Villanova 12/3 6:30 FS1

[Bearcat93]

Aziz just isn’t a big, only tall. A shot blocker for the most part, but not any kind of force in the paint. My feeling is Paige needs time, he’s pretty inconsistent at this point. I expect this to be a continued area of weakness for us. Did our strength guy change over the last few years?

[Bearcat9796]

late to the comments cuz had to watch it late

1. without dan , can't have simas and jj on bench at same time, we had lineups with no go to guy too much

2. took Wes too long to realize that AZIz was useless tonight

3. they shot well, we didn't

[leeraymond]

I was at the game & we were never in it. Our bigs were nonexistent.
very disappointing performance 🥲

You are correct. UC did NOT get enough from the bigs tonight. In 37 combined minutes between Aziz and Page, they scored a total of 3 points, 7 rebounds, no block shots, and 2 steals. I wonder what Lakhin did tonight in Clemson's win over Kentucky. Back to UC. Is it me, or does it appear that every big man that Miller has brought into the program has kind of been a let-down? For some reason, the big men that Miller has brought into the program are not productive in his offenses. I find that strange.

[leeraymond]

We lost this game at the rim. Only converted 8 of 15 there (barely 50%). And we let their best player get to the rim 7 times. Neither of those can happen against good teams.

Jizzle was our best player with 4.9 net points. Luckily he was hitting from midrange, converting 5 of 10. This could have been really ugly otherwise. Mitchell also had a nice game, leading with a 6.2 defensive BPM.

Hickman, Aziz, and Page all had negative net points. We were getting abused at the rim, and the stats show it. Our 8 point deficit at the free throw line accounted for the entire margin of victory.

Brickus was the best player on the court tonight, putting up 5.6 net points, scoring an efficient 11 points from the field on only 8 shots and adding 9 assists with zero turnovers.

Yeah, you are correct. The shots made by both teams are even. The only difference is the free throws made; 6 to 14

[leeraymond]

Here is something that has bothered me since last season. Going back to last season, Cincinnati has been on national television during the regular season 9 times (including last night's game). Cincinnati has lost 8 of the 9 games. The only win came at BYU last January. Cincinnati has lost 8 consecutive regular season nationally televised games. All of the games have been against high-major teams (I am including Dayton as a high major team because of the competitive strength of their non-conference schedule). Why can't Miller win some of these games? He has been coaching a long time and does not have a formula for winning. Some coaches win with offense. Some coaches win with defense and rebounding. What is Miller's formula for winning? Does he have one?

The next big games on the schedule are Xavier and Dayton. Both have big men that WILL GIVE UC problems. Dayton has Zed Key and a 7'1" forward that can shoot the three. Xavier has Freemantle.

The Villanova loss is one loss and was on the road. I do not think that game will hurt a lot. It is the two games with Xavier and Dayton that I am concerned with. Both teams have good big men surrounded by numerous guys that can really score. I have seen both Xavier and Dayton. Based on what I saw last night against VU, I am concerned with this UC team. They are NOT tough and rough enough, especially in the paint. The Xavier game is at Fifth Third (home) and the Dayton game is in downtown Cincinnati. If UC loses both of those games, what will that tell us about the state of the program and Miller's coaching? We will see.

[leo from jersey]

I'm tired of hearing about a floor leader. Of course every team aspires to that. We just need a team to play as coached to their potential.

I am tired of losing because we don't have a floor leader. Some only see scoring when there is so much more to go into a victory. I understand what you are saying, but there are limitations. You can coach all you want, but if people lack the mental ability to play as they are coached, then you lose.

[Greg7173]

After a dismal football season, I was looking forward to a talented, well coached basketball team. I can only hope this game was an outlier. Sigh.........

[leo from jersey]

The sun came up. First losses are hard to take especially when you played a team that isn't a cupcake. I believe CWM will get into their heads a bit further. I hope to see more team oriented play instead of panic with the ball in hand. My concern besides a true lack of a floor leader is the bigs. I stated it before that the lobs and easy baskets won't work against quality BB players. There has to be some hard work and teamwork. Sure hitting more outside shots will help, but the zone destroyed pick & roll, lobs, entry passes and penetration. The zone can be beaten and CWM was taught by an expert in beating them. I will let this go as a blunt reminder that we are to lean to our coaching in rough times and not our hero ball mentality. I have noticed CWM being more honest and critical this year. The players don't need pampering anymore. We will see how they respond against X. Also, teams now know to trap Thomas as we saw last night. It was utter futility. The team must help him out as he can't beat a trap. You know Sean Miller is licking his chops.

[Lobot]

Screenshot 2024-12-04 at 7.22.42 AM.png

Not sure how legible this is, but this is from the FIeld of 68 newsletter this morning .

[leeraymond]

Last night, Bill Raftery mentioned something he observed about UC basketball that I hope gets Miller's ear. He said that the tempo that VU played at bothered UC. He also said that UC will have to learn how to play basketball more than one way. "Nobody is going to let you run up and down the floor". That is exactly what Miller wants to do. When a team plays another high-level team, the game usually takes the form of a half-court game. I hardly ever see shoot-outs with two high-level teams. Raft also mentioned that this loss was NOT about what the coach will learn, but about what the players will learn. The team saw something different last night and it had problems adjusting to it.

