Here's the highlights from the lengthy convo with Grant postgame. I also have Wes Miller's comments recorded if you all would like me to type those out, just let me know and I will if y'all want them.
Opening Statement:
"Yeah, what a tremendous atmosphere. Man I'm so thankful because the the energy in the building today we weren't at our best. I mean, obviously we were missing Lamar. We had several guys that weren't 100% in this game. And I thought Cincinnati was just extremely physical. They kept putting pressure on us by rebounding the basketball offensively. They ended up with eight block shots, and I thought they drove the ball to the rim several times. I thought our contests were solid. I love our scrap man. I thought it was a game that, you know, we put ourselves in position despite not playing great offensively. And our guys didn't didn't back down. I mean, we weren't great. We weren't 100%. I really appreciate our team's fight right now, and the way we're competing. It's unacceptable. It's not good enough in this building. We want to win every home game. We're disappointed. These guys are disappointed. They're in tears in the locker room. So this team is connected. They love each other. And we just didn't get it done tonight and a lot of it had to do with Cincinnati. I thought their defense was was great. I thought their rim presence was caused us a lot of problems. But we did get to the free throw line several times. Jennings was tremendous in the first half to keep us keep us right where we needed to be to give us a chance to win the game and I thought they made big plays down the stretch. Offensively a lot of different guys stepped up for them at the end of the basketball game."
On Lamar timeline:
"Yeah, we didn't know we didn't know till after shoot around today. And obviously there's a lot of guys going through it."
On a scenario where Jennings & Warren could play at the same time:
"I mean, within what we've been doing because of our lack of depth at that position, we haven't put that into play at this point. There is a scenario possibly but it's not something that we're looking at right now."
On Warren:
"Just wasn't 100%, wasn't 100% tonight. He was fighting to I was really thrilled with his effort man halftime we're trying to get him some help. And you know, we weren't able to start it because he was still trying to get back out there. He's a he's a competitive guy that wants to win and it's great to great to see him, you know, finish the game...Ya know, just a lot of our guys aren't 100% right now."
On how Cincy was able to take away the three:
"Yeah, I mean, they were physical. They kept going over I thought we got some back cuts. And we put pressure on the rim by, you know, utilizing that. That was my fault. I went to that a little too late in the game. And we settled for some ball screens in the middle and wish we would have moved the ball more and I got to do a better job of making sure we take advantage of our strengths."
On offensive boards on both ends:
"Yeah, that's the one area I told our guys in there. Like we knew that we were going to have to compete and it's disappointing. rotations caused some of the defensive rebounding disadvantage that we had. Like there was a possession where they got the offensive rebound and it was because of penetration. We had to help and take Warren away from the rim. So I think just continuing to get better rebounding from from our guards and then get Warren where he's attacking at the high point. He's started to get where he's just backing up and trying to box this guy out and can't have that we need him going and pursuing the ball. And that's where having 100% really is helpful. And I thought Rob gave us a good lift tonight in that area of just, you know, bringing energy to that, but we'll definitely be a work in progress all year long."
On the depth:
"I mean, that whole crew and they've been practicing so when we get those days where we get together those guys have continued to work. And that's what I love about this group. I mean, they're all disappointed. I keep saying it to them, you've got to get better in practice. And you got to show that this is something that you can do consistently. And we watch every practice. I mean, I'm out there watching, you know, every scenario and maybe the guys that don't play, we come back the day after the game as long as we have actual practice that we work out and I watch it and I evaluate it and the guys that actually can do we want them to do, they get the opportunity to play in the game and the guys that can't do it consistently, they don't play. So it's the guys that help us win that we're playing."
"Tonight there were some hard decisions on who we wanted to put in the game at different times. And we made the decision to go with some different guys. I think it just depends on the team too. And guys continue to get better. And that's that's what this is about. We're gonna need everybody we're gonna need Kye'ron, we're going to need D'Maurian, we're gonna need EY, we're gonna need the whole group so we need to get those guys getting better, it is really a big emphasis for us and they've continued to work."
On Jennings light minutes in the second half:
"Yeah, I mean, I think those are split second second decisions that you feel like matchups and who are you in the game with when you get the advantage. And a lot of it we look at prior to the game and we say Hey, this is the best chance we have with this group to give us the best chance to do what we need to do and a lot of that's predetermined some of it you're out there just trying to figure out if you can get get Warren going. he's been big down the stretch in games and making the right play and I thought that dunk he had late in the game was big. His rim presence because we were having such a hard time of keeping them out of the paint. Him patrolling the basket. You watch how many misses, they missed quite a few layups. They made jump shots at the elbow. They blew by them in that corner three but I thought he caused a lot of those problems. So felt like you know, you can say against a lot of things but was thankful Warren was out there competing and felt like he gave us the best chance to win."
On final possession:
"Yeah, I mean, I we had Chance at the top of the key, Pop going right and Kerwin in the right corner and then Warren and Darrion ran in to rebound and Warren had Aziz (Bandaogo) pushed underneath the basket at an angle to go rebound it. Chance followed going right, Darrion went baseline so all three of them were inside when the ball bounced over their head. And so they're on the backside and I think at that time, you've got to foul right away. And I think they were waiting to see like, you know, is that, you know, is that going to be it for us? Instead of fouling, he got away from them really quickly and they just walk in through that and making sure we don't make that mistake. And sometimes you're not aware of the clock. I thought in that situation, maybe they thought there was somebody else coming down that was gonna foul and they just we didn't take the opportunity to do it at that moment. Now we'll all have to look at it clearer but the way we drew it up, that was kind of the angle. We should foul right away. And we'll we need to work on that. Make sure that we because you could you could put yourself in position to win the game if you fall foul. Right away."
