Wes Miller, John Newman III, Jizzle James Crosstown Shootout Presser
Wes Miller, John Newman III, Jizzle James Crosstown Shootout Presser
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00:00 I want to give credit to Zink.
00:02 I want to give credit to Coach Miller.
00:06 They were very well prepared.
00:09 They were coming off of a tough stretch in terms of results,
00:12 and they really responded
00:14 and played really good basketball tonight.
00:15 So, first off, the credit goes to them.
00:18 I thought Oliveri was incredible behind the line.
00:21 When he goes six for eight, he has 27.
00:25 We obviously were watching when he went off in the last game,
00:28 so we were aware of it on the scouting floor.
00:31 We did not do a very good job defending him.
00:35 You know, McKnight going two for four from three,
00:36 that hurt us quite a bit.
00:38 I think he made two on the year coming into the game,
00:42 so we had him as a driver,
00:43 and we were playing off of him, going under him a little bit,
00:45 and he made two of them,
00:47 and they were both pretty big shots,
00:49 so credit to that kid.
00:50 39 minutes, wow, that's pretty impressive.
00:54 Those two shots from behind the line were really impactful.
00:59 You know, gosh, they were pretty good.
01:03 That said, I really like my team.
01:07 You know, we haven't been in an environment like this.
01:10 This year, we're going to be in plenty of them in the Big 12,
01:13 but we haven't been tested like this yet,
01:16 and at times, we didn't handle it really well.
01:18 I thought we competed.
01:20 I thought we played with great passion.
01:22 I'm proud of that.
01:24 That's part of putting on the jersey,
01:25 so it's to be expected, but they did do that,
01:30 but we got uncharacteristic at times, some silly fouls.
01:33 They put us not only in foul trouble,
01:35 but put them on the line, you know,
01:38 some shots and some things that we hadn't been taking
01:40 in practice or in games just because of probably
01:43 the environment at the moment.
01:45 Sometimes you can want it too bad.
01:47 I can tell you as a coach, we want it.
01:49 It's been so damn long since Cincinnati won over here,
01:51 and I feel it.
01:53 We want it, and our team wants it,
01:54 and these guys that are on our roster
01:56 that's been here for multiple years, they want it.
01:58 You know, maybe we want it too bad type of thing,
02:00 but you look down at our performances.
02:04 I thought John Newman played one of his best games
02:07 as a Bearcat. He was phenomenal,
02:09 and, you know, he had Claude for most of the game,
02:13 who I think is a terrific player,
02:15 and I thought he did a heck of a job there.
02:18 I wish I could have had him guard Claude and Oliveri,
02:20 but somebody else on our team is going to have to be able
02:22 to step up and defend the wing.
02:25 But I thought John was unbelievable.
02:27 I thought Dede and Gissel were both great,
02:30 but Gissel gets -- I mean, Dede gets himself in foul trouble,
02:33 and that really hurt us because I thought
02:35 he presented some problems kind of getting downhill.
02:39 Both teams were really getting out and running in transition.
02:42 I thought we had some good moments there.
02:44 I thought they had some good moments there,
02:45 and we want to play that way.
02:47 I thought early on we were slow to pull.
02:50 They got us on the glass,
02:51 and I thought we kind of, you know,
02:53 were spawned with a little lid.
02:54 I certainly liked us coming out of halftime,
02:56 but, guys, it's going to be --
03:00 I said this to the guys in the locker room.
03:01 It's going to be hard.
03:02 CJ Frederick, Dan Skillings, and Seamus Lukosius,
03:07 I mean, it's going to be hard to win if they shoot it like that,
03:10 and they're all three.
03:11 We believe in them.
03:13 You know, everybody's going to have nights,
03:14 but they have all three of them,
03:16 and I thought we had some really good looks in the first.
