now, and right now it's tough to end, I think, a season like that, especially for me, with Chandler and Alex and Vernon, who I think have provided so much for our program, and I'm proud of them.
The thing I mentioned to them in the locker room after the game, when a group of guys decide to come together and try to become a team, like a real team, a lot of great things can be accomplished. And what happens is when you go after trying to accomplish something, there is the threat, there is the other side that the losing is even more painful because you have so much vested in each other individually, time on the court, time away from the court. You've got a lot invested in each other. When you have that kind of investment in each other, losing at this time becomes much more difficult. I never felt like losing was a big deal for a lot of guys when they don't come together as a team. These guys came together as a team, and the losing part hurts. And you want it to hurt, because you want to get an opportunity to play for what we played for today. That's the thing, getting the opportunity to play for what we played for. And I'm happy they got the opportunity.
And hopefully our guys that are returning will have a chance to learn from this experience, and hopefully these guys as they move forward will understand what it is to be part of a team because for me as a coach they became a team. And that's really what you want is can your team really come together, and I think that they did that and they gave themselves an opportunity to go to the Final Four, and they fell short of that, but they did everything in our power physically, mentally and emotionally to try to win.

Q. Chandler, with nine minutes to go, it looked like you had the game in hand with 11 points. Did maybe you underestimate them? It did look like they imposed their will on the game at that point?
CHANDLER PARSONS: No, we definitely didn't underestimate them. We knew going into the game and we knew once we lined up with them they were a great team and that they were going to play hard. It's just we made some runs, and then, like coach said, the ball bounced their way a few times, free-throw line block out and hustle plays that we should have done a better job of that just ended up going their way.

Q. For all three seniors, can you just talk about the finality of this and what it means for it to be all over?
ALEX TYUS: Just move on.
VERNON MACKLIN: It's been a great run. I love my teammates, I love my coaching staff. I'm sad to see it all end right now. But it's been a great time at Florida. I'm glad I came here and got a chance to play with these guys and play under Coach Donovan and the coaching staff.
CHANDLER PARSONS: It hurts right now, but you know, it's what it was made out to be. It's everything I thought it was. I had a great career here. I loved every day coming to practice, playing with my teammates. I loved the opportunity that we had tonight. And just right now it's just disappointing because we fell short, and we wanted to be out there right now celebrating, and it just hurts to end this way.

Q. Chandler, you guys did a really good job, I thought, mixing defenses and disshelving them for the first 30 minutes. How were they able to gain composure in the last ten minutes?
CHANDLER PARSONS: I think it's a combination of things. They are a good team. They're tough. They have good players. You know, they're physical, they have all the characteristics of a good team. You know, it's not like it's their first time here. They were in this situation last year, so I think their experience helped them and I think they just came up with big plays when the team needed it. They got a stop or they got an offensive rebound, little things like that that they did all game long.

Q. Vernon and Alex, it seemed especially in the first half, the first 30 minutes, you guys were really dominating in the low post, and something seemed to change as the game went on. What did you guys see that went differently that last second half and then in overtime?
VERNON MACKLIN: I think they just beat us to a bunch of loose balls that we should have got our hands on.
ALEX TYUS: I feel like our players just really weren't looking for us, and I also feel like it just happened. I mean, I don't know. That's just how the game went.

Q. Vernon, how agonizing was it for you to be on the bench for so much time late in the game with the foul trouble?
VERNON MACKLIN: I mean, it's frustrating. I mean, I wanted to be on the floor. It was two different reasons. I'm not that great of a free-throw shooter, so I didn't want to jeopardize my teammates anyway. I think Coach Donovan made a great decision, and I picked up some early fouls and some dumb fouls that I shouldn't have got. And that's what I mean, I should have been in the right position.

Q. This is for Alex: Alex, in the years to come, will you remember this as a game that Butler won or a game that Florida let get away?
ALEX TYUS: Definitely. I felt like they were all right, but just move on.

