Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller and guard John Newman III talk 57-75 loss at TCU Saturday, February 24.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:04 >> Mr. Brady?
00:05 >> Sure.
00:06 First off, congrats to Jamie and his group.
00:08 They were really good tonight.
00:10 And they made it difficult on us.
00:15 I think first off, I don't think anybody in our locker room is pleased with our
00:19 performance or our play tonight.
00:20 I think I have a pretty good pulse on our team.
00:24 And I think the guys are down about how they played,
00:27 which they should be, they didn't play well.
00:30 I actually thought our preparation was pretty good yesterday.
00:33 But we made errors,
00:37 controllable errors more consistent than we've been making them.
00:40 Where at this point in the year you wanna start cleaning stuff up and
00:45 TCU punished us for those mistakes.
00:48 They really punished us in transition for communication and focus errors.
00:53 They punished us for turnovers and poor shots and poor decisions with the ball.
00:59 And then they were much quicker to the basketball tonight on the boards,
01:02 which they've done to us now twice.
01:04 And you look down and 33, 32, but I felt like we got out rebounded by 55.
01:11 So anyway, congrats to a really good basketball team.
01:15 I think we have a really nice basketball team too, but
01:18 they were the better team here tonight by a stretch.
01:20 >> Coach, was there anything specifically TCU was able to do tonight or
01:26 was it just kinda like you said, they just capitalize on the mistakes you guys made?
01:29 >> No, they were good.
01:31 Again, first thing I'd say, don't take anything away from their performance.
01:35 Never do that.
01:36 When you don't play well,
01:37 usually the other person you're playing against has something to do that.
01:41 So they were good.
01:41 Their pressure was higher on the floor than the last time we played.
01:47 We got bogged down a little bit, ball string coverages.
01:51 We didn't have a punch and a push in transition.
01:54 They were more physical to work for position.
01:57 And give them credit.
01:59 Give them credit for all that.
02:02 But we also did some things that aren't very good.
02:05 And then they capitalized on them.
02:07 A lot of it was carelessness with the ball or quick to a ball or
02:11 not communicating in transition or a turnover or a long rebound or bad shot.
02:16 I mean, that's how you look down and you give up.
02:19 Gosh, they have 25 fast break points on the stat sheet.
02:23 I never think they get that right when they do the stat sheet.
02:25 We felt like more than that.
02:26 >> Coach, you guys are leaving for this game.
02:31 You don't know if you'll be able to get your team to refocus on the next game.
02:36 >> Well, I think I got a high character group.
02:41 I've never questioned that.
02:44 They've never given me a reason to question their character, their will, or
02:47 their care for our team or our program or wanting to compete.
02:52 So now we didn't compete to the level we have to compete tonight, but
02:55 I don't think it's a lack of want to.
02:57 I got good guys.
02:59 So I don't think there's any tricks to it.
03:02 We gotta recover from this one.
03:05 Gotta learn from it.
03:06 We gotta respond.
03:07 This group's done a nice job of that throughout the year.
03:10 It's gonna be more difficult this time around, but I expect them to.
03:13 >> You knew this was gonna be a tough trip.
03:17 Do you scrap this game and just go on to Houston and look at that?
03:20 Or do you take something from this?
03:23 >> I think you take something from everything that you go through.
03:25 I'd scrap it and move on.
03:27 It's never quite been my mentality.
03:29 So I'm not gonna change now.
03:31 But no, we gotta learn from this one.
03:33 And I think all of us, coaches, players, included, gotta look in the mirror and
03:37 figure out what the heck we can all do to be a little better,
03:39 cuz we weren't good enough tonight.
03:42 >> There was talk of you playing the two guards together,
03:44 which you did tonight, and then the victory got in.
03:47 So is it something that's gonna continue, or
03:50 what's your assessment of how that worked?
03:52 >> I thought it was really good there in the first half.
03:53 It kinda got us back, and I think we took the lead 23-20.
03:58 I thought they were really good at breaking down the defense and
04:01 making some things happen, but wasn't as quite good there in the second half.
04:05 No, we believe in our guys.
04:06 We're gonna keep playing with the guys that wanna work, wanna fight,
04:11 that care, and I think we got a locker room full.
04:14 So yeah, we're not gonna get down on a guy cuz he didn't have one bad performance.
04:20 But Vic had some better moments tonight, and
04:23 we gotta keep getting him in the right direction.
04:24 >> Questions for John Newman?
04:27 >> John, how do you react to this?
04:31 Again, you knew this was a big trip coming up, and you're coming off a tough one.
04:35 And this is the first game since Dayton that you guys have been beaten,
04:40 and doubled it.
04:41 >> You said how do I react to it?
04:46 >> Yeah.
04:47 >> Just try to take what I can learn as an individual and
04:55 take what we can learn as a group, learn from it, and
04:59 then just try to be better going forward.
05:00 >> John, it seemed like a mania was a lot more,
05:05 mania Miller was a lot more efficient this game compared to the first game.
05:09 What did you see different from him?
05:10 >> Sure, I mean, I guess he's making more shots.
05:15 Simply put, he's always pretty aggressive.
05:22 So I don't see anything different than what I've seen before.
05:26 I just think he's more efficient than that, just making more shots.
05:30 >> You've been able to answer a run, and
05:36 then tonight it kind of ran away.
05:39 Did you have a feeling that we'll be right back in it, and
05:43 then it just didn't happen?
05:45 >> Yeah, I mean, I always think I'll get the chance.
05:47 And that's never gonna change.
05:53 It's just like sometimes the game can get away from you as basketball.
05:56 It happens sometimes, but with the group of guys that we got,
06:00 I always think that we got a chance.
06:01 So I can't sit here and say I was expecting everything.
06:09 I always think I got a chance.
06:10 >> Got time for two more for the group.
06:12 >> Looking at the rest of the schedule going forward,
06:16 what does it need to take for this Bearcats team to make the NCAA tournament?
06:20 >> It's interesting in the world we live in today,
06:28 that people are talking about the NCAA tournament.
06:32 It feels like around Christmas time.
06:34 It's like every game you play, you look up and everybody, it's like you're in,
06:39 you're out, and I get the entertainment value of that and the interest in our game.
06:43 But you don't get out of the NCAA tournament this time of year,
06:47 you don't make the NCAA tournament this time of year.
06:49 When you play in the Big 12, every night's an opportunity.
06:52 I think it's very dangerous to be consumed with that as a team and
06:57 with players and coaches.
06:58 We just gotta keep taking it one day at a time.
07:04 We need some good things to happen to get our team back on track.
07:07 That's gonna happen down the road.
07:11 It's either gonna happen or it's not gonna happen.
07:13 But that stuff's for entertainment, for the media, for fans.
07:17 We can't do that.
07:18 And the biggest concern I have as a coach is how hard that is for
07:20 young people not to get caught up in it.
07:22 Cuz they're seeing it as coaches.
07:24 We can not look at our phones or have a mindset that's focusing on today.
07:29 But young people are gonna just get caught up in every single tweet,
07:33 every single story and all that.
07:35 I think you gotta teach them, that's part of my job,
07:39 to stay in the moment one day at a time and keep working.
07:42 And at the end of the year, if we've done our part,
07:44 I think we have a team that's capable of playing the NCAA tournament.
07:46 But I'm not saying, leave that stuff for the media, for show and all that.
07:52 >> [INAUDIBLE]
07:57 >> I really don't know.
07:58 Honestly, I really don't know.
08:00 I just not practiced this week.
08:01 >> All right, thanks guys.
08:03 >> Thanks.
08:04 [BLANK_AUDIO]