03:18 We sat there in the locker room,
03:20 and we weren't pleased with how we played at halftime,
03:22 but you're going to three of those wide-open threes go in,
03:25 you're probably feeling a little different,
03:26 so we need those guys to shoot it a little better.
03:30 But all that said, some good stuff.
03:35 I really like my team.
03:37 I think we got a chance to be really good.
03:38 We'll learn from this, but some silly stuff, too,
03:41 but always hats off to Xavier, and Sean did a heck of a job
03:46 getting this team prepared for us.
03:48 Questions for John Tizzell.
03:50 John, it's your last shootout.
03:53 You didn't get to play last year.
03:55 You had a pretty good run for the first season.
03:58 It's not the end of the world, but are you disappointed?
04:02 How disappointed are you?
04:07 Yeah, definitely disappointed.
04:09 You know, you do all the work,
04:10 and I believe we were prepared to win.
04:14 I think our coaches did a good job of preparing us.
04:16 I mean, we talked about this in the locker room,
04:19 but one thing I'm going to do is go home
04:21 and just think about what I could have did better.
04:23 I think I got to be better down the stretch, like more focused.
04:27 And kind of like you said, sometimes you want it too much,
04:31 or you're just, like, lost in the moment.
04:33 But I'd say, from my perspective,
04:37 I just know what I have to do.
04:38 I know I have to be better,
04:40 and I know as a team we'll get better.
04:41 We have great guys, great group.
04:43 We want to be great, so we're going to do
04:45 everything that it takes.
04:46 But I'm going to take my part in the blame
04:49 and just say I have to do better going forward.
04:52 John, how frustrating is it when it just seems like
04:56 the shots aren't falling,
04:57 and then you have to try to make adjustments?
04:59 What are the most important adjustments
05:01 you try to make?
05:04 Yeah, I mean, it's frustrating, but it's part of sports.
05:07 You know, things aren't always going to go your way.
05:09 You just have to, you know, trust in your coaches,
05:12 trust in the game plan, be able to adjust.
05:15 I think we did a good job at adjusting down the stretch.
05:19 Things that -- the changes that we made,
05:22 I feel like were good changes.
05:24 And, you know, as far as them hitting shots and executing,
05:29 they played, like Coach West said,
05:31 they played a great game.
05:33 But we just kind of got to go back to the drawing board
05:35 and look at ourselves in the mirror
05:36 and see what we can do better as individuals.
05:37 And I think that will flow over to us
05:40 being the collective of the team.
05:42 Brian and Marshall.
05:44 Gizzo over here.
05:46 19 points today.
05:47 How does an environment and playing like this
05:51 in this type of atmosphere help with your continued progression?
05:54 Because it's just more so.
05:57 It just shows, like, I can play in these type of games.
06:01 But ultimately, I just --
06:04 at the end of the day, I still want to get the win.
06:06 So I'm still, like, not high on that.
06:08 So it's all about really getting the win
06:11 and, like, doing whatever the team needs me to do.
06:13 So I don't really think about how much points
06:16 I'm getting or something.
06:17 I just play the game, and if my opportunity comes, it comes.
06:20 And it came at night, and I was able to make some plays,
06:24 but we didn't get the job done.
06:25 So there's still, like, more work to do and just ways to go.
06:30 Gizzo, kind of bouncing off of that,
06:32 you know, freshmen coming into the school early on,
06:36 what was it that made you care to be able to play
06:38 in this high-spirited game and environment like that?
06:41 Just seeing the situation.
06:44 I'm starting to point guard Dede.
06:45 He got in early foul trouble, so I know I have to step up.
06:50 That's why I had to just be a player,
06:53 you know, just trust the system.
06:55 But it's just whatever the team needs me to do, you know,
06:58 and that's why I feel like that's what I did tonight.
07:02 But we didn't get the job done, so I know it's just, like,
07:05 we just got to keep going, keep working,
07:08 and just learn from this.
07:10 Tony, you finished with 14 points there in the second half.
