November 20, 2025 • 11 mins
Tony talks with UC Basketball coach Wes Miller on ESPN 1530!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome back, since he three to sixty. We're rolling along
in the third and final hour of the Thursday afternoon
edition here on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's
keep the Bearcat conversation going. Let's talk about the Hoops Classic.
It happens at Heritage Bank Arena Friday night tomorrow night.
A big time matchup, one of college basketballs. I think
(00:27):
you could say contenders to cut down the nets right
now in Louisville, coming up here to take on West
Miller in the Cincinnati Bearcats team. A huge season ahead
for the Bearcats and a huge test tomorrow night. Let's
spend some time with the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats,
Wes Miller. Coach, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm doing great, Tony, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You've You've had a chance to watch this Louisville team,
and I wanted to get into your team in just
a second. It's obviously a team that's scoring a lot
of points, and they can come at you in a
lot of different ways, a lot of assists numbers, a
lot of players that can hit you on different levels.
What stands out the most about watching this Louisville squad.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
The depth, the depth.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You know, they're playing eleven and and they're they're grad
at every position, but the guard play right there's there's
there's four guys uh and they play five guards. But
there's four guys that would be the number one option
on any perimeter team in America, and they're all on
Louisville's team. So give those guys a lot of credit
(01:28):
for putting that group together. And because of that, you
get a lot of you mentioned playmaking, but there's a
ton of shooting on the floor. And they played four games.
Three of the four games they've gotten to one hundred,
I think the the one they did in there in
the nineties against Kentucky and and so certainly they're just
a they're a prolific offensive team. And and it's not
(01:49):
as if they're not doing things on the defensive end
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
For you guys, the the early results this year, I've
watched uh and and been at the games. Dayton is
a tough game. We've talked about the turnovers, but the
style in which you guys play that that's going to
be a little bit of the cause of that at times.
But I watched Dayton go on the road and beat Marquette.
Last night, I watched a team in Mount Saint Mary's.
You guys just played go on the road and take
(02:14):
Maryland overtime. You guys have been tested. You guys have
played some good teams early in this non conference late.
What have you learned the most about your team?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I think, Tony, we're learning a lot every time we
take the floor. You know, certainly we have the summer, now,
we have the fall in the preseason that we've made
the most of our practices, but you learn a lot
more when you play against a different opponent. I thought
the exhibitions were very important for us, but early in
(02:46):
the year, whether it's making sure we're figuring out the
right combinations, the rotations, getting guys.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Into the correct roles.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
We're learning every game every week right now, and I'd
say eighty percent of college basketballs in that boat right
with all the moving around year year to year that's
going on in our sport.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So there's a ton of learning going on.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Listen, We've we've had some high turnover games, We've had
some games we haven't right, So obviously that's something that
we're not going to be successful the way that we
want to be if we're throwing the ball over the gym.
But we we do think that we can be a
great team and transition offense, that we can put pressure
on the other team every night all year, and we
(03:34):
got to get to a point where there's never a
high turnover game. But there's gonna be some growing things there.
I think if we're if we're consistent, if we stay
the course, we don't overreact on some bad stretches in
January and February and March, that can be a real
calling card of this team. So yeah, there's some things
to correct that we're learning every night. Some things we've
(03:55):
been trying to correct from day one. I've said it,
this is not anything about the game tomorrow night. Our
best basketball be played in January, February, March if we
continue to do the right things every day, and I'm
committed to that. All that said, I want to play
a great basketball game tomorrow night, and when Louisville comes
here to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Talking about Louisville coming up to Cincinnati, they're coming to
the Heritage Bank Center. Tickets still available to come down.
This game in itself, I know the comments yesterday, and
every team would obviously like to play it in your
whole arena, but you get a chance to go to
Heritage Bank Arena, and the little basketball I played, I
always remember arenas like this. You think of things like
(04:34):
the debt perception, and you think of how it's different
than just maybe your everyday gym, And is there a
positive to playing in an arena like this if the
ultimate goal is March Madness and playing in bigger venues,
does this help along the road for what you want
to get to later?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well, the way I look at it is this, we're
playing against you said, a team that is thought of
a is a team that could cut down nets at
the end of the season in the NCAA tournament. We're
playing them here in our city, in our backyard. I'd
be excited to have that opportunity if we had to
(05:13):
go play the game in the parking lot, you.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Know, that's just what it is.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So the fact that we get the opportunity to play
against a team that's ranked top ten in the country
in our backyard, here in Cincinnati, in front of our fans,
I think that's where my focus is, and that's an
exciting opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I look at your team and the offense and the
way you guys push the ball and can score in
a wave of different opportunities. That is exciting to me.
