AHCP | Huntington Boys Coach Rick Uhrig | 2-7-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, coach, is Shane talking on the other side of
the matchup earlier, and it sounds like you did a
pretty good job of defending the three point line, I know,
and calling that matchup the first time with Zane Trace.
They kind of blitched you with the with the triple
there a bunch of three point shooting early on, and

(00:21):
then you had trouble settling into the matchup. It sounds
like tonight on the defensive end, you're able to take
that away. But obviously Zane Trace a very versatile team
and can come at you in a lot of different ways.
Give me, give me an idea of your perspective of
the game.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, I mean, we played well three and a half,
well over three and a half quarters. We're down two.
It had I believe it was four keen to third
and we were down four with three minutes ago, and
we just made a couple of mistakes late and they
capitalized on them. That gained the game to where it

(00:55):
was more than just a bucket or two and and
that so that changed the strategy of the game. I
do a little bit of substitution, and sometimes that doesn't
work out the way you need it too. But I
thought we played hard tonight. I thought we played well
except finishing the game.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, no question. I mean obviously, you know I've talked
now a couple of weeks in a row. You guys
have been playing some some really good basketball. So I
guess the question I would ask is you get ready
to find out your tournament trail, and you start in
on that preparation. You give me an idea of the mindset.
You feel like this group confidence has to still be
pretty good the way you've gone toe to toe with

(01:33):
some pretty good teams in terms of no matter what
the bracket says, you feel like you're gonna be a
tough out.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know you're exactly right, and that's the only thing
this bunch is lacking is to get that quality quality win.
I mean, we've won gosh don't know, five out of
Howard made the last few games, and we've played everything
tough and we just haven't got over the hump on
that real good team I think we're capable of. And

(02:01):
you know we're gonna have to play somebody good. And
I haven't looked tonight, but we should be like the
fourteen seeds, and if all holds true, we will either
play at Sims Valley or at Lucasville Valley, and you know,
our kids are gaining confidence. I think tonight. I hate
to admit it, but I just think, you know, we

(02:21):
broke our concentration a little bit at the wrong time,
and day Tracy gets took advantage of that. But but
you know we can learn from that. I thought we
executed well tonight at both ends of the floor. And
you know, if you can do that, then you know
you've got a chance with anybody.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
You know, Coach, you're an interesting guy to ask this
because you know you've experienced a lot of different types
of teams, and you've watched a lot of different levels
of rebuilds and programs around our area and so forth.
You know, I look back to last year. I don't
have it in front of me. I want to say
you won six games. That's where you sit now. You've
got two very wulnerable games down the stretch here, so

(02:59):
you can improve on that and go into the tournament
and even win more. But the question I wanted to
ask you was, you know, sports are funny sometimes because
it's it's hard when you look kids in the eye
and you tell them you're getting better. But They need
that feedback, They need that number, that total, so to speak,
talk to the fans about how you're even though you
may only be an eight win team compared to six,

(03:20):
you're a way way better basketball team than a year ago.
And sometimes that's that's hard to convince kids of that,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, you know I talked about that a lot with them,
and you know, and we know that they know they're better.
You know, we're still you know, we have four seniors,
but we're still a relatively young team and we will
be for a couple of years. And uh, you know
one thing, We're stronger this year. We're smarter this year.
Our stamina is a little better this year. And they

(03:50):
know that. You know, we talk after each game and
and before the next games, and you know, you know,
right now we're just talking about enthusiasm and grit. You know,
it's not whether our ready to fold to ten or not,
because we're nowhere near that.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Well, I know in the recent tough loss to good
Nelsonville team who just beat Vinton County by twenty tonight,
so that that obviously is another good team you went
toe to toe with. I know hersh And and Manson
and Beardsley had some nice games in that particular game.
Who played well for you tonight, coach.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, those three. Actually, we've got guys that aren't scoring
those points that are playing pretty well too. But yeah,
there's three. Frankie had I believe, I don't have the
book sixteen, and I think Calvin had thirteen in games,
and Carson I want to say six, seven, eight, something
like that. But yeah, we've got kids stepping up. We've

(04:42):
had a few games this year where we've had nine, ten,
eleven kids score a little bit. But yeah, I mean
the kids are stepping up there. They're starting to feel
a little more confident in themselves. And and you know,
our two seniors that play the most game and Carson,
they played really well forced lately. A lot of times
we get good minutes out of our other two seniors,

(05:04):
Seth and Braiden, And that makes a big difference because
you know, we're we're putting a sophomore in a freshman
in the starting lineup basically every night right now, with
a junior or two and a senior or too. So
you know, we've got quite a mixture going on right now,
and they mess well together. Sometimes it's hard to mess

(05:26):
four years of kids together, but they messed together well
and they're still fighting. I think they believe they can
beat those better teams. It's just they haven't figured out
a way to get over that hump when they needed to.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Well, no question, I think you're extremely dangerous. Looking forward
to the brackets to come out, and hope you get
talked to you next week about a couple more wins
and then we'll take a look at the bracket together.
So make sure you give us a call please, Okay,
appreciate it.