Dixon scored 20 of his 31 points in the 2nd half. Villanova, as a team, scored only 31 points in the 2nd half. Dixon scored 64.5% of VU's points in the 2nd half ALONE. Someone asked this earlier, why did Miller choose to guard Dixon with one man? Miller could have trapped and double-teamed Dixon. Miller could have played Dixon in the Box-and-One (not let Dixon catch or touch the ball). In other words, Miller could have turned the game into a 4-on-4 game and let someone other than Dixon beat you. None of that happened.

In Miller's very first season, UC played Illinois who had a monster big man at that time; Cockburn or something like that. Cockburn hit some shots early under the rim. Miller trapped and double-teamed him the rest of the game for what perhaps has been UC's biggest win under Miller. After that Illinois game, every other big man that has given UC problems, no trapping or double-teams. That same year, Jack Nunge, big man for Xavier, hit for 30 something points. No trapping or double-teams. Sounds familiar?

Lobat mentioned in an early post that the key to the game was to stop Dixon. Miller CHOSE not to. If a player is killing your team, DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT. Nothing was done to stop it and UC lost the game. Cincinnati has now lost so many of these national or high-profile games under Miller that it is hard to keep count. My question now is this, how many different ways can Cincinnati lose these types of game before it learns how to win some?

[leo from jersey]

Last night, Bill Raftery mentioned something he observed about UC basketball that I hope gets Miller's ear. He said that the tempo that VU played at bothered UC. He also said that UC will have to learn how to play basketball more than one way. "Nobody is going to let you run up and down the floor". That is exactly what Miller wants to do. When a team plays another high-level team, the game usually takes form as a half-court game. I hardly ever see shoot-outs with two high-level teams. Raft also mentioned that this loss was NOT about what the coach will learn, but about what the players will learn. The team saw something last night and it had problems adjusting to it.

Dixon scored 20 of his 31 points in the 2nd half. Villanova, as a team, scored only 31 points in the 2nd half. Dixon scored 64.5% of VU's points in the 2nd half ALONE. Someone asked this earlier, why did Miller choose to guard Dixon with one man? Miller could have trapped and double-teamed Dixon. Miller could have played Dixon in the Box-and-One (not let Dixon catch or touch the ball). In other words, Miller could have turned the game into a 4-on-4 game and let someone other than Dixon beat you. None of that happened.

In Miller's very first season, UC played Illinois who had a monster big man at that time; Cockburn or something like that. Cockburn hit some shots early under the rim. Miller trapped and double-teamed him the rest of the game for what perhaps has been UC's biggest win under Miller. After that Illinois game, every other big man that has given UC problems, no trapping or double-teams. That same year, Jack Nunge, big man for Xavier, hit for 30 something points. No trapping or double-teams. Sounds familiar?

Lobat mentioned in an early post that the key to the game was to stop Dixon. Miller CHOSE not to. If a player is killing your team, DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT. Nothing was done to stop it and UC lost the game. Cincinnati has now lost so many of these national or high-profile games under Miller that it is hard to keep count. My question now is this, how many ways can Cincinnati lose these types of game before it learns how to win some?

Darn good question. Who do you suppose we use - Aziz froze-- Page tried some -- do you think Dan S. is up for it. Mitchell likes offense.

[BearKatz]

Bottom line, the TEAM needs to figure how to stop more imposing low post players within 5ft of the basket! Right now, with injuries UC does not have anyone. Page was our best option last night, but he's young and still learning.

Had Skillings been healthy I guarantee he would have been all over Dixon. McKinley would be our next option of someone similar in build who could have muscled Dixon away from the basket. Forcing him to take shots he didn't want! Aziz is NOT going to be a factor against that type of player this year, or probably any year! He's basically a tall (4) who can block shots! Against lesser opossition, he fairs well!

This TEAM is going to deal with a similar player in Freemantle, who is going to impose his will around the basket! Wes has till Dec14th to figure it out. If Skillings is not available, it's going to be a long night!

[Lobot]

Just in looking at the box score, everything in this game was about even except for our FG shooting percentage and the foul differential. We also made the exact same of amount of FGs but UC took 13 more shots to get there.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401715619

[Greg7173]

Wondering how long our less than stellar free throw shooting will continue to cost us games before the coaching staff spends more time on fixing it. Assuming the mechanics of the shot are OK, the cure would be repetition in practice - IMHO.

[Gmann]

I like what Miller is doing to build the program from a recruiting standpoint but I always have the same sinking feeling when we face better teams. BTW Villanova is not a good team. In these games the guys mostly seem rattled, miss shots (FT's & 3's mosthly), and don't adjust to what the other team is doing. I did think James and Reed were the only ones that played physical enough to compete in that game. The rest, especially Bigs, just got shoved around.

I remain hopeful and I agree with many in the thread that the Xavier and Dayton will tell us a lot about how the season will go even with all this talent.