But I look at this team and growing up, you
see has always been that tough, blue collar. You know
you're going to be in a dogfight, and you know
you're going to get the best defensive performance a team
(05:54):
can throw out there early in the season. You guys,
according to Ken Palm, are very highly rated on the
defensive side of the ball. What has been some of
the early success you've found with the way this roster
has been constructed that you've been able to find success
on defense.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, and I think we have a long way to
go defensively, Tony, you know, a long long way to go.
But that said, I think we have rim protection with
Mustafa and Baba. You know, those guys can block shots,
they can alter shots, they can cover grounds in ways
that a lot of guys that are said six.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Eleven and seven two can't.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I think the front court guys that maybe don't have
that kind of length in shot blocking, like a Tyler McKinley,
they have rim protection and presence with how they rotate
in the physicality that they play with. I think we
have some toughness on the perimeter. They can defend the ball,
they can cover grounds, and guys like Dada Thomas and
(06:57):
Cincire Harris and others. They kind of goes back to
what you were saying, kind of the roots of what
makes Cincinnati Cincinnati is a certain mindset and approach. I
think we have some guys to do that. Jalen Haynes
was a guy they kind of brought that type of
approach that unfortunately lost. But no, I think this team
has the ability to be a very good defensive team.
(07:18):
I'm not worre I want to be there yet, but
I'm committed to get our team there, and I think
these guys have the right mindset, at least to this point,
to work at it every day.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You mentioned playing your best basketball January February March. It's
a unique time in college sports and the roster construction.
You've got leaders who have been in this program, You've
got transfers, You've obviously got highly touted freshmen that have
come in as well. That process of just being able
to rely on a guy like Dayda A. Thomas. How
important is that when you've got this melting pot of
(07:52):
different players all coming together.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
He's been like, honestly, Tony, I don't have like a
the appropriate words here in an interview to describe his value,
So I'll just say his value is beyond description, because
like he gets he gets what playing at Cincinnati's about,
(08:16):
Like he understands the expectation, the standard. He represents what
it's about in the way that he goes about his
business every day. And now he's evolved as a young
person to have some natural leadership qualities. He always led
by example, but now he's willing to kind of step
into that role more willingly, more naturally.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So there's and then there's other things, right, but.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Having just he knows our principles, he knows the things
that we do, he knows how we practice every day,
and then he's able to kind of lead the guys
in those ways. So his value is beyond measure. I've
said he's worth more than one returner, and you know,
you could have five returners, but one day they might
be worth five, and that type of thing. And like
(09:00):
you said, there's challenges, but I think the vast majority
of college basketball faces those challenges and you just adapt
and you keep rolling, and that that's our job.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Lastly, there are folks obviously that that are still on
the fence or maybe that are thinking about going to
the game. And obviously if if you want to go
and find tickets, there's different avenues to go find tickets.
How how would you describe if someone is on the
fence or wanting to go? How important is it to
have a Cincinnati crowd in a game like this against
(09:30):
an opponent like Louisville And what can fans expect to
see from your squad tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's very important to us, Tony certainly, you know, I
want our fans to feel like it's an affordable there.
I heard yesterday of the Planet Fitness had a code
that you could type it on ticket Master Planet fifty,
I think, which gets.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You half off the tickets.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I'm not on social media, don't even have it on
my phone and at the moment, so I don't know
if that's all. I'm not the right guy to be
uh pushing that out there, but assuming that the word
of mouth is accurate, I hope that makes it affordable
for people. Certainly, we love our fans support. We know
we'll have great fans support. But the more the merrier,
(10:18):
we appreciate that what our guys are, uh, they're gonna
they're they're learning what it means to put the Bearcat
uniform on again. Guys like Day Day help help help
that process. But they're gonna go out there and play
their butts off tomorrow night. Again, We're gonna keep getting
better and better as the year goes on. I hope
we played great basketball, but we're gonna go play Cincinnati
(10:39):
basketball in terms of the effort that we play with.
And again, we'd love to see our fans out there.
So thanks for the opportunity to get get on here
on the radio, and I'm gonna get back to focusing
on the game.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I hear you, coach, Thank you so much for your time.
Good luck tomorrow night, and we look forward to catching
up again soon.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Thanks Tony.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That is the head basketball coach of the Cincinnati bear
that's Wes Miller giving us some of his time today.
Awesome stuff and a very big time exciting matchup coming
to Heritage Bank Arena with Louisville and UC tomorrow night.
We'll roll along Hour three next ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports station.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
WCKWY, Cincinnati. Make us the number one pre set on
your car radio and on the free new and improved
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Free never sounded so good.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
ESPN fifteen thirty from the Any Weather, Heating and dared
Temstar Weathers Center, here's your forecast.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
This report is sponsored by chumboo Casino dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Hey's Ronning Seacrest here and I have discovered
In fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome back, since he three to sixty. We're rolling along
in the third and final hour of the Thursday afternoon
edition here on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's
keep the Bearcat conversation going. Let's talk about the Hoops Classic.
