TicketsPostgame Quotes
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Cincinnati
Dec. 19, 2017
BB&T Arena
Highland Heights, Ky.
Cincinnati Associate Head Coach Larry Davis
On filling in for head coach Mick Cronin in the postgame:
"He is not feeling well right now. He has been battling a really bad cold right now. We have been traveling, had a short turn-around practice. You guys have to remember, too: as assistants, we have scouts. He scouts every game. He has to see all the film for every game, so he has just been burning it."
On the staff's assessment of how the team played tonight:
"Obviously, 17 assists, we are pleased about that. Fifteen turnovers; we are really not pleased about that. We are concerned with our team in rebounding right now, to be honest with you, because in the last few games, Gary Clark and Trevon Scott are basically the only guys getting offensive rebounds. If we are going to be the team we want to be, we've got to get other guys involved in that. That is a big concern of ours right now.
When you play a team like Pine Bluff and you get up big early, the hardest thing for young people to do is to stay focused in success. When you get knocked down, that's easy. That's easy, unless you have no substance to you, you are going to get up and fight. The hardest thing to do is, when you have success, is to keep your nose to the grindstone and stay after it and, as a coaching staff that is what we have to do: make sure we are staying after it. In the scout last night, all I talked to our guys about, as much as I talked about Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was, 'look; we can't take two steps back. We played really well at UCLA. We played better against Mississippi State than we had the previous two games and then we played really, really well at UCLA. Because our opponent is somebody with less talent, we can't go out and turn the ball over. We can't not rebound the ball. We can't do things like that. That is the constant battle with, when you win, is keeping young people focused on why you won and that you have to get better. We are getting ready to get into our league and our league is better. Way better than it has been the past couple of years because we have Wichita State in, SMU is going to be good again, Temple is playing well and, once UCF gets all their players back off injury, they're going to be good. For us, we have to drive our guys to keep getting better and, in the areas we are struggling in right now, shore those up and shore them up quickly."
On if he thought the letdown came in the second half:
"Yes. The difference was, in the first half, we had 31 deflections and the second half, and we had 20. Deflections are big for us because that is an effort stat. That tells you how hard you are playing. We have lost very few times we got 40 or more deflections and tonight was a game that we should have – we had 51 – we should have gotten 50 to 60 deflections in this game. We should have gotten 60 because, physically, we are that much better than them and that tells you how hard your team is playing. In the second half, we turned it over a little bit more and didn't shore that up. Those are areas we have to address if we are going to win the league and if we are going to try and be one of the best teams in the country."
On turnovers being a problem this year:
"Yes, that is due to you have two guards playing for the first time; really playing at this level for the first time. Justin (Jenifer) played some last year, but he is a full-time player now. Cane (Broome), first of all, he sat out last year, so he has some rust on him and, second, he has never played at this level before, so, it is going to take some time. Today, we had 10 guys on our roster that had a turnover and we can't have that. We just can't have that. That is an area that needs to be addressed and, believe me, in practice every day, there are consequences when you turn the ball over. And there will be consequences tomorrow because we turned it over the number of times we turned it over today. That is the only way you are going to get players to change. It's like life: if there are not consequences and you can get away with it, you are going to try and get away with it. When there are consequences, you quickly learn you don't like those consequences and you change that behavior."
On what he knows about Cleveland State (UC plays host to CSU Thursday night):
"Dennis Felton is the new head coach and he was at Tulsa, so he knows our team very well. Dennis had success at Georgia when he was the head coach and is a good coach. They will do a good job when they come in here. I think they are probably a little more talented and a little bit bigger and stronger than this team we just played. I am sure it will be a little bit more of challenge that it was tonight was. God bless these guys (UAPB) here. If you look at their travel schedule, they have traveled every place. When you are at that level school, and you have to make money for your athletic department, which is what they have to do. There were some good things in tonight's game. The 17 assists, that has to stay up because that is an indication we are passing the ball. You can't be a good offensive team if you can't pass the ball. That is key to being a good offensive team and a good shooting team. You shoot the ball well because you take good shots and you get good shots because the assist got you an open shot or a layup or wide-open three. That is the key. In the first half, we shot 53 percent and that is because we were passing the ball very well. Jacob Evans continues to play pretty well. Obviously, for Gary, it wasn't his best game tonight, but, I expect to bounce back and play very well against Cleveland State."
Cincinnati Player Quotes
#15 Cane Broome, G
On the difficulties of preparing for a winless opponent:
"No, I don't think it was hard. I think all of us weren't ready. As far as the intensity level, we were ready to play the game, but as far as like pressing and really getting after it, we didn't come out ready. It obviously picked up but in the second half up by 30 we kind of slipped. We got to do a better job. It's hard to come out when you're up by 30 and get back into the groove, but we got to get better at that."
