TicketsCincinnati Head Coach Mick Cronin
Opening comments:
"I think the Tusculum kids came in and played hard. J.T. (Burton) is a friend of mine. They have played a couple of games already. That being said, it's hard to pull away when you can't make a shot. My biggest concern with our team is our inexperience. So, I thought we let our lack of making a shot affect our effort. We scrapped out a minor victory the other day, but today, we were worried about jump shots, so we didn't play very hard until later in the game. We were too good to play hard. We were too cool, too good to play hard and it showed. Once we started playing hard, things changed a little bit. We got points off turnovers. I used to tell Sean Kirkpatrick all the time, 'you will make a lot more shots if you just worry about hustle and defense. If you stand around and just want to shoot jump shots, you don't get yourself lost in the game with hustle, scrapping and fighting, you're not going to make shots'. We have a lot of work to do, but so does everybody."
On not receiving a lot of points from the front line:
"Yeah, we played the other day (Sunday) and they (Nysier Brooks and Tre Scott) were both our leading scorers. I didn't think either one of them was ready to play today, to be honest with you. My biggest challenge with an inexperienced team is these guys don't know how hard it is to show up every night. It is different when you come off the bench for a few minutes versus you are the guy getting on the bus deciding whether we win or lose. There is a difference from being on a team and being the reason the team wins, so Tre, Nysier, Jarron (Cumberland)… all of them, really, they are talented kids, but they are now in a new role and they are going to be the reason why we win or lose and you have to show up every night with the right attitude. Really, you have to show up every day in practice. We had our worst practice of the year yesterday, by far. Awful. Awful. They thought we were going to hang a banner that we won a scrimmage by a few points. What they didn't realize is that Mike (Brey) and I were both subbing and not playing it like a real game. You have young kids and, boy, it's a challenge in coaching. It is hard to find guys that are, I would say, in my era, have a Kobe Bryant mentality: that they are just trying to rip your head off. They don't care who they are playing or what the score is, they are coming in there every day to do it."
On all the fan-fare surrounding the opening of Fifth Third Arena today:
"I don't believe in excuses, but, yeah (it played a part). We didn't move into our locker room. We have guys that are all excited about flat screen and music and video games. I wish we would have moved in last week, but it is what it is. It is no excuse. It's not like they had to run the Iron Man. They had to go out and play a basketball game. We practice every day. Our attitude since Sunday has not been great. We lost our humility a little bit. That is going to be my challenge with these guys: getting guys to show up every night. Getting guys to come with the right mindset all the time. I will say this, too, that my biggest concern is not scoring and defense around the rim. Gary (Clark) and Jacob (Evans III) and Kyle (Washington) a little bit, protected the rim. Tre (Trevon Scott) and Nas (Nysier Brooks) had no blocked shots. Neither of them had one in our Red-Black scrimmage either. We have to get the right mindset. Once we have that, we have a chance. We didn't have the right mindset and it showed tonight. Now, they are going to have World War III tomorrow at 3:30 p.m."
On the play of Eliel Nsoseme and if he will see more minutes than last year:
"Oh, gosh yes. He is playing with a bad finger right now. In fairness to him, he has really worked hard on his free throws and has made a very high percentage the last five months. He is playing with a little splint on his finger and it is throwing him off with his free throw. Nine rebounds in 21 minutes, but he doesn't have an identity crisis. That is a challenge in coaching basketball versus football: linemen know they are linemen. See, Eliel knows who he is. He knows he is not a wide receiver."
Cincinnati Player Quotes
#15 Cane Broome, G
On if he had any pregame jitters:
"There was a little bit, but not too much though. We were in here a few hours before the game."
On the team getting off to a slow start:
"We didn't come out of the gate ready. We came out sluggish. Our defensive intensity wasn't there in the first half. We only had 13 deflections in the first half and we ended up getting close to 40 in the second which is the number we usually shoot for in a game. You could tell right there in the first half our defensive intensity wasn't there."
On the atmosphere tonight:
"It was good. I didn't expect that many people there for an exhibition game. There was a lot of people here and it felt good to be back in Fifth Third Arena."