07:12 What were the adjustments that you made there in the second half
07:15 that you guys want to actually take that 17 in the second half
07:17 to close out the second half adjustment for you guys?
07:24 I don't necessarily think it's an adjustment.
07:26 I think it's just as Coach West allows us to be aggressive
07:31 and, you know, lets us play through a lot of mistakes,
07:34 so they freeze us up to just play our game and be aggressive.
07:37 I think that's all that was.
07:40 We didn't really do anything different.
07:41 You know, our message, like, going into this game,
07:43 we wanted to do what we do, and, you know,
07:46 you obviously have to make changes and adjustments
07:48 as the game goes on, but we wanted to do what we do.
07:51 And, you know, Coach West always says,
07:53 just play free, be aggressive,
07:55 don't be afraid to make mistakes.
07:57 So I just credit it to that.
08:00 We didn't really necessarily drop anything differently
08:02 or in any different way.
08:04 Wes, you know, it's good, it's one for nine in the first half
08:07 and doesn't take a shot in the second half.
08:08 Were they forcing the offense through him?
08:10 Was that kind of the game plan going in?
08:12 What was kind of the big reason for the struggles
08:15 early on in that first half?
08:17 And not being rude, what do you mean
08:19 forcing the offense through him?
08:21 Was the game plan to have CMOS initiate the offense
08:24 and take that many shots and put that?
08:27 I mean, no, I think we play pretty free.
08:31 Like, we run, we share it, we go side to side.
08:36 You know, CMOS is a guy we think is really good in action,
08:39 so he's going to be in lots of ball screens,
08:41 he will hand off like other guys.
08:44 And then we really believe in him
08:45 being able to shoot basketball.
08:47 He's proven highest level there.
08:49 So he just has opportunities at what is not, right?
08:54 The hard thing, and that's going to happen.
08:57 You're going to have guys that have bad nights.
08:58 I was really frustrated.
08:59 The biggest frustration I had with CMOS is, you know,
09:02 we got an out-of-bounds situation.
09:04 Their most used out-of-bounds plays,
09:06 a box play where they bring Oliveri off of a stagger.
09:10 And we got an out-of-bounds situation.
09:12 I'm telling him it's coming. We scouted the hell out of it.
09:14 But he's looking, beating the nog in his head.
09:16 And he lets Oliveri just come right off the stagger screen
09:19 that he knows is coming, get separation for a three.
09:21 That was my most frustrating play with CMOS.
09:24 The one for nine bad shooting nights,
09:27 they happen in college basketball.
09:29 The problem is you have that with Dan and C.J.
09:31 Frederick at the same time,
09:32 and it's the combination of we need those two guys
09:35 to be players, and they're all capable,
09:37 and they all kind of had a night like that.
09:39 Hey, listen, give Xavier credit.
09:41 Played with energy.
09:43 They really made it difficult for C.J.
09:45 We're trying to do more getting involved offensively.
09:47 They were on top of him, you know,
09:50 basically top-blocking into everything.
09:53 We made a little adjustment out of a timeout
09:54 and ran a play from the screen.
09:56 Got Odi a dunk.
09:58 But we need to have more stuff to take advantage
10:00 of people guarding him like that.
10:02 As John said, I mean, as a coach,
10:04 I'm going to look in the mirror.
10:05 I got a lot of things I got to improve on.
10:07 If everybody in our locker room takes that kind of approach
10:10 and attitude, then we'll learn from this and get better.
10:12 But guys are going to have nights.
10:14 I'm not worried about that.
10:16 We can't have errors with focus and effort.
10:19 We'll dismiss the players and take a few more questions.
10:21 Coach? Yes.
10:23 Coach, the primary thing that's, you know,
10:33 going to be said outside of the building
10:36 among the fan bases is that this is a pit-streak time
10:40 that they've been forming.
10:42 Do you feel any of that weight building,
10:45 or do you just see this as a one-game type of thing
10:48 that could be a pit-match?