On if the team took a step back:
"Jacob brought up a good point. We just got to respect all our opponents even when we up by 30, we need to play the game like we play every day in practice because at the end of the day the coaches do spend their time and effort into preparing us to do certain things and we got to be able to come out there and do it."
#1 Jacob Evans III, G/F
On the difficulties of preparing for a winless opponent:
"I felt like we came out pretty good throughout the game. We started off with our press, created some turnovers, getting our hands on a lot of passes. In the second half, I felt like we were kind of flat and we also had too many turnovers. We had 15 against Arkansas Pine Bluff, that's not good. We had 9 last game at UCLA on the road and today we come back with 15 at home. It just can't happen. Got to get better."
On if the team took a step back:
"I don't think we took a step back but there were a lot of things that we can learn from. You can learn things from every game. Especially this game. We all got to look at ourselves and just make sure we are always playing hard and giving it our max effort. It's a blessing to be playing college basketball at a school like Cincinnati and I feel like some of us, or as a whole, we take that for granted, and you know we just need to cherish that moment and every time we have a game go out and play as hard as we can."
On if there were lessons learned and if the approach against upcoming opponent Cleveland State will differ:
"Yeah definitely, but at the same time we just got come ready to play and the things we did today in the first half, do for forty minutes and not have a let up anytime in the second half to where we feel like we are taking steps back. To not do that in the second half and have a great game and feel like we are moving forward."
Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach George Ivory
Opening statement:
"I thought Cincinnati did a great job putting some pressure on us early in the first half. They're a great basketball team and we wanted to come out here and take a challenge with a team like this that will put on a lot of pressure, great athletes, great coach, so, I just thought it was a good game for us to prepare going into our conference."
On some of the keys to take away from this game to work on moving forward:
"The one thing I look at is turnovers. In the first half we had about 15, 14. In the second half we took care of the ball a lot better. But they put a lot of pressure on us and it helped us get used to that. One of the things we need to work on in conference is pressure. We're not going to see that kind of pressure in conference, that size and athletic ability, but it was good for us to play them and learn something from it."
On the play of [Travon] Harper:
"He's playing a lot better. We just have to get everybody on the same page. But he's been doing a great job getting back into the groove the last couple ball games and against this kind of talent, it's really going to boost his confidence up."
On other players to highlight:
"I thought [Martaveous] McKinght came in and did a great job, he's our leading scorer. He came in and did a good job for us. Joe'Randle [Toliver] came off the bench and played well, so I thought that we got some good contribution from some of our kids off the bench."
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Cincinnati
Dec. 19, 2017
BB&T Arena
Highland Heights, Ky.
Cincinnati Associate Head Coach Larry Davis
On filling in for head coach Mick Cronin in the postgame:
"He is not feeling well right now. He has been battling a really bad cold right now. We have been traveling, had a short turn-around practice. You guys have to remember, too: as assistants, we have scouts. He scouts every game. He has to see all the film for every game, so he has just been burning it."
On the staff's assessment of how the team played tonight:
"Obviously, 17 assists, we are pleased about that. Fifteen turnovers; we are really not pleased about that. We are concerned with our team in rebounding right now, to be honest with you, because in the last few games, Gary Clark and Trevon Scott are basically the only guys getting offensive rebounds. If we are going to be the team we want to be, we've got to get other guys involved in that. That is a big concern of ours right now.
When you play a team like Pine Bluff and you get up big early, the hardest thing for young people to do is to stay focused in success. When you get knocked down, that's easy. That's easy, unless you have no substance to you, you are going to get up and fight. The hardest thing to do is, when you have success, is to keep your nose to the grindstone and stay after it and, as a coaching staff that is what we have to do: make sure we are staying after it. In the scout last night, all I talked to our guys about, as much as I talked about Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was, 'look; we can't take two steps back. We played really well at UCLA. We played better against Mississippi State than we had the previous two games and then we played really, really well at UCLA. Because our opponent is somebody with less talent, we can't go out and turn the ball over. We can't not rebound the ball. We can't do things like that. That is the constant battle with, when you win, is keeping young people focused on why you won and that you have to get better. We are getting ready to get into our league and our league is better. Way better than it has been the past couple of years because we have Wichita State in, SMU is going to be good again, Temple is playing well and, once UCF gets all their players back off injury, they're going to be good. For us, we have to drive our guys to keep getting better and, in the areas we are struggling in right now, shore those up and shore them up quickly."
On if he thought the letdown came in the second half:
"Yes. The difference was, in the first half, we had 31 deflections and the second half, and we had 20. Deflections are big for us because that is an effort stat. That tells you how hard you are playing. We have lost very few times we got 40 or more deflections and tonight was a game that we should have – we had 51 – we should have gotten 50 to 60 deflections in this game. We should have gotten 60 because, physically, we are that much better than them and that tells you how hard your team is playing. In the second half, we turned it over a little bit more and didn't shore that up. Those are areas we have to address if we are going to win the league and if we are going to try and be one of the best teams in the country."
