Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the Dilly Bistro in Marymont. Welcome to the
Shawn Miller Radio Show on the Xavier Sports Network from Learfield,
presented by Try Help. Try Health provides surprisingly human care
that drives the best health outcomes. Be seen, be heard,
be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com. But late, easy to drink,
(00:23):
Easy to enjoy, and by Dilly Bistro, presenting sponsor of
the Sewan Miller Radio Show. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome to the Sean Miller Show live from Dilly Pistro
and Marymont. I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkin at
the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers Sean Miller. Great
crowd again the night. Thanks for joining us, we sure
do appreciate it. And savers now seven and two on
the season. The Musketeers lost to TCU on Thursday, seventy six,
seventy two. Our next show's next Monday, by the way,
(00:57):
on December the sixteenth. If you'd like to call in
the number five three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred.
We've had some trouble with the phone lines the last
few shows, so we'll give another try tonight. Who knows
what will happen. If we'll get some calls, that would
be great. If we don't, we'll be final. So but
to get a chance to give.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Us a call.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Coach, you had a rare weekend off after playing on Thursday.
What was the schedule like and how did you utilize
that time?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Yeah, Joe, it came in a good time for us. Obviously,
we got back, as you guys know, very later. I
think four in the morning is really when we all
walked in our house there on early Friday morning. So
Friday was off for the players. You know, we have
finals week this week as well, so you know, not
only did they you know, have to recuperate from the
late arrival, but we gave them the day off and
(01:41):
then you know, Saturday and Sunday because there is no class,
we really had an opportunity to work, to have good practices,
to learn from our TCU game, both the good and
the bad, as we always do. And then you know,
really turn the page to this week. You know, not
only you see at the end of the week, but
more importantly the game that we're in charge of, which
(02:02):
is the next game Morgan State tomorrow night. So We've
really kind of taken that look of taking the weekend
to get our guys footing off the long trip, and
then the second part be as ready and improve as
much as we can as we now enter this big
week ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You say you looked at the good and the bad.
I just I know when we talked to you after
the game, you saw some positives, but overall you said
it was an opportunity that was missed for the Musketeers
to get it to win on the road. And Musketeers
trailed by I think eleven with about seven minutes to
go in the first half. With about three or four
minutes to go, you have a six point lead. That's
(02:42):
a seventeen point turnaround during that period of time. You
could argue you're playing some pretty good basketball.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, Joe, no doubt. Look, I think that you look
really at each game separate from the next. But I
will tell you, you know, you start to establish some
patterns as well. I think each season, and sometimes within
the front work of a season, teams can kind of change.
But right now, we don't come out of the gates
with a lot of confidence. We don't and I don't
(03:07):
mean the jump ball or the first three or four minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You know, at the halftime.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Of TCU, they were dominating us on the offensive glass.
They had nine second shots. They had a freshman David
Punch that you know, got the start and two of
his second shots. He ended up with two for the game,
but he had two big ones in the first half
where he got the ball and put it right back in.
