TicketsMemphis at Cincinnati
Dec. 31, 2017
BB&T Arena
Highland Heights, Ky.
Postgame Quotes
Cincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin
Opening statement:
"Rough night for Memphis; they didn't shoot the ball well. It's hard to score on us around the rim. I thought Jarron Cumberland was great. He was highly efficient; second-leading rebounder, leading scorer, four assists and two steals. Early on, his passing was excellent and that loosened him up when Trevor Moore made some shots and Jarron took the game over scoring. I thought we looked rusty on offense early with Gary (Clark) and Kyle (Washington) missing some shots that our fans are used to them never missing. Trevor Moore got the lid off the rim for us and, once that happened, our offense got to flowing. We were passing the ball well the entire game. That is the key. If you continue to pass the well, you are going to get open shots and, eventually, you are going to knock some down. We can (then) set up our defense and try and to disrupt a young team. I know what Coach (Tubby) Smith is going through right now; I was there 12 years ago where you have to bring in six new guys."
On the contributions from Keith Williams and Trevor Moore today:
"It's just a constant development. With young people in basketball, it's a constant – I don't want to stay struggle – it's something you have to teach. And the challenge is the game is played without the ball 90 percent of the time: defense, rebounding, talking and running the floor. You only have the ball 10 percent or less of the time you are in the game and very few young players understand that. We tell guys, 'don't come here is you if you don't want to be coached. You have to believe the game is a team game and you to believe we know what we are doing and we have a veteran coaching staff that has been together a long time. If you let us help you, we can turn you into a player. We don't believe in what you did in high school. That's irrelevant at this level. It's much, much harder. Basketball is much harder at this level. The quality of defense, the size, the athleticism; you have to learn to play the game at this level and it's a start over for a lot of kids.'
So, Trevor and Keith and all our freshmen have great attitudes and if they continue to be coachable, they will continue to get better. It's a process and it is really hard for first-year guys. That's why I know what Coach Smith is going through, even though he has a lot of junior college guys, its hard with first-year guys because they haven't practice this hard this long before. They have to pay attention all the time instead of just running around having funsies in high school where you are just better than everybody else. I've said this: Keith and Trevor are the key for us. Nas (Nysier Brooks) and Tre (Trevon Scott) are in their second year, they have been there and are much better players than they were a year ago. For our team, to get to where we want to go, I think we have to be able to get something out of those guys. I just believe for us to play our style and how hard we play on defense, you can't play more than 30 or 31 minutes. You just can't do it. Those guys need to be able to help us, to be able to give Jarron and Jake (Jacob Evans III) some time off the floor and be able to maintain our lead and defensive intensity while those guys are out of the game. So, their development is huge for our team."
Cincinnati Players
#1 Jacob Evans III, G/F
On his experience level playing the point position:
"I played point guard in high school. Coming to college, this was the first time playing off the ball so, I'm pretty comfortable at it. It's just getting back used to it. It's just the little things, like the weaves and how to read my man coming off the ball. It's just the little things I gotta remind myself at the one. So, I'm pretty comfortable at that position. If Cane is out I can step in and take over."
On if the long layoff between games created any problems:
"No, we were excited to play basketball. It's a fun game for us and when we play the right way we have fun."
On the play of Trevor Moore and Keith Williams:
"They were extremely important. Them coming off the bench with Cane, or Tre, or Justin, whoever comes off, that's like another solid group. That also can help rest our starting five, down the stretch playing a lot of minutes, that's tough on your starters. And also when tournament time comes, it's tough to play people 40 minutes like every game. So, if we can have people coming off the bench. And that's our thing, strength in numbers. We feel like we have more players than the other teams so, as long as they are coming off the bench, staying positive, producing, playing defense, and rebounding we should be fine."
#5 Trevor Moore, G
On if making his first three-pointer got him going offensively:
"Yes. Coach is always telling me to just stay ready to shoot so, I've been shooting my whole life, so I was ready and I knocked it down."
Oh his defensive effort:
"Coach (Cronin) always preaches to us about defense and rebounding, so that's kinda what I tried to do today."
On getting more playing time and having the chance to produce:
"It's just staying positive. Like I said, coach always preaches about defense, so when I get in I try and play my best on defense, and on offense we've got pretty good teammates that find me so I mean, it's defensive minded."
On the adjustment of playing at the collegiate level:
"Probably the speed. Coming from high school to college, the tempo of the game is kinda different in high school than it is in college so I would probably say the speed and the strength of other players, and just battling."
On if he knew he's see more playing time with Cane Broome not playing against Memphis:
"Yeah, Coach told us that me and Keith that we were gonna play a lot with Jacob at the one, so I just wanted to battle and compete and keep it going from there."
Memphis Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement:
"We just weren't ready. I thought we came ready, but we were intimidated early on, especially with our turnovers, we played so poorly, shot so poorly and against a good team like Cincinnati, they will make you look bad and they'll beat you like this if you have any letdown at all. We just lost our focus and this is the result of it."
On how the team can recover and come back from this loss:
"It's just one game. We've been in these situations before. It took a lot out of us, the loss at home. But I didn't think it took that much out of us. We tried to come back and be very light, by light, I mean upbeat in practices. Try to take some of the soreness that was in us. Then you come here and … it didn't work. It just didn't work. So what's the answer to it from going forward? It's obvious this is a group we've got to apply certain stimuli in certain ways and it's my job as a coach to find those buttons to push."
On the frustration of the loss:
"They (Cincinnati) were taking us out of a lot of stuff with their matchup zone. You've got to be patient enough to go to the second, third and fourth options and not just start to dribble and put your head down. Hopefully, our players have learned their lesson and do it the right way and do it the way we said."
