Wes Miller UCF Postgame 68-57 Bearcats
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00:00 Needless to say, I think I was really pleased
00:05 with how we started the game.
00:06 I was really proud.
00:07 We've been -- and I'm not complaining
00:10 because Johnny's got two starters out tonight,
00:13 but we've been really sick over the last --
00:16 all of us, coaches, players, over the last week and a half,
00:22 and it bubbled up so much over the last week.
00:25 We've barely been able to practice.
00:28 And I thought Vic --
00:29 Vic tried to practice through it yesterday,
00:32 tried -- he went through shoot-around today,
00:34 and he tried to give it a go. He just couldn't do it.
00:35 And I was really proud of him for just trying.
00:37 That meant a lot to me that he even tried
00:39 because he's pretty down and out
00:42 with whatever illness is going around the team.
00:44 So, you know --
00:50 Sorry, I lost train of thought there for a second.
00:51 But we came out and I thought played great.
00:55 We subbed, and I'm not blaming it on the substitutions,
00:59 but we played really poorly from there on out in the first half.
01:01 I was really disappointed
01:04 in our transition defense and communication.
01:06 I was really, really disappointed
01:08 in our defensive rebounding and just quickness to the ball.
01:12 And, you know, offensively, we started doing the thing.
01:15 We're trying to take on six 11-7 footers that are like turnovers.
01:20 So I was disappointed in a lot of that kind of stuff.
01:23 But obviously, I'm proud of the way we came out
01:25 and battled in the second half.
01:27 You know, they were different
01:28 because they're down two starters,
01:30 so lineups were a little different
01:31 than what we prepared for.
01:33 And I thought, you know,
01:34 we kind of found the right combinations.
01:37 I thought John Newman was an absolute warrior, guys.
01:40 I thought he was a warrior.
01:42 That'll be a game when I tell stories about John Newman
01:46 years and years from now, which I will,
01:48 that'll be one of the games that I'll talk about.
01:50 And I could not be more proud of Odi Oguama.
01:54 I mean, all he's done is just --
01:57 He hadn't been playing in the games.
01:58 At one point, he was starting.
02:00 And all he's done is just come in the gym every day,
02:02 have a great attitude and keep working.
02:04 And I thought his minutes and ability to kind of match up
02:07 when they went small with Selah at the five
02:09 were really important to us having success tonight.
02:13 How much does this -- watching John,
02:15 knowing John was, you know, a young teenager,
02:20 seeing him go through everything that he went through,
02:22 and now having the success he's having as a six-year guy
02:25 that stuck it out as a coach, why you do it
02:29 when you see him do what he's done so far this year?
02:32 Absolutely. I mean, I --
02:34 You know, I got into coaching,
02:39 or I really fell in love with coaching.
02:42 The competitiveness, for sure, and the high stakes,
02:46 in some crazy way, I like that.
02:48 But the part that I've really come to love
02:50 is the relationship with the kids.
02:51 Like you said, I've known John since he was in seventh grade.
02:54 Known his family, you know, know his friends.
02:57 I mean, I know John really,
02:59 really well for most of his life,
03:01 and so to kind of see everything he's been through
03:03 and what he's doing for our program now, it is neat.
03:06 But we'll do all the reflecting when the season's over.
03:10 We got a lot of basketball left to play.
03:11 But, yeah, that is one of the neat parts of coaching.
03:14 Coach Stark.
03:17 [inaudible]
03:26 I'm glad Johnny said that.
03:28 Guys, I think the world of Johnny Dawkins.
03:31 I think he's a terrific coach and a terrific human being.
03:34 And, yeah, he's a Duke guy, right?
03:36 I mean, gosh, that takes a lot for me to say that.
03:39 But he was an assistant at Duke when I was playing.
03:42 I think the world of him.
03:43 I just think he's a terrific guy.
03:46 But I love that comment because we live in this now,
03:51 now, now era, and Dan, give Dan credit,
03:55 give the people around Dan credit.
03:57 You know, he's got the right mentality.
04:01 He hasn't ever expected anything.
04:03 He comes into work every day when it hasn't gone his way.
04:07 He doesn't have people around him
04:08 trying to pull him out of Cincinnati.
04:10 And I think you're seeing that natural progression
04:12 that we all need in anything
04:14 when you're trying to become good is a process.
04:16 And he's still in the middle of the process.
04:18 Like, I think if there's one thing I could say about Daniel
04:20 is he's playing better and better and he's having success.