And you know, when you go down thirty seven to
(03:33):
twenty nine on the road, you know, you set yourself
in a hole, in a rut. You give that home
team a lot of confidence, and a lot of that
confidence them from They were just the more physical, a
team that played with more force, a team that seemed
to be more confident in what they were doing. We
were just kind of feeling our way through. Towards the
(03:56):
end of the first half against TCU, we found our
footing and we certainly played much better. If you look
at the last six eight minutes of the first half,
that's when we started our rise that you had talked
about Joe and the Fourth War, the Fifth War, that's
the last eight minutes of the first half, the first
(04:16):
four minutes of the second half, the second four minutes
of the second half, and then the third four minutes
of the second half. So if you really look at it,
right there, I just gave you about sixteen to twenty
minutes where we won every four minute segment. We were
the better team during that period of time. And then
I go back to how things have ended for us,
where you know, playing against both Michigan on the road
(04:38):
and playing South Carolina State. We've talked about it, where
we don't finish the game. You know, that team makes
that run on us and either puts us away or
makes the game more difficult. And really with TCU, I
think the most disappointing part once we took the lead
by six points because of the play that I just described,
we folded when we really they went back to back
(05:02):
to back layups. I called a timeout on offense. You know,
our guys again finishing with what we're doing, the turnovers,
and we really never they didn't have to beat us
at the end of the game. They never really had
to score against their defense. They got to steal. They
got another turnover in which we fouled, and on an
underneath out of bounds play, we filed a three point
(05:23):
shooter and you can't ever do that. But in particular
in that situation, you add all those things up, missing
a front end of a one on one on our end,
you know, the last six minutes felt really funny. In
some ways, we just get got out of the way,
and that's disappointing because I think when you look at
the game as a whole, that twenty minute period of
time that you referred to Joe, you're right, it might
(05:46):
have been the best actual twenty minutes of the season
we've played, considering an away game against a big twelve
opponent and really having.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
To dig ourselves out of a hole.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
But we have to get to a point where if
we're in a hole, it's not because of us, it's
because the team's playing lights out. Maybe some of that
was Michigan. When you think of that first half that
we played Michigan, some of you have to tip your hat.
They were playing at a very high level. But in
the TCU game, we didn't come out with the mindset
of going on the road, how difficult it is to
(06:17):
win on the road and do the things that quite frankly,
we did throughout the game. We weren't able to do
it at the beginning and at the end. Now, this
is the third straight game where we're really you have
to address how we end the game with more purpose
and playing smarter and finishing games off because, as you
guys are well aware of most of our games, when
you get to that last eight minutes, regardless of how
(06:40):
it felt getting there, you know you're down for, you're
up for, it's tied up, and you have to be
able to get from that eight minute mark to the
finish line.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So I'll say that. I'll also tell you that.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
You know, in the games that we've played, in six
of the nine games, you guys would be able to
point to me about our teams really terrific job of
taking care of the ball. We've talked about this even
at Dayton in front of their crowd, which is in October.
We came out of the gates through the first six
games of playing with eight turnovers, ten turnovers. We went
(07:14):
an entire half one time or two times maybe having
two or three turnovers and a half, and then all
of a sudden, we got to Michigan, South Carolina State
and now TCU where we've gone like nineteen fifteen and sixteen,
and look, we don't have the personnel the firepower to
overcome fifteen, sixteen, nineteen turnovers. We don't.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
We can overcome ten or twelve.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
That's winning basketball. And we have to be able to
get back to playing a forty minute basketball game with
ten turnovers, twelve turnovers, eight turnovers, and when we do that,
we're so much better of a team. By the way,
when you look at TCU, one common theme the turnovers
in the twenty minutes that I talked about us playing
(07:58):
really good basketball very few. Most of our turnovers came
in the first eight to ten minutes of the game.
In the last seven minutes you had the time in between.
That's when we're able to play good basketball, do a
great job of taking care of it. And that has
to be one of our team's identities where when you
(08:18):
play us, we do a great job of taking care
of it with our back court of Ryan Conwell and Daveyon,
and I think the experience we have, we're calling on
that to be a team that doesn't turn the ball over.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
These last three games. That has hurt us immensely.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Coach, it seems like the other thing that jumps out
to me is the slow offensive starts. Like you go
back to South Carolina State, Michigan, even South Carolina going
back that far and then TCU, it seems like it
takes time for them to kind of get warmed up
(08:55):
or get adjusted to the defense that they're playing.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Sometimes Byron, though it's not the first four minutes of
the game, you know we've actually gotten off to you know,
twelve ten, you know where, you know it's band it's
a shootout.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Wow, neither team can miss.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
But you're right if you look at the first halfs
in particular of the last three games, we're clearly a
better team. Go to South Carolina as well. You know,
who we were in the first half of the game
was very different from the team that we became in
the second half. And you know, some of it is
just the personality. Look, I give Daveon a lot of credit.