Opening Statement:
"Yeah, what a tremendous atmosphere. Man I'm so thankful because the the energy in the building today we weren't at our best. I mean, obviously we were missing Lamar. We had several guys that weren't 100% in this game. And I thought Cincinnati was just extremely physical. They kept putting pressure on us by rebounding the basketball offensively. They ended up with eight block shots, and I thought they drove the ball to the rim several times. I thought our contests were solid. I love our scrap man. I thought it was a game that, you know, we put ourselves in position despite not playing great offensively. And our guys didn't didn't back down. I mean, we weren't great. We weren't 100%. I really appreciate our team's fight right now, and the way we're competing. It's unacceptable. It's not good enough in this building. We want to win every home game. We're disappointed. These guys are disappointed. They're in tears in the locker room. So this team is connected. They love each other. And we just didn't get it done tonight and a lot of it had to do with Cincinnati. I thought their defense was was great. I thought their rim presence was caused us a lot of problems. But we did get to the free throw line several times. Jennings was tremendous in the first half to keep us keep us right where we needed to be to give us a chance to win the game and I thought they made big plays down the stretch. Offensively a lot of different guys stepped up for them at the end of the basketball game."
On Lamar timeline:
"Yeah, we didn't know we didn't know till after shoot around today. And obviously there's a lot of guys going through it."
On a scenario where Jennings & Warren could play at the same time:
"I mean, within what we've been doing because of our lack of depth at that position, we haven't put that into play at this point. There is a scenario possibly but it's not something that we're looking at right now."
On Warren:
"Just wasn't 100%, wasn't 100% tonight. He was fighting to I was really thrilled with his effort man halftime we're trying to get him some help. And you know, we weren't able to start it because he was still trying to get back out there. He's a he's a competitive guy that wants to win and it's great to great to see him, you know, finish the game...Ya know, just a lot of our guys aren't 100% right now."
On how Cincy was able to take away the three:
"Yeah, I mean, they were physical. They kept going over I thought we got some back cuts. And we put pressure on the rim by, you know, utilizing that. That was my fault. I went to that a little too late in the game. And we settled for some ball screens in the middle and wish we would have moved the ball more and I got to do a better job of making sure we take advantage of our strengths."
On offensive boards on both ends:
"Yeah, that's the one area I told our guys in there. Like we knew that we were going to have to compete and it's disappointing. rotations caused some of the defensive rebounding disadvantage that we had. Like there was a possession where they got the offensive rebound and it was because of penetration. We had to help and take Warren away from the rim. So I think just continuing to get better rebounding from from our guards and then get Warren where he's attacking at the high point. He's started to get where he's just backing up and trying to box this guy out and can't have that we need him going and pursuing the ball. And that's where having 100% really is helpful. And I thought Rob gave us a good lift tonight in that area of just, you know, bringing energy to that, but we'll definitely be a work in progress all year long."
On the depth:
"I mean, that whole crew and they've been practicing so when we get those days where we get together those guys have continued to work. And that's what I love about this group. I mean, they're all disappointed. I keep saying it to them, you've got to get better in practice. And you got to show that this is something that you can do consistently. And we watch every practice. I mean, I'm out there watching, you know, every scenario and maybe the guys that don't play, we come back the day after the game as long as we have actual practice that we work out and I watch it and I evaluate it and the guys that actually can do we want them to do, they get the opportunity to play in the game and the guys that can't do it consistently, they don't play. So it's the guys that help us win that we're playing."
"Tonight there were some hard decisions on who we wanted to put in the game at different times. And we made the decision to go with some different guys. I think it just depends on the team too. And guys continue to get better. And that's that's what this is about. We're gonna need everybody we're gonna need Kye'ron, we're going to need D'Maurian, we're gonna need EY, we're gonna need the whole group so we need to get those guys getting better, it is really a big emphasis for us and they've continued to work."
On Jennings light minutes in the second half:
"Yeah, I mean, I think those are split second second decisions that you feel like matchups and who are you in the game with when you get the advantage. And a lot of it we look at prior to the game and we say Hey, this is the best chance we have with this group to give us the best chance to do what we need to do and a lot of that's predetermined some of it you're out there just trying to figure out if you can get get Warren going. he's been big down the stretch in games and making the right play and I thought that dunk he had late in the game was big. His rim presence because we were having such a hard time of keeping them out of the paint. Him patrolling the basket. You watch how many misses, they missed quite a few layups. They made jump shots at the elbow. They blew by them in that corner three but I thought he caused a lot of those problems. So felt like you know, you can say against a lot of things but was thankful Warren was out there competing and felt like he gave us the best chance to win."
On final possession:
"Yeah, I mean, I we had Chance at the top of the key, Pop going right and Kerwin in the right corner and then Warren and Darrion ran in to rebound and Warren had Aziz (Bandaogo) pushed underneath the basket at an angle to go rebound it. Chance followed going right, Darrion went baseline so all three of them were inside when the ball bounced over their head. And so they're on the backside and I think at that time, you've got to foul right away. And I think they were waiting to see like, you know, is that, you know, is that going to be it for us? Instead of fouling, he got away from them really quickly and they just walk in through that and making sure we don't make that mistake. And sometimes you're not aware of the clock. I thought in that situation, maybe they thought there was somebody else coming down that was gonna foul and they just we didn't take the opportunity to do it at that moment. Now we'll all have to look at it clearer but the way we drew it up, that was kind of the angle. We should foul right away. And we'll we need to work on that. Make sure that we because you could you could put yourself in position to win the game if you fall foul. Right away."