It happens at Heritage Bank Arena Friday night tomorrow night.
A big time matchup, one of college basketballs. I think
(00:27):
you could say contenders to cut down the nets right
now in Louisville, coming up here to take on West
Miller in the Cincinnati Bearcats team. A huge season ahead
for the Bearcats and a huge test tomorrow night. Let's
spend some time with the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats,
Wes Miller. Coach, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I'm doing great, Tony, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
You've You've had a chance to watch this Louisville team,
and I wanted to get into your team in just
a second. It's obviously a team that's scoring a lot
of points, and they can come at you in a
lot of different ways, a lot of assists numbers, a
lot of players that can hit you on different levels.
What stands out the most about watching this Louisville squad.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
The depth, the depth.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You know, they're playing eleven and and they're they're grad
at every position, but the guard play right there's there's
there's four guys uh and they play five guards. But
there's four guys that would be the number one option
on any perimeter team in America, and they're all on
Louisville's team. So give those guys a lot of credit
(01:28):
for putting that group together. And because of that, you
get a lot of you mentioned playmaking, but there's a
ton of shooting on the floor. And they played four games.
Three of the four games they've gotten to one hundred,
I think the the one they did in there in
the nineties against Kentucky and and so certainly they're just
a they're a prolific offensive team. And and it's not
(01:49):
as if they're not doing things on the defensive end
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
For you guys, the the early results this year, I've
watched uh and and been at the games. Dayton is
a tough game. We've talked about the turnovers, but the
style in which you guys play that that's going to
be a little bit of the cause of that at times.
But I watched Dayton go on the road and beat Marquette.
Last night, I watched a team in Mount Saint Mary's.
You guys just played go on the road and take
(02:14):
Maryland overtime. You guys have been tested. You guys have
played some good teams early in this non conference late.
What have you learned the most about your team?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I think, Tony, we're learning a lot every time we
take the floor. You know, certainly we have the summer, now,
we have the fall in the preseason that we've made
the most of our practices, but you learn a lot
more when you play against a different opponent. I thought
the exhibitions were very important for us, but early in
(02:46):
the year, whether it's making sure we're figuring out the
right combinations, the rotations, getting guys.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Into the correct roles.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
We're learning every game every week right now, and I'd
say eighty percent of college basketballs in that boat right
with all the moving around year year to year that's
going on in our sport.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So there's a ton of learning going on.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Listen, We've we've had some high turnover games, We've had
some games we haven't right, So obviously that's something that
we're not going to be successful the way that we
want to be if we're throwing the ball over the gym.
But we we do think that we can be a
great team and transition offense, that we can put pressure
on the other team every night all year, and we
(03:34):
got to get to a point where there's never a
high turnover game. But there's gonna be some growing things there.
I think if we're if we're consistent, if we stay
the course, we don't overreact on some bad stretches in
January and February and March, that can be a real
calling card of this team. So yeah, there's some things
to correct that we're learning every night. Some things we've
(03:55):
been trying to correct from day one. I've said it,
this is not anything about the game tomorrow night. Our
best basketball be played in January, February, March if we
continue to do the right things every day, and I'm
committed to that. All that said, I want to play
a great basketball game tomorrow night, and when Louisville comes
here to Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Talking about Louisville coming up to Cincinnati, they're coming to
the Heritage Bank Center. Tickets still available to come down.
This game in itself, I know the comments yesterday, and
every team would obviously like to play it in your
whole arena, but you get a chance to go to
Heritage Bank Arena, and the little basketball I played, I
always remember arenas like this. You think of things like
(04:34):
the debt perception, and you think of how it's different
than just maybe your everyday gym, And is there a
positive to playing in an arena like this if the
ultimate goal is March Madness and playing in bigger venues,
does this help along the road for what you want
to get to later?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Well, the way I look at it is this, we're
playing against you said, a team that is thought of
a is a team that could cut down nets at
the end of the season in the NCAA tournament. We're
playing them here in our city, in our backyard. I'd
be excited to have that opportunity if we had to
(05:13):
go play the game in the parking lot, you.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Know, that's just what it is.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So the fact that we get the opportunity to play
against a team that's ranked top ten in the country
in our backyard, here in Cincinnati, in front of our fans,
I think that's where my focus is, and that's an
exciting opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I look at your team and the offense and the
way you guys push the ball and can score in
a wave of different opportunities. That is exciting to me.