(09:34):
He's a high character guy. He's back for his fifth
year with us. I've talked a lot about even on
this show. The terrific season he had last year was
somewhat understated. I mean, when you lead the Big East
and assist a turnover ratio average twelve points a game,
and you know you end up shooting the ball like
he did. He shot the ball at thirty seven percent
(09:54):
from three a year ago. Davion has not played as
well as we need him to play the last couple.
It always starts with the point guard. The point guard is,
you know, the head of the snake. He gives your
team confidence. He has to do a great job of leading,
taking care of the ball, being that guy that's three
to one four to one assists to turnover ratio. His
(10:15):
assist to turnover ratio on the season through nine games
is outstanding, but he had a lot built up in
the first six games. It hasn't been nearly as good
in the last three. And this doesn't all fall on him.
But I do believe that our guard play can be better.
He can be better, and we need him to be
better as we now step forward.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Cause you talk a lot about you like, on offense,
when the ball his energy, are you seeing enough of that?
Talk about what you mean by that, and is is
the energy of the basketball the same as it was
earlier in the season.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
So you know, Byron talked about our slower starts, and
I would call him sometimes a subpar first half followed
by a better second half, you know, especially on offense.
You know, you just wow, man, it's Dalan Swain comes
out after halftime, looks like a different guy, and that's good.
But we need, we need everyone to be the same
throughout right. That's that's what you're after. Consistency and as
(11:08):
we keep playing and as we grow we are in December,
a lot of times teams find their footing and players
find that that they become more of what they're good
at for portions of the game. It starts to spread
throughout the game, and you know, that's clearly, that's clearly
what we're after. But I would say the second thing
that that we're well aware of is, you know, coming
(11:31):
into this season, based on how our team's constructed and
to some degree, how the game changes, we're shooting more
three point shots. And I think there's some real value
in that, you know, taking good three point shots, having
multiple guys shoot them. You know, if you think about it,
one out of three, you make one out of three
thirty three percent, that's one point per possession. Right three
(11:55):
times down, you made one one point per possession. If
you think about, you know, a two point shot, you know,
if you make you know, one shot in three possessions,
you know that's that's two points in three possessions, not
three points in three possessions, So.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Play that out.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
The point is, you know, being able to take good threes,
and then if you're taking twos, being able to get
the ball in the box on drives, post up second shots,
get fouled and start to get away from what we
call those tough twos. That's one thing through nine games
we're proud of. I think we're doing a good job
in that area. However, we're taking between four to six,
(12:34):
three to five what I would call bad threes right now,
Threes that that's great if it goes in, but if
it doesn't, no one can get the rebound. Or if
Ryan Conwell shoots that shot, that's a really good shot
for Xavier because he's an outstanding three point shooter. But
if this guy takes that same shot, it's not as
(12:55):
good of a value shot because quite frankly, we want
him to take wide open, uncontempt threes, not the first
pass of the possession like Ryan cant right. So I
think we've taken the weekend to really really look at
that because the category I would put a couple of
these shots in would be it's like a turnover, can't
get the rebound, you have a very slim chance of
(13:18):
making it, and sometimes it ignites the other team on
a transition opportunity. And byron into your earlier question or point,
most of those shots that we found that we're taking
that aren't good happen in the first half. They happen
more early in the game, and I think sometimes it
(13:39):
puts us in a hole. When we played Dayton, even
though I know that's scrimmage, those shots were taken and
they went in and it was like, wow, this looks
like a video game. Well, sometimes that happens too, but
over time, especially against the best teams on our schedule,
basketball is a game of great shots. Like we have
to make sure that the threes we take are taken
by the right player at the right time and that
(14:02):
he's open.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
And I think if that's.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
The case, i think our plan is solid and we'll
come out on the positive side. So looking at TCU,
looking at South Carolina State, looking at Michigan, you know,
I think that's big been a big feedback position with
us this weekend, and as we move here into this week,
you know, an early shot, even though we want to
play with great pace, has to be a great one.