04:24 I don't think he's even scratching the surface.
04:26 He's got so much better basketball in him
04:29 than we're even seeing.
04:30 But I am proud of the way he's starting to develop.
04:33 How does the only court team play?
04:39 How big of a team is it?
04:42 Our defense is a massive deal to me,
04:44 our defense and our defensive rebounding,
04:46 which I do think we've really improved defensively
04:50 over the last month steadily.
04:53 And we've had stretches we haven't been good,
04:54 but, I mean, we've become a better defensive team.
04:58 Our defensive rebound and offensive rebound,
05:00 and I've been disappointed over the last couple weeks.
05:02 Like, that has to be a strength,
05:04 and it hasn't always felt that way every league game.
05:08 And so in the second half, yes,
05:10 I'm glad that we guarded consistently
05:13 and at a higher level for 20 minutes.
05:15 But I was even more pleased that when we got in the midst
05:18 that we really -- especially with the small lineup.
05:20 Like, we rebounded the ball with a small lineup,
05:23 which takes gang rebounding
05:24 and everybody doing their job a little better.
05:26 Now, Vic, Aziz, you know, Jameel,
05:29 those guys are great rebounders.
05:31 And, you know, Dan's a really good natural rebounder.
05:35 But when you play small, it's not quite the same.
05:37 And I thought our guys did a really nice job
05:39 pursuing the ball in those small lineups.
05:41 Ryan, you asked you guys how it went.
05:43 How was Avery recruiting technique for the adjustment?
05:49 I don't think we made a ton of defensive adjustments.
05:53 Again, guys, I think if you look at the first half,
05:56 in the half court, we were pretty good, okay?
05:59 I mean, we came out and thought we were great to start the game.
06:02 But we were pretty good in our half-court defense.
06:04 They made a couple really tough shots early over the top
06:07 after we got out to a lead.
06:09 We were terrible in transition, okay?
06:12 And some of that's bad decisions.
06:13 But we were terrible in transition,
06:15 and we were terrible on the defensive board.
06:17 And then Aziz gives up nine points
06:20 trying to get out there on the perimeter, which he can do.
06:23 We just got to work at it a little bit more.
06:24 He's going to be capable of guarding anybody.
06:26 But he gets up, you know, three threes.
06:28 I think Avery got one. I think he fouled Seeler.
06:30 Maybe Avery got two. But he gives up nine points,
06:33 two threes, and one foul on a three-point shooter.
06:36 So if you take out transition, you take out the offensive boards,
06:40 and you take out those three --
06:41 those nine points when Aziz was cross-matched,
06:45 I mean, our defense in the half court wasn't the problem.
06:49 And so I think in the second half,
06:50 we didn't give up the transition baskets.
06:53 We had better match-ups out there.
06:54 I thought we did a better job
06:55 of figuring out the right combinations.
06:57 And then I thought we did a better job
06:59 on the defensive blast.
07:00 But just kind of the half-court principles
07:01 or the scouting report didn't change a whole lot.
07:04 Do you appreciate your ability to come back and get like this,
07:07 or are you also aggravated?
07:09 [Indistinct]
07:13 Scott, that's one of your better questions there.
07:15 I have no idea.
07:17 I'm -- I'm obviously pleased that our guys dug in
07:22 and found a way to win.
07:24 I'm pleased with that, right?
07:26 I think the quality of just digging and figuring it out
07:30 and finding a way and staying together,
07:33 that's more important than anything X and O-wise.
07:35 Like, teams that have that are successful.
07:38 And, you know, we're showing some resilience
07:41 over the last two or three weeks.
07:42 We got to keep growing there.
07:43 But I'm pleased with that quality.
07:47 I don't like ever being down 12 in a league game.
07:49 Gosh, I don't like that.
07:50 But I'm -- I'm pleased with the way we responded.
07:52 So you probably thought about it more deeply than me.
07:55 When I'm grading the tape here in an hour or so,
07:58 and I get done with you guys,
08:00 when I'm watching that stretch after the first four minutes,
08:04 so from the 16-minute mark to the end of the second half,
08:07 I'm going to be in a bad mood.
08:08 And then when I watch the second half,
08:09 I'll probably be in a better mood.
08:11 So you were able to hold you in the game.
08:14 [Indistinct]
08:22 Well, I actually thought our ability to get fouled tonight
08:25 was a factor in the game.
08:27 You know, and, again, they're playing small.
08:29 They haven't played him at the five.
08:30 I'm not Diallo. I was thinking of Sela.