Q. Chandler, I know it's an incredibly difficult moment right now. How long do you think a loss like this, especially it being your senior year, will stick with you? Is this a lifetime thing, or is this let a few months pass away and the hurt will wash away?
CHANDLER PARSONS: I mean, I don't really know. I haven't been in this situation. Like I said, it hurts right now, so right now I have a terrible feeling, and I almost feel sick to my stomach. But you know, my career is not over. I plan on playing basketball for a long time. So I can't dwell on it my whole life, but it's definitely a disappointing time and a sad time for me because I wanted to keep playing with these guys.

Q. Billy, do you think it'll take a while for these guys to realize what they actually did accomplish this year and how significant the journey was to get to this point?
COACH DONOVAN: Um, yeah, I mean, I think they'll all get over it. It will take some time. You know, I think when you -- a lot of times I think people sit up here and talk about all that happened. But right now we lost, but there will be a time when they'll look back on where they were after the Jacksonville game or after the Central Florida game in December, and then they'll see a better picture of how far they came. And you know, you never want it to end. You want it to keep on going.
But that's -- I think that's the price when you try to really become and make a commitment, like they did as a team, to try to get better and improve. And when you make that commitment, you have the chance of moving on and advancing. You know, it gets more and more and more in line, and every loss hurts a lot more. For those three guys, it probably hurts more than any loss they've had because it's the last loss of their career. Now the last phase of their life starts.

Q. Alex seemed a little frustrated that the ball wasn't going more in the post in the second half and overtime. Did you think the guards maybe looked away a little bit and settled a little for threes?
COACH DONOVAN: I don't think so. I mean, Vernon had 27, 25 points. Alex had 14 points. I mean, they really did the bulk of our scoring. I think if you looked at our backcourt, Kenny Boynton only took nine shots. Going into the last shot there in overtime, he had eight shots. So I don't feel that way. I think -- you know, I think that Vernon we went to and he was able to score, and he did some good things. Alex made some plays, he offensive rebounded. I don't think Alex has ever been a guy for us that we've just gone to him. He's been a pick-and-pop guy, knocked down some shots, inside pivot, offensive rebounds, run the floor. That's really how he scored his 19 points against BYU the other night, and that's kind of what he does. But I think like anything else, those guys would like to impact the ball.
But give Butler credit because they really got out there in passing lanes hard. And we've got smaller guards and it made it harder for them to throw the ball in there. I was pleased with our balance offensively. I thought we had really, really good inside-outside action. I would have liked to have utilized Vernon a lot more in the second half but it was hard because he was in foul trouble.
And then really once we got into overtime at the end of regulation, because of his free throw situation we had to play Patric. And I think then a lot falls on Walker and Boynton to try to get in lane and try to make some plays. I thought Erving and Scottie a couple times drove it down and made some great dump down passes to Alex for some finishes around the basket.

Q. You sort of forewarned that this is one of the most physical teams that you guys would face this year. Can you talk about what they did in terms of that aggression today?
COACH DONOVAN: It's really a hard game to officiate because I thought to start the second half the officials came out of the box and they were calling everything really, really tight. If you noticed it was three quick fouls called against Butler; there was three quick fouls called against us. And it really seemed like they're going to clean up all this contact.
Then I really thought about the ten-minute mark, they removed themselves. And we probably fouled them; they fouled us. It was like one of those kind of games. You know, and it was really, really a hard game because I really thought it was two differently played games physically. But there was no question that there was some physical plays that they made that had nothing to do with necessarily contact, because what I recall those 50/50 balls when they go up in the air, they do a great job of just finding -- like we played defense twice really, really well, blocked a three-point shot and our guys are going to blockout thinking the ball is going to hit the rim and there was an awareness they had to be able to come up with those kind of plays.
But I really thought the amount of contact that went on the last 11 minutes of the game by both teams was probably something in my opinion that we listened to back in October about that. But I also understand you want to let the kids play and let them decide the outcome. So I don't think that Butler got away with anything more physically than we did, it was just a very, very physically played game.