10:51 I mean, rivalry game, it's local.
10:55 0-2 coming into it, I'm coaching you.
10:58 Heck, yeah, you want to win.
11:01 That's not rocket science.
11:03 Some people, sometimes you go to coach,
11:05 "I mean, heck, yeah, you want to win."
11:07 Does it mean that it turns into something that it's not?
11:10 No. You want to win a game.
11:13 You're 0-2, and you want to win it.
11:15 We will win one. I mean, we will.
11:17 It'll happen.
11:20 But because you lose it, are you going to sit there
11:22 and go down in the dumps or feel some external pressure?
11:26 No, that's not how it works.
11:29 Whether we won tonight or not,
11:31 we're going to wake our butts up tomorrow.
11:33 We're going to work hard and get better,
11:35 and we're going to have a lot of big games this year.
11:37 You know, I'm not doing the comparison thing,
11:40 but Xavier probably feels pretty damn good tonight.
11:43 I bet they didn't feel good the last couple months they played.
11:46 That's college basketball.
11:48 But they had a tough stretch.
11:50 They learned from it. They played great tonight.
11:53 They get a win in a big environment.
11:55 It's going to be the same for everybody in college.
11:57 The last time I checked, it was 1976,
11:59 if somebody went undefeated.
12:01 He's going to take it on the chin.
12:03 I mean, you know, you're going to take it on the chin.
12:05 This is big time. There's parity.
12:06 Everybody can coach. Great players.
12:08 I hate that we took it on the chin tonight,
12:11 but, no, we're going to wake up tomorrow
12:13 and get ready to play against Bryant,
12:15 who's gone on the road
12:16 and won it up Florida Atlantic already this year.
12:18 He was top 25 in the country.
12:20 And then we got Dayton on Saturday.
12:21 Like, it just keeps coming. So do I feel some --
12:24 No, I feel pressure to prepare for Bryant.
12:26 That's external pressure.
12:27 And, listen, our fan base is passionate,
12:30 and they want it badly, and I love that about our fan base.
12:33 I hope they're pissed that we lost five in a row
12:35 and three since I've been here. I hope they're pissed.
12:37 You know, I'm pissed with them,
12:39 but, no, there's no external pressure.
12:41 It's not there. We're going to get our butts
12:43 ready to do it again next year, and we're going to keep coming.
12:45 That's what we do. We get knocked down.
12:47 We're going to keep coming. And so, no, I don't feel that,
12:51 but I want it really damn badly, as did our players.
12:54 But we're going to have a lot of opportunities this year
12:56 to feel good.
12:58 And if we learn from this and grow from this and keep working,
13:00 we'll have some nights against great teams and great guards
13:02 that we feel good, too. We're capable of that.
13:05 But I like this team.
13:06 I think our fan base that's been watching us play
13:08 for the last couple of years is going to get excited
13:10 about this team because the way they play,
13:12 the way they compete, the talent,
13:14 I think they can see that.
13:15 The question is what are we going to do with it.
13:17 And I think we've got a good group of kids in that locker room
13:19 and high character.
13:21 This team's going to be okay. I really believe that.
13:23 One more.
13:25 I want to encourage for you by scoring on the 50,
13:27 32, and coming out of halftime the way you did.
13:33 Guys, I'm pissed.
13:34 Are there some things I was -- As I walked off the court,
13:36 I said the first thing I said is I like my team a lot.
13:39 I'm looking in the trenches with every team I coach.
13:41 I like this team. I really do.
13:43 I like the character of this team.
13:44 I like the way this team works.
13:46 I'm sorry to all our fans that we couldn't get over the hump.
13:48 I spent 27 years in Cincinnati and won over there.
13:51 I want to get over the hump there for a lot of reasons,
13:54 but I like my team a lot.
13:57 We'll learn from this.
13:59 Bye.
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