08:34 They're playing small with Sela
08:36 because of Diallo's foul trouble, you know.
08:40 And so, again, getting the ball inside,
08:43 putting pressure on the rim, getting it in the post,
08:45 which we did a little bit early in the second half,
08:47 puts fouls on guys,
08:49 and I thought that had a positive impact on the game.
08:50 We're in the one-on-one really early in the second half.
08:54 Again, I mean, gosh, some of the free-throw shooting,
08:57 oh, my gosh, but we stepped up and made some,
09:00 and they mattered.
09:02 [Indistinct]
09:04 John talked about covering down Sela.
09:11 What does it say?
09:12 You guys showed me a better perimeter defender
09:19 in college basketball, John.
09:22 I'm sure there's some other great guys out there
09:24 that deserve a lot of credit and recognition,
09:27 but you can't tell me there's somebody out there
09:28 that's any better than John Neum.
09:30 He's phenomenal,
09:32 and he's also been a pretty dang good
09:34 offensive player recently, too.
09:36 I thought he pressed a little bit there,
09:38 trying to get us back in it in the last 10 minutes
09:40 of the second half, but outside of that,
09:42 he's been pretty dang good on offense, too, guys,
09:43 but I think he's one of the best perimeter defenders
09:45 we have in college basketball, and I appreciate you guys
09:49 because I think he deserves some recognition there.
09:51 Coach, can I mention that you were...
09:54 [Indistinct]
09:56 I just think that it's every night in this league.
10:08 It's every single night,
10:10 and you got to find ways to win games,
10:12 and you can't be looking ahead.
10:13 You can't be looking backwards.
10:14 You got to find ways, and, you know,
10:17 certainly we're disappointed about the last two results,
10:20 and you can't dwell on that, but they're young people, guys.
10:23 They're going to dwell. It's human nature.
10:25 So to figure out a way to get a win tonight,
10:27 I think it's good for this group,
10:29 and as I told them in the locker room,
10:31 I want them to be happy about the win
10:33 and enjoy the win for a couple hours,
10:36 but we can't celebrate the win
10:38 because we got another big one coming.
10:39 I didn't know who the heck we had next.
10:40 That's how this league is.
10:41 It's going to be somebody dang good
10:43 and a tough place to play,
10:44 which is the truth with West Virginia,
10:46 but we can't celebrate now
10:47 because we got to get ready for the next one,
10:50 and that's, I think, the teams in this league
10:52 that are going to have success at the end of the year
10:54 are just going to take it one day at a time.
10:56 So if you have one of the better three-point shooters,
10:57 you can keep them at 25% of their entry top of play,
11:00 and you're below 30% of your top of play
11:02 for your 14th night.
11:03 Has there been any glaring issue on film,
11:06 or is it just some of those open shots
11:08 are not going down and it's hurting them?
11:10 Well, I think it's a number of things.
11:12 You know, first off, C.J. Frederick
11:14 is a pretty dang good three-point shooter.
11:16 He's played as much basketball over the last month as I have,
11:19 okay, so that's going to impact him.
11:22 Your best three-point shooter and your best three-point threat
11:25 isn't -- and your, honestly, best offensive player
11:28 isn't on the court.
11:30 That's going to change things for the team a little bit.
11:32 The second thing is, you know, coming in tonight,
11:35 Central Florida is the sixth-ranked defense
11:37 and defensive efficiency in America,
11:40 and they're only third in the Big 12.
11:43 I mean, that's pretty funny if you think about it.
11:45 They're sixth in the whole country,
11:46 but they're only third in the Big 12.
11:48 So you're also playing against some great defensive teams,
11:52 and the level of competition is just different,
11:55 so that's going to have some impact.
11:56 And then the last thing is, we're missing some good shots
12:00 and shots that, you know,
12:01 I think we can expect to make over time,
12:04 and we've just had some of that.
12:06 Guys, our best basketball, this team's best basketball
12:09 has a chance to be moving forward.
12:11 Well, I don't think we've scratched the surface
12:13 of what we're capable of. We haven't been healthy yet.
12:16 We haven't got to work consistently in practice
12:19 with the way that we're trying to play
12:21 from a lineup perspective.
12:23 We've been kind of just surviving here for a long time.
12:25 I think as we start figuring out how to get healthy
12:27 and get more time together, we'll start playing better.
12:30 I think our best basketball has a chance
12:32 to be way ahead of us moving forward.
12:35 Thank you.
12:36 - Good.
12:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]