On players changing roles this season:
"We have to find the balance. Being a player that changed schools, I know that it's hard to find the balance. Tre (Trevon Scott) is coming into a new role. Nas (Nosier Brooks) is coming into a new role. When they played before, they embraced defense. That's how they were going to stay in the game. We just have to find the balance and remember that we play defense and that's why we win. We block shots and that's why we win. But you have to step up and do the other things and we need to do that."
#13 Trevon Scott, F
On the game tonight:
"My shot selection could have been better. There were shots I took where I could have been closer to the rim and I could have made them. Coach was on us about our defensive intensity. He wants us to come out of the gate better."
On if he is ready to play a different role this season:
"I have been here long enough. I am ready to embrace that challenge. I feel good knowing that my teammates and my coaches want to have me in a different roles, trapping up, playing more, doing more. It's a great feeling. I have been looking forward to it."
On if the lack of blocked shots tonight bothers him:
"Honestly, it bothers us a lot. We all came out sluggish. There were opportunities for us to get blocks and we didn't get them. That has to change. Last year, we didn't have a problem with Gary (Clark), Jacob (Evans II), Kyle (Washington) and even us, the interior players who were here. We had way more blocked shots and were more active so we just need to get back to that."
Tusculum Head Coach J.T. Burton
Opening comments:
"I tell you what, we did a really good job. I was worried coming into the game because we were coming off back-to-back, we had to travel all night to get here, then we didn't get to have a shootaround, but the guys really responded. They [UC] got up on us a little bit and we closed the gap just before halftime. Before they got the three-point play it was 25-20 then we went into halftime down by eight. So, I was very pleased. I thought we did things very well, but we have a lot of things to work on."
On what his team will work on heading into the start of the regular season:
"We have to be better at defense, and then we have to get better at zone. There are certain things we have to get better at as far as closing out, blocking out, rebounding, a lot of things. And offensively, we have to score the ball. We haven't been able to score the ball, we were up against a lot of length, but there are a lot of things we have to work on, especially offensively."
Opening comments:
"I think the Tusculum kids came in and played hard. J.T. (Burton) is a friend of mine. They have played a couple of games already. That being said, it's hard to pull away when you can't make a shot. My biggest concern with our team is our inexperience. So, I thought we let our lack of making a shot affect our effort. We scrapped out a minor victory the other day, but today, we were worried about jump shots, so we didn't play very hard until later in the game. We were too good to play hard. We were too cool, too good to play hard and it showed. Once we started playing hard, things changed a little bit. We got points off turnovers. I used to tell Sean Kirkpatrick all the time, 'you will make a lot more shots if you just worry about hustle and defense. If you stand around and just want to shoot jump shots, you don't get yourself lost in the game with hustle, scrapping and fighting, you're not going to make shots'. We have a lot of work to do, but so does everybody."
On not receiving a lot of points from the front line:
"Yeah, we played the other day (Sunday) and they (Nysier Brooks and Tre Scott) were both our leading scorers. I didn't think either one of them was ready to play today, to be honest with you. My biggest challenge with an inexperienced team is these guys don't know how hard it is to show up every night. It is different when you come off the bench for a few minutes versus you are the guy getting on the bus deciding whether we win or lose. There is a difference from being on a team and being the reason the team wins, so Tre, Nysier, Jarron (Cumberland)… all of them, really, they are talented kids, but they are now in a new role and they are going to be the reason why we win or lose and you have to show up every night with the right attitude. Really, you have to show up every day in practice. We had our worst practice of the year yesterday, by far. Awful. Awful. They thought we were going to hang a banner that we won a scrimmage by a few points. What they didn't realize is that Mike (Brey) and I were both subbing and not playing it like a real game. You have young kids and, boy, it's a challenge in coaching. It is hard to find guys that are, I would say, in my era, have a Kobe Bryant mentality: that they are just trying to rip your head off. They don't care who they are playing or what the score is, they are coming in there every day to do it."
