BC Coach Steve Donahue on BC-UConn: "It Just Makes Sense That We Play"

Add BC coach Steve Donahue to the growing list of people who’d like to see this BC-UConn thing continue past Thursday night.

“I would love to play the game,” he said Tuesday morning on a conference call. “I’ve talked to Kevin (Ollie) about it … We’re both from up in this area, it just makes sense that we play.”

When asked if he feels a buzz on campus about Thursday night’s game at Madison Square Garden, Donahue replied: “I think if it’s a game on either one of our campuses, there would be more (of a buzz). On my six months on the road before the season, talking to alums … it’s something that really excited our fan base. Like any rivalry, you’re gonna get some really passionate feelings about it. Both sides would say, ‘We want to play each other.’ That’s really the resounding opinion I get.”

Donahue has plenty of respect for this year’s Huskies, particularly Shabazz Napier.

“Napier’s as good as there is in college basketball, in terms of helping his team win,” the coach said. “He’s just incredible, almost averaging a triple-double. He just really plays for the team, not a lot of selfishness to him at all. He’s willing to make passes, give up his body. Everybody else feeds off him. There are very few weak players on their squad, and they all understand their roles. I think Shabazz really makes them go.”

As for his own 1-3 Eagles: “At times we’ve played really well. We’ve had double-digit leads well into the second half in three of those games. We’ve played good basketball teams. That said, obviously we haven’t defended, rebounded, taken care of the ball in key times. There’s a lot of room for growth.”