On turnovers being a problem this year:
"Yes, that is due to you have two guards playing for the first time; really playing at this level for the first time. Justin (Jenifer) played some last year, but he is a full-time player now. Cane (Broome), first of all, he sat out last year, so he has some rust on him and, second, he has never played at this level before, so, it is going to take some time. Today, we had 10 guys on our roster that had a turnover and we can't have that. We just can't have that. That is an area that needs to be addressed and, believe me, in practice every day, there are consequences when you turn the ball over. And there will be consequences tomorrow because we turned it over the number of times we turned it over today. That is the only way you are going to get players to change. It's like life: if there are not consequences and you can get away with it, you are going to try and get away with it. When there are consequences, you quickly learn you don't like those consequences and you change that behavior."
On what he knows about Cleveland State (UC plays host to CSU Thursday night):
"Dennis Felton is the new head coach and he was at Tulsa, so he knows our team very well. Dennis had success at Georgia when he was the head coach and is a good coach. They will do a good job when they come in here. I think they are probably a little more talented and a little bit bigger and stronger than this team we just played. I am sure it will be a little bit more of challenge that it was tonight was. God bless these guys (UAPB) here. If you look at their travel schedule, they have traveled every place. When you are at that level school, and you have to make money for your athletic department, which is what they have to do. There were some good things in tonight's game. The 17 assists, that has to stay up because that is an indication we are passing the ball. You can't be a good offensive team if you can't pass the ball. That is key to being a good offensive team and a good shooting team. You shoot the ball well because you take good shots and you get good shots because the assist got you an open shot or a layup or wide-open three. That is the key. In the first half, we shot 53 percent and that is because we were passing the ball very well. Jacob Evans continues to play pretty well. Obviously, for Gary, it wasn't his best game tonight, but, I expect to bounce back and play very well against Cleveland State."
Cincinnati Player Quotes
#15 Cane Broome, G
On the difficulties of preparing for a winless opponent:
"No, I don't think it was hard. I think all of us weren't ready. As far as the intensity level, we were ready to play the game, but as far as like pressing and really getting after it, we didn't come out ready. It obviously picked up but in the second half up by 30 we kind of slipped. We got to do a better job. It's hard to come out when you're up by 30 and get back into the groove, but we got to get better at that."
On if the team took a step back:
"Jacob brought up a good point. We just got to respect all our opponents even when we up by 30, we need to play the game like we play every day in practice because at the end of the day the coaches do spend their time and effort into preparing us to do certain things and we got to be able to come out there and do it."
#1 Jacob Evans III, G/F
On the difficulties of preparing for a winless opponent:
"I felt like we came out pretty good throughout the game. We started off with our press, created some turnovers, getting our hands on a lot of passes. In the second half, I felt like we were kind of flat and we also had too many turnovers. We had 15 against Arkansas Pine Bluff, that's not good. We had 9 last game at UCLA on the road and today we come back with 15 at home. It just can't happen. Got to get better."
On if the team took a step back:
"I don't think we took a step back but there were a lot of things that we can learn from. You can learn things from every game. Especially this game. We all got to look at ourselves and just make sure we are always playing hard and giving it our max effort. It's a blessing to be playing college basketball at a school like Cincinnati and I feel like some of us, or as a whole, we take that for granted, and you know we just need to cherish that moment and every time we have a game go out and play as hard as we can."
On if there were lessons learned and if the approach against upcoming opponent Cleveland State will differ:
"Yeah definitely, but at the same time we just got come ready to play and the things we did today in the first half, do for forty minutes and not have a let up anytime in the second half to where we feel like we are taking steps back. To not do that in the second half and have a great game and feel like we are moving forward."
Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach George Ivory
Opening statement:
"I thought Cincinnati did a great job putting some pressure on us early in the first half. They're a great basketball team and we wanted to come out here and take a challenge with a team like this that will put on a lot of pressure, great athletes, great coach, so, I just thought it was a good game for us to prepare going into our conference."
On some of the keys to take away from this game to work on moving forward:
"The one thing I look at is turnovers. In the first half we had about 15, 14. In the second half we took care of the ball a lot better. But they put a lot of pressure on us and it helped us get used to that. One of the things we need to work on in conference is pressure. We're not going to see that kind of pressure in conference, that size and athletic ability, but it was good for us to play them and learn something from it."
On the play of [Travon] Harper:
"He's playing a lot better. We just have to get everybody on the same page. But he's been doing a great job getting back into the groove the last couple ball games and against this kind of talent, it's really going to boost his confidence up."
On other players to highlight:
"I thought [Martaveous] McKinght came in and did a great job, he's our leading scorer. He came in and did a good job for us. Joe'Randle [Toliver] came off the bench and played well, so I thought that we got some good contribution from some of our kids off the bench."