On all the fan-fare surrounding the opening of Fifth Third Arena today:
"I don't believe in excuses, but, yeah (it played a part). We didn't move into our locker room. We have guys that are all excited about flat screen and music and video games. I wish we would have moved in last week, but it is what it is. It is no excuse. It's not like they had to run the Iron Man. They had to go out and play a basketball game. We practice every day. Our attitude since Sunday has not been great. We lost our humility a little bit. That is going to be my challenge with these guys: getting guys to show up every night. Getting guys to come with the right mindset all the time. I will say this, too, that my biggest concern is not scoring and defense around the rim. Gary (Clark) and Jacob (Evans III) and Kyle (Washington) a little bit, protected the rim. Tre (Trevon Scott) and Nas (Nysier Brooks) had no blocked shots. Neither of them had one in our Red-Black scrimmage either. We have to get the right mindset. Once we have that, we have a chance. We didn't have the right mindset and it showed tonight. Now, they are going to have World War III tomorrow at 3:30 p.m."
On the play of Eliel Nsoseme and if he will see more minutes than last year:
"Oh, gosh yes. He is playing with a bad finger right now. In fairness to him, he has really worked hard on his free throws and has made a very high percentage the last five months. He is playing with a little splint on his finger and it is throwing him off with his free throw. Nine rebounds in 21 minutes, but he doesn't have an identity crisis. That is a challenge in coaching basketball versus football: linemen know they are linemen. See, Eliel knows who he is. He knows he is not a wide receiver."
Cincinnati Player Quotes
#15 Cane Broome, G
On if he had any pregame jitters:
"There was a little bit, but not too much though. We were in here a few hours before the game."
On the team getting off to a slow start:
"We didn't come out of the gate ready. We came out sluggish. Our defensive intensity wasn't there in the first half. We only had 13 deflections in the first half and we ended up getting close to 40 in the second which is the number we usually shoot for in a game. You could tell right there in the first half our defensive intensity wasn't there."
On the atmosphere tonight:
"It was good. I didn't expect that many people there for an exhibition game. There was a lot of people here and it felt good to be back in Fifth Third Arena."
On players changing roles this season:
"We have to find the balance. Being a player that changed schools, I know that it's hard to find the balance. Tre (Trevon Scott) is coming into a new role. Nas (Nosier Brooks) is coming into a new role. When they played before, they embraced defense. That's how they were going to stay in the game. We just have to find the balance and remember that we play defense and that's why we win. We block shots and that's why we win. But you have to step up and do the other things and we need to do that."
#13 Trevon Scott, F
On the game tonight:
"My shot selection could have been better. There were shots I took where I could have been closer to the rim and I could have made them. Coach was on us about our defensive intensity. He wants us to come out of the gate better."
On if he is ready to play a different role this season:
"I have been here long enough. I am ready to embrace that challenge. I feel good knowing that my teammates and my coaches want to have me in a different roles, trapping up, playing more, doing more. It's a great feeling. I have been looking forward to it."
On if the lack of blocked shots tonight bothers him:
"Honestly, it bothers us a lot. We all came out sluggish. There were opportunities for us to get blocks and we didn't get them. That has to change. Last year, we didn't have a problem with Gary (Clark), Jacob (Evans II), Kyle (Washington) and even us, the interior players who were here. We had way more blocked shots and were more active so we just need to get back to that."
Tusculum Head Coach J.T. Burton
Opening comments:
"I tell you what, we did a really good job. I was worried coming into the game because we were coming off back-to-back, we had to travel all night to get here, then we didn't get to have a shootaround, but the guys really responded. They [UC] got up on us a little bit and we closed the gap just before halftime. Before they got the three-point play it was 25-20 then we went into halftime down by eight. So, I was very pleased. I thought we did things very well, but we have a lot of things to work on."
On what his team will work on heading into the start of the regular season:
"We have to be better at defense, and then we have to get better at zone. There are certain things we have to get better at as far as closing out, blocking out, rebounding, a lot of things. And offensively, we have to score the ball. We haven't been able to score the ball, we were up against a lot of length, but there are a lot of things we have to work on, especially offensively."