Q. Billy, at the end of regulation, did you discuss at all with your team the option of trying to get the ball inside to maybe draw a foul the way Butler had done in the previous possession with Howard, or did you just want to live with an outside shot and not have a missed shot that draws a foul on an over the top by your team?
COACH DONOVAN: I mean, we went to Vernon to start overtime the first two times and he was one for two from the free-throw line. He got the ball inside a couple times and got fouled. But here he is at the free-throw line and we're in a double bonus and he made two, I think, when he got the ball. Certainly we were trying to go inside. But when Vernon comes off the floor, I don't know if we have necessarily a low post offensive presence when he's off the floor. And he probably came off the floor -- when he got fouled twice in overtime, he went one for two from the free-throw line. And I knew at that point in time they were just not going to allow him to do what he did in the first half. If he was going to get an angle, they were going to foul him. So I kind of made a decision to at least pull him out and go with Patric, and Patric probably as a freshman is not as seasoned or as polished as Vernon is as a senior, so he's a hard guy to go to, and Alex is not that kind of physical presence.
So we tried to get some penetration down the lane as we did to get the 11-point lead with some dish-offs and some dump-down passes and some good shots. Erving Walker made a tough three, which I think tied the game back up. And then Mac, I thought a big play in the game was Mac's three. I mean, he made a huge three. We tied the game, I think, and then he came back with a hand in his face and made a huge shot.

Q. You're up 49 to 40 there, and both your press is working and you're getting the ball inside. What in your mind happened that really changed the momentum for you at that point?
COACH DONOVAN: Well, we were up, I think, 11, and the first thing that happened is underneath out of bounds play where we got kind of back cut on the weak side, and we fouled for a three-point play. We may have -- that may have been the play where they back cut us, missed a free throw and then tipped the ball back in. It was like a four-point play right around there.
But there was about three possessions in a row that there was some loose ball opportunities for us to clean up and get down in transition and get on the break that we did not come up with. So nine and a half, ten minutes, whatever it was on the clock, up 11, it went to four pretty quickly from that point on, and then they got right back in the game.
But I really thought the difference in the game was those last nine minutes there was just some plays -- we had a loose ball play, I think Patric dove on it, and they called a foul on him. It was kind of by their bench, their end of the floor. There was a couple free-throw situations. There was a couple blocked shots that we didn't come down with.
Marshall grabbed an offensive rebound and got a three-point play. It really wasn't anything either team execution-wise necessarily was doing. I think it was just two teams really playing hard and playing aggressive, and really I thought they won the battle when the ball was up in the air. Those 50/50 balls where the ball is in the air or on the floor, I thought they won those plays. And I thought that was the difference in the game.

Q. Chandler and Erving never seemed to really get in a rhythm of the game. Do you think somehow that the fact that they were such a low post team in the first half that maybe that worked against them finding their rhythm?
COACH DONOVAN: I think the one thing you have to do in order to be a really good team is you have to have balance. You know, and in the BYU game, they sold out on Vernon Macklin on every post catch. They sold out on him. So he had to be a post passer.
This was a game where they decided to take our perimeter away, and you've got to throw the ball inside to Vernon and you've got to let him score. I don't think he's had -- maybe he has, I shouldn't say this, but he had 25 points. I mean, he's not a guy that averages a lot of points. He did a heck of a job tonight when we needed to throw the ball to him.
I thought the other thing, too, the biggest differential in the game, and I've said this before, we did as good of a job I think you can do guarding the three-point line in terms of their percentages. They took a lot against us. But we really struggled and even if we could have made a couple more because what happens is the game is going on, we didn't -- Erving Walker was 1 for 10, and he's been such a clutch shooter for us. But I did think -- I thought our guys threw the ball inside and I thought we needed to do that.
Again, I think if you looked down at the stats sheet and Vernon Macklin's 6 for 6 and Walker and Boynton are -- both of them are 3 for 16, then you look at the shot distribution there, it's pretty, pretty evenly balanced the right way. I mean, in the game Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus took the most shots for our team, and that's kind of what you want to do.
Erving Walker made a big three for us. He also had a couple of drives when the ball didn't do go in the basket. We created some good looks in the first half that didn't go in. I thought Kenny Boynton really played within himself. He was 5 for 9 from the field, he shot over 50 percent.
You know, I thought, like I said earlier, the loose ball situation, the fact that they got to the free-throw line five more times than they did. And if you look down at a huge stat on the stat sheet, they had 16 offensive rebounds to our eight, and that offensive rebounding by Marshall, by Howard, by Smith, it ultimately -- when you get into those situations where the game is coming down to the wire like that and it's one-possession games, anything can happen. And you're in a position to win it, you're in a position to lose it.