(14:26):
We all have to understand that that player who took
the shot and where he.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Took it from is great for us.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
So you know, I think sometimes you'd like to have
everything worked out on game one, but through trial and
error in multiple games and situations, shot selections that can
that can grow and become better as the year goes on,
and we need that in our turnovers to both trend
in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right now, you're listening to the Coach Sean Milber Show
live from Dilley Bistro located in the heart of marymountin
fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
the show Miller Show from Dylley Bistro and Mary Matt.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I thought Dante Maddox played a good game for you,
But one particular play that he made that really just
kind of went by quickly. In the second half, he
got in front of their big center O Day, and
he boxed him out, didn't get the rebound, but he
cleared a lane for Freemantle to grab the rebound. And
little plays like that can make a season if you
do them over and over and over again. How did
(15:27):
Xavier change the rebounding stats so dramatically? In terms of
actually how they approached the game on the floor, in
terms of the personnel and what they did. That to
me would be one of those plays.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean, if you look at the rebounding in the game, Joe,
both teams had ten offensive rebounds, and when you look
at second chance points, we had thirteen second chance points.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
TCU had nine.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Coach, and they had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.
So you did a great job in the second half
that off.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
So and then we both had twenty one defensive rebounds.
So we end the game with thirty one thirty one.
I don't think I've ever seen that identical rebounding, But Byron,
it's what you brought up to me earlier.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Your point. You can look at.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
It and put a positive spin on it, but I'm
telling you, at halftime, you don't really know how the
second half's going. It was not even close. Who was
the more physical team in the first half. You know,
our deficit of thirty seven to twenty nine had a
lot to do with the fact that we had to
overcome nine second shots in one half. The same team
(16:32):
went out after halftime in the last twenty minutes and
TCU had one second shot. By the way, at halftime,
I don't know. I don't have it here of how
many second shots we had at halftime, but I'll be
willing to bet that we had nowhere near ten. You know,
I would say that most of our second shots came.
So it's not just the shot went up, but I
(16:52):
think it's a reflection of the readiness, the confidence, the physicality,
all that goes into winning a game. Actually on the road,
you can't kind of wait your turn or touch and
feel to see how it's going to go. You have
to come out of the gates attacking, and you have
to be able to keep keep that going throughout the
course of that two hour period of time. And there's
(17:15):
gonna be teams that make runs on you. There's gonna
be times where we do turn it over. But the
physicality and the readiness and just being an identical team
for two halves, that has to be the standard.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
When you do what we.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Did at TCU, you play with fire. And then once
we took the lead, we almost became that same team
that we were in the first half towards the end
of the game. And we have to we have to
improve that, fix that and and build on on some
of these lessons here that we're learning in the month
of November and December.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Coach and Dante Maddox. The prior game against South Carolina State,
I think he came in for like thirty seconds and
got you know, made a couple mistakes, came out, didn't
come back into the game. So it was almost like
a restart for him in this game. You put him
(18:07):
in early, and I don't know if you were trying
to send him a message, but it sounded like he
got it because I thought he was probably the toughest
he's played. Yeah, he really did a great job rebound
in the offense. The defensive charge or defense that Joe
was talking about near the basket against the center. Ye,
(18:28):
we saw that angle and that centers. That's a big dude,
and then he was gonna get bopped and he stood
in there and took it and then made some timely
shots for it. Do you see him kind of turning
the corner overall and heading in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
I do you know, Byron just giving him a little
bit more of a runway to stay in the game
for a longer duration. Thought it helped him. That doesn't
mean that by giving him more of an opportunity that
he's going to deliver. He did that, you know, even
three for four from three. He gives us firepower off
the bench.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
The one thing about Dante is you know, his three
point percentage for his entire career has always been really good.
He's very consistent in practice with it, works very difficult,
very very hard after practice, before practice on his shooting.