Dec. 31, 2017
BB&T Arena
Highland Heights, Ky.
Postgame Quotes
Cincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin
Opening statement:
"Rough night for Memphis; they didn't shoot the ball well. It's hard to score on us around the rim. I thought Jarron Cumberland was great. He was highly efficient; second-leading rebounder, leading scorer, four assists and two steals. Early on, his passing was excellent and that loosened him up when Trevor Moore made some shots and Jarron took the game over scoring. I thought we looked rusty on offense early with Gary (Clark) and Kyle (Washington) missing some shots that our fans are used to them never missing. Trevor Moore got the lid off the rim for us and, once that happened, our offense got to flowing. We were passing the ball well the entire game. That is the key. If you continue to pass the well, you are going to get open shots and, eventually, you are going to knock some down. We can (then) set up our defense and try and to disrupt a young team. I know what Coach (Tubby) Smith is going through right now; I was there 12 years ago where you have to bring in six new guys."
On the contributions from Keith Williams and Trevor Moore today:
"It's just a constant development. With young people in basketball, it's a constant – I don't want to stay struggle – it's something you have to teach. And the challenge is the game is played without the ball 90 percent of the time: defense, rebounding, talking and running the floor. You only have the ball 10 percent or less of the time you are in the game and very few young players understand that. We tell guys, 'don't come here is you if you don't want to be coached. You have to believe the game is a team game and you to believe we know what we are doing and we have a veteran coaching staff that has been together a long time. If you let us help you, we can turn you into a player. We don't believe in what you did in high school. That's irrelevant at this level. It's much, much harder. Basketball is much harder at this level. The quality of defense, the size, the athleticism; you have to learn to play the game at this level and it's a start over for a lot of kids.'
So, Trevor and Keith and all our freshmen have great attitudes and if they continue to be coachable, they will continue to get better. It's a process and it is really hard for first-year guys. That's why I know what Coach Smith is going through, even though he has a lot of junior college guys, its hard with first-year guys because they haven't practice this hard this long before. They have to pay attention all the time instead of just running around having funsies in high school where you are just better than everybody else. I've said this: Keith and Trevor are the key for us. Nas (Nysier Brooks) and Tre (Trevon Scott) are in their second year, they have been there and are much better players than they were a year ago. For our team, to get to where we want to go, I think we have to be able to get something out of those guys. I just believe for us to play our style and how hard we play on defense, you can't play more than 30 or 31 minutes. You just can't do it. Those guys need to be able to help us, to be able to give Jarron and Jake (Jacob Evans III) some time off the floor and be able to maintain our lead and defensive intensity while those guys are out of the game. So, their development is huge for our team."
Cincinnati Players
#1 Jacob Evans III, G/F
On his experience level playing the point position:
"I played point guard in high school. Coming to college, this was the first time playing off the ball so, I'm pretty comfortable at it. It's just getting back used to it. It's just the little things, like the weaves and how to read my man coming off the ball. It's just the little things I gotta remind myself at the one. So, I'm pretty comfortable at that position. If Cane is out I can step in and take over."
On if the long layoff between games created any problems:
"No, we were excited to play basketball. It's a fun game for us and when we play the right way we have fun."
On the play of Trevor Moore and Keith Williams:
"They were extremely important. Them coming off the bench with Cane, or Tre, or Justin, whoever comes off, that's like another solid group. That also can help rest our starting five, down the stretch playing a lot of minutes, that's tough on your starters. And also when tournament time comes, it's tough to play people 40 minutes like every game. So, if we can have people coming off the bench. And that's our thing, strength in numbers. We feel like we have more players than the other teams so, as long as they are coming off the bench, staying positive, producing, playing defense, and rebounding we should be fine."
#5 Trevor Moore, G
On if making his first three-pointer got him going offensively:
"Yes. Coach is always telling me to just stay ready to shoot so, I've been shooting my whole life, so I was ready and I knocked it down."
Oh his defensive effort:
"Coach (Cronin) always preaches to us about defense and rebounding, so that's kinda what I tried to do today."
On getting more playing time and having the chance to produce:
"It's just staying positive. Like I said, coach always preaches about defense, so when I get in I try and play my best on defense, and on offense we've got pretty good teammates that find me so I mean, it's defensive minded."
On the adjustment of playing at the collegiate level:
"Probably the speed. Coming from high school to college, the tempo of the game is kinda different in high school than it is in college so I would probably say the speed and the strength of other players, and just battling."
On if he knew he's see more playing time with Cane Broome not playing against Memphis:
"Yeah, Coach told us that me and Keith that we were gonna play a lot with Jacob at the one, so I just wanted to battle and compete and keep it going from there."
Memphis Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening statement:
"We just weren't ready. I thought we came ready, but we were intimidated early on, especially with our turnovers, we played so poorly, shot so poorly and against a good team like Cincinnati, they will make you look bad and they'll beat you like this if you have any letdown at all. We just lost our focus and this is the result of it."
On how the team can recover and come back from this loss:
"It's just one game. We've been in these situations before. It took a lot out of us, the loss at home. But I didn't think it took that much out of us. We tried to come back and be very light, by light, I mean upbeat in practices. Try to take some of the soreness that was in us. Then you come here and … it didn't work. It just didn't work. So what's the answer to it from going forward? It's obvious this is a group we've got to apply certain stimuli in certain ways and it's my job as a coach to find those buttons to push."
On the frustration of the loss:
"They (Cincinnati) were taking us out of a lot of stuff with their matchup zone. You've got to be patient enough to go to the second, third and fourth options and not just start to dribble and put your head down. Hopefully, our players have learned their lesson and do it the right way and do it the way we said."