Q. What's it mean for a non-Big Six school like Butler to get to two straight Final Fours, and also, your belief in the three-pointer, I guess you really don't have a question about shooting the three-pointers at the end of regulation in the end of overtime?
COACH DONOVAN: Well, I think you want to put the ball in a guy's hands that you feel like can make that kind of shot. I thought in regulation we got Erving Walker a great look. I was blocked off. I think Chandler kind of ran in front of me so I couldn't see how clean it was, and he told me he had a great look, he was really wide open, and he was disappointed he missed that one.
Erving came off in overtime, he knocked down a three, and then he got fouled, he made one out of two free throws and we kind of came back to see if he could turn the corner and use his speed because we just -- with Vernon off the floor didn't really have anybody to throw the ball inside to to go get fouled.
Kenny came off. I would have liked to have seen him drive the ball to try to create some contact. But he's made some shots in some really, really big situations for us to even be at this position, so it's hard for me to sit there and say it was a bad shot. I would have liked to have seen him drive the ball. But like I said, he's made some huge threes in the second halves of games and overtimes for us all year long, and if it goes in, we're talking about how Boynton's clutch shooting continues. But it didn't go in, and that's what happens.
I think it's terrific. I'm happy for Brad. I think what happens is the one thing that gets overlooked, I think, when you get to this point in time in the season is -- and I had this with Noah, Horford and Brewer and those guys. There was such an internal will, and I thought our internal will was terrific. I thought we played really hard. I think our internal will was great all year long.
And Brad and I have talked about this because when we played Butler in '07, he even said, that internal will of the Florida team that played us, we thought we had a great internal will; those guys were at a different level. I thought today their internal will and coming down with some of those balls and being -- not that they wanted it more than our guys, they just were quicker reacting. They got it. They made those plays. We blocked a shot and the ball is tipped and our guys don't even realize it and one of their guys just goes and grabs it. It's like in football, there's a fumble there and guys are blocking and have no idea the ball is on the ground and certain guys just have an awareness.
I think their awareness and their will at that point in time and their maybe refusal to be denied, so to speak, was something I thought really stood out. I thought our guys were terrific in that but maybe not as good as they were.

Q. Is it especially frustrating that your season ends in a game that's so atypical for your team, not getting rebounds and Erving having a terrible shooting day?
COACH DONOVAN: Yeah, you know what, there was a lot of talk about close games and us winning close games and how many overtime games we've played. But you know what, you also realize when you play in enough of those games, there are some that can go the other way. So maybe we'd like to trade one of those SEC overtime games for a game like today, but we can't do that.
Butler has played obviously in some games close and they've had a couple tip-ins and some wins at the buzzer here in the NCAA Tournament and played some plays at the end of the games to win some games. You realize how fragile it all is. Howard tipped one in against ODU and obviously the whole Pitt thing that happened at the end of the game with Mac fouling and then Pitt unable to make free throws and they foul Howard and he makes his free throw. You know, when you get into these close games, it's all so fragile.
But certainly I think offensively, I wish we would have played a little bit more like you said, to our character. But it wasn't that type of game. I don't think Butler played offensively to their character, either. They're a terrific offensive team, and I thought the press really kind of at least disrupted their flow. I thought the zone maybe took them out of some of their offensive actions, and we switched back and forth man to man, so I think you look down at the stat sheet and you say 40 percent from the field, 20 percent from three, did a pretty good job. It was the offensive rebounding, it was us going 3 for 14, and again, we shot a fairly decent percentage: 43 is not great, but right around 44 percent. But we struggled to shoot the ball from the three-point line.
I think if you look at the BYU game, I think at the half, more than half our shots were from behind the three-point line. This is clearly not the case in this game. I thought our guys took what was available and what they needed to do to try to win the game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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