KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cincinnati coach Wes Miller had no idea who he was watching early on against Illinois on Monday night.
www.stltoday.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cincinnati coach Wes Miller had no idea who he was watching early on against Illinois on Monday night.
Not because he’s in his first year with the Bearcats, either.
“We weren’t playing our defensive principles. We weren’t alert. We weren’t executing offensively,” Miller said.
It took two media timeouts for the Bearcats to rediscover themselves. And when they did, they mounted a big first-half charge to take a stunning halftime lead, then steadily pulled away from the No. 14 Illini for a 71-51 victory that pushed them into the championship game of the Hall of Fame Classic.
“We got off to a good start, but
give Cincinnati a ton of credit. They played harder than we did, which is very unacceptable for me to stomach,” Illini coach Brad Underwood said. “They were the more physical team.
And I give them a lot of credit.”
The 7-foot, 275-pound center from Jamaica bullied his way to six straight points to open the game, and the Illini raced to a 19-4 lead before the Bearcats seemed to realize the game had tipped off. At one point, Cockburn had outscored Cincinnati 12-8 as the Illini built a 23-8 advantage nearing the midpoint of the first half.
That’s when Miller made a couple of subtle adjustments that got them on track.
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I highlighted 3 things above..........................
I hope I never hear that phrase "" I give ******* a ton of credit "" ever again ....coachspeak.....
Miller made a couple of "" adjustments "".................I'm starting to believe we are slow or hesitant to make adjustments that change the flow of a game.....whatever adjustments made last night or against MU didn't work at all......
Finally , it's bad enough to read the printed recounts of the game last night ...i'm glad it was on ESPNEWS instead of the broader reaching ESPN channels.....
Also , I'm very glad the recruits for 2022 are signed to their NLOI 's.......would hate to get another nutpunch if any had decommited after that fiasco last night......I'm not too amped up about tonights game ....I'll watch but no game thread posting for me....chill out with a 420 and NL # 3 by my side......