Cincinnati Basketball-Green Bay Presser

He's crazy getting into this business and giving up what he had and doing the double dipping. I think it was last year, but his team has made great strides, and they're in good hands. Really proud of our effort. I thought we had a lot of guys step up tonight, and it's early in the season, so we've got to keep getting better. Put out the questions Coach, the offense feels like it's close. Is it just a matter of tonight it was open shots that they weren't able to? Yeah, I mean, sometimes, you know, it's the process over the outcome. You know, we missed 10 threes in the first half at one point. I thought most of them were really good looks. But you have to have the ability as a college basketball player to adjust, right? And we thought we'd get them in closeouts. And, um... You know, we probably got to do a better job of getting them to understand that, Chad. Like, you know, if you can't make threes, get to the rim. We kept harping on it, but we kept launching, and, you know, sometimes that happens. But this group is still learning. We are a work in progress. Miles, less than an hour after the last game on Tuesday night, you're all getting shots at the magain How much did that confidence carry over into tonight? I mean, obviously, it's good to see the ball in the basket after a tough shooting night, but I'm not. Trust me, I put a lot of shots up, my teammates trust me, my coaches trust me, so they put me in a position today to be able to points out there today, so I think it's just amazing to me. Coach Golly gave them a descriptor, your team, he called them a mid-major plus all-star team. They saw how many people were the guy that's coming in and meshed with this team now. Is that a difficult process that you didn't realize you'd have to kind of acclimate to? No, I mean, I've been doing this for 15 years. I've been in the portal world for, I don't know how many years we've been doing this. Yeah, every year you've got to do this, typically, right? Unless we can get some of these kids to come back and retain our players like we did in year two at Utah State. But, yeah, I mean, that's how we recruit. You know, Monty Lyles and Eric Mahaffey are part of NCAA tournaments. Those guys are winners. They know how to win. They've played in NCAA tournaments. You saw tonight who was on the court the last five minutes, the last eight minutes was two guys that have won a bunch of games and will do what they're asked to do. How was the nausea factor going into halftime tonight? A little better? Senator? You know, I thought our offense was much better. It would have looked incredible if the shots would have went down. I thought our effort was better. We still don't rebound the ball like we need to, right? We were minus three at halftime. We finished plus five. That's the reason we went with a bigger lineup. You know, if we're not going to make shots and rebound, we've got to make some adjustments. So I thought a Wheezy and a Monty Lyles in that group was really good. Eric, what sparked your aggression tonight, really hitting the paint hard, getting to the basket in that first half? The game plan was get to the rim, put up two, and search where I was open after that. So just going into the game with that game plan in mind, just aggressive and not stopping at the rim, so just go up and finish. So I think just following the game plan is why I was so aggressive, getting to the rim. Could Amani have a much bigger role on this team much earlier than you expected? Yeah, I mean, we knew what we were getting with Amani. You know, his coach, Dustin Ford, just texted me. His coach from last year called me about two, three nights ago. You know, I was trying to get information on him, how to coach him. What are his strengths? His biggest strength is his intelligence. He's really, really smart. He's really competitive. He's a grown man, and he's got a big-time body, and he can do a lot. He can isolate. He can shoot threes. He can do a little bit of everything. So while Jayden's out, which we don't know how much longer he'll be out, we need him really, really bad, and I thought he was awesome. Obviously, you would have played 13 of those two were your Hastings. Yeah, Akai is day-to-day, Hastings is day-to-day as well. Well, um... I thought Akai was going to go, but then we got to shoot around today and he just felt uncomfortable, and the last thing we want to do is put him out there. It's a very long season, but we're missing a lot of guys. It's those two, it's Javante. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. As I tell these guys, man, you've got to find ways to win. And, you know, and... Whatever Coach Gottlieb called us, mid-major all-stars, I like that. That's actually pretty good, or mid-major plus all-stars. The reality of it is, we have so many guys, we gotta win basketball games. We don't have time to have slumps and do all these things, we gotta win. So whoever's playing well is gonna play. Coach, you went to a bigger lineup tonight, obviously, with Eric running the one for the majority of this game. Is that something you saw on tape that you could explore? No, I mean, it was just, when guys aren't playing well, we got other options. Points off turnovers and points in the paint have both been strange through these first two games. How important are those two categories for what you're trying to implement offensively? Yeah, I mean, we want to be a top 10 team in the country still in the basketball, right? So I think we're 21 and 15, you know, we're averaging 18 a game. I mean, that's pretty good no matter who you're playing. So we want to continue to do that, and we've got to score the ball better in transition. I thought tonight we were a little better, but still not great. Two more, Chad and Scott. Miles, you've had a couple of these games in your career. Do you know it before the game? Is it when that first shot goes in? At what point do you realize, like, I'm seeing, I'm throwing it in the ocean tonight? I mean, it's just the flow of the game, honestly. just trust my teammates to give you those shots Obviously, the game plan, knowing the game plan, like Eric said, you know, if you're going into the game, the coaches have done a great job. of letting us know where the shots are going to be, where to attack and how to play. So just being in the right spot at the right time, Eric, what happened on the dunk, and you were a little tentative after that. trying to get it up, man. Yeah, that's what I mean. That's my first take of my career, so I was like, so, no, my dad already texted me about it and everything, so it's whatever. But, yeah, that's what I mean. Did you think you were going to fall? well, like, I have momentum and then, like, I saw him under me, so I was like, all right, let me stay here, and then I pulled up, and he got me real quick, so it's all right. Thanks, guys. Thank you.