But I look at this team and growing up, you
see has always been that tough, blue collar. You know
you're going to be in a dogfight, and you know
you're going to get the best defensive performance a team
(05:54):
can throw out there early in the season. You guys,
according to Ken Palm, are very highly rated on the
defensive side of the ball. What has been some of
the early success you've found with the way this roster
has been constructed that you've been able to find success
on defense.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, and I think we have a long way to
go defensively, Tony, you know, a long long way to go.
But that said, I think we have rim protection with
Mustafa and Baba. You know, those guys can block shots,
they can alter shots, they can cover grounds in ways
that a lot of guys that are said six.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Eleven and seven two can't.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
I think the front court guys that maybe don't have
that kind of length in shot blocking, like a Tyler McKinley,
they have rim protection and presence with how they rotate
in the physicality that they play with. I think we
have some toughness on the perimeter. They can defend the ball,
they can cover grounds, and guys like Dada Thomas and
(06:57):
Cincire Harris and others. They kind of goes back to
what you were saying, kind of the roots of what
makes Cincinnati Cincinnati is a certain mindset and approach. I
think we have some guys to do that. Jalen Haynes
was a guy they kind of brought that type of
approach that unfortunately lost. But no, I think this team
has the ability to be a very good defensive team.
(07:18):
I'm not worre I want to be there yet, but
I'm committed to get our team there, and I think
these guys have the right mindset, at least to this point,
to work at it every day.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
You mentioned playing your best basketball January February March. It's
a unique time in college sports and the roster construction.
You've got leaders who have been in this program, You've
got transfers, You've obviously got highly touted freshmen that have
come in as well. That process of just being able
to rely on a guy like Dayda A. Thomas. How
important is that when you've got this melting pot of
(07:52):
different players all coming together.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
He's been like, honestly, Tony, I don't have like a
the appropriate words here in an interview to describe his value,
So I'll just say his value is beyond description, because
like he gets he gets what playing at Cincinnati's about,
(08:16):
Like he understands the expectation, the standard. He represents what
it's about in the way that he goes about his
business every day. And now he's evolved as a young
person to have some natural leadership qualities. He always led
by example, but now he's willing to kind of step
into that role more willingly, more naturally.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
So there's and then there's other things, right, but.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Having just he knows our principles, he knows the things
that we do, he knows how we practice every day,
and then he's able to kind of lead the guys
in those ways. So his value is beyond measure. I've
said he's worth more than one returner, and you know,
you could have five returners, but one day they might
be worth five, and that type of thing. And like
(09:00):
you said, there's challenges, but I think the vast majority
of college basketball faces those challenges and you just adapt
and you keep rolling, and that that's our job.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Lastly, there are folks obviously that that are still on
the fence or maybe that are thinking about going to
the game. And obviously if if you want to go
and find tickets, there's different avenues to go find tickets.
How how would you describe if someone is on the
fence or wanting to go? How important is it to
have a Cincinnati crowd in a game like this against
(09:30):
an opponent like Louisville And what can fans expect to
see from your squad tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It's very important to us, Tony certainly, you know, I
want our fans to feel like it's an affordable there.
I heard yesterday of the Planet Fitness had a code
that you could type it on ticket Master Planet fifty,
I think, which gets.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
You half off the tickets.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
I'm not on social media, don't even have it on
my phone and at the moment, so I don't know
if that's all. I'm not the right guy to be
uh pushing that out there, but assuming that the word
of mouth is accurate, I hope that makes it affordable
for people. Certainly, we love our fans support. We know
we'll have great fans support. But the more the merrier,
(10:18):
we appreciate that what our guys are, uh, they're gonna
they're they're learning what it means to put the Bearcat
uniform on again. Guys like Day Day help help help
that process. But they're gonna go out there and play
their butts off tomorrow night. Again, We're gonna keep getting
better and better as the year goes on. I hope
we played great basketball, but we're gonna go play Cincinnati
(10:39):
basketball in terms of the effort that we play with.
And again, we'd love to see our fans out there.
So thanks for the opportunity to get get on here
on the radio, and I'm gonna get back to focusing
on the game.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I hear you, coach, Thank you so much for your time.
Good luck tomorrow night, and we look forward to catching
up again soon.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Thanks Tony.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
That is the head basketball coach of the Cincinnati bear
that's Wes Miller giving us some of his time today.
Awesome stuff and a very big time exciting matchup coming
to Heritage Bank Arena with Louisville and UC tomorrow night.
We'll roll along Hour three next ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports station.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
WCKWY, Cincinnati. Make us the number one pre set on
your car radio and on the free new and improved
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Free never sounded so good.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
ESPN fifteen thirty from the Any Weather, Heating and dared
Temstar Weathers Center, here's your forecast.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
This report is sponsored by chumboo Casino dot com.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Hey's Ronning Seacrest here and I have discovered
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