He's always after it. Loves this game. And and look,
I think that we have learned that we need more
(19:26):
from our bench. Our bench has to continue to be
more confident, be more a part of what we're doing.
If you talk about finishing games, part of the solution
to that problem is, well, who can you play more
to rest your starters? Who can you play more to
maybe get a scoring punch or a rebounding punch or
something that can help us win that doesn't come from
(19:48):
the starting five. Good teams have that in college basketball.
And I think we've settled in to allow Dante to
have a bigger role. You know, he did another thing
in that game which you guys have pointed out five
defensive rebounds in nineteen minutes as well.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And so nine points, three for four from three.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
It's a game where when you look at you always
try to as best you can see the positives with
the negatives, regardless of the final score. I thought a
big positive in the TCU experience was just the overall
play and impact Dante had. I think it's a sign
of things to come. You know, he's been with us
now for nine games. His attitude is really good since
(20:27):
the TCU game, no surprise, probably he's had a couple
of great days of practice, and my hope is that
that's a game that can really start his ascent as
a key player and a guy who can come in
the game and impact winning. We really believe in him,
and I thought he passed a big test there in
Fort Worth.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You know, coach, after a game like that, do you
spend more time on the floor than typically you would
at this time of the year with the players, or
more time in the video room, or just more time
in general work on it everything.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I think it's threefold, Joe.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I mean, one, you want to have individual talks with
the players, you know, whether it be with the video
or not. You know, sometimes it's just to give them
real honest feedback on what they did and didn't do
well what we need them to do better, and making
sure that communication is really clear. You know, practice is important.
You know, it's not really the length of time right now.
(21:24):
You know, we've really dialed our entire time on the
court back to about ninety minutes. But in that ninety minutes,
you know, we want to push those guys. We want
to get up and down, and we want to really
work hard to improve on the things that we have
to improve on. And there's a big list right now.
You know, just how do you get better? You just
get better every couple of days, so not overly long.
(21:46):
And then the last part is just the film, you know,
being able to watch. You know, we've shown our guys
film of the TCU game. We're obviously preparing for Morgan State.
But the other thing that we do once in a
while is just show them last year, two years ago,
or periods of time when we were playing well earlier
in the year, just to remind them that this is
what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
So I think it's a combination of all those things.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
And you know, most importantly, I think we have an
attentive group and I would be surprised if we didn't
play with a lot of energy and effort here tomorrow
night against Morgan State.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Coach, you were nine for thirty two from behind the
nine for twenty eight against TCU from behind the arc.
Where do you think your three point shooting is as
a team?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Are you? Are you?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Are you happy with the number of shots that you're
taking and the quality? I know you always want to
get better shots. You alluded to that a little earlier,
But in terms of number of attempts, are you okay
with it?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I am?
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I would just say that Byron, the key point is
one I've already brought up, and that is just if
you take a three, it's got to be one that
is a good shot for Xavier. You know, like you're open,
knowing who you are, the period of time, first six seconds,
first eight seconds, and it got to be you got
to really be one of those guys, elite shooters. You
(23:07):
got to be a guy like Ryan Conwell. I think
Daunte Maddox is that as well. You know just where
the ball's gonna find you, and everybody expects you to
shoot it because it's such a great.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Shot for our team. Right. So, I think when you.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Look at that that's the first thing that I would say, uh.
And then the second part of it is, you know
the analytics of it. If you're open, you know, you
look at that ten nine for twenty eight that that
chalks up to thirty two percent. You know, it's one
point per possession when you shoot, when you make one
of three. Zach has had a tough stretch. I look
(23:42):
at Zach as taking good threes, and I watch him
every day, not only in practice, but just in his
overall individual workouts. It's just a matter of time. Let
me tell you the four that he took. If any
one of those four goes down, it's a different outcome
in the TCU game. So we want him to keep
taking them. I'm fine with that. I think it's just
a matter of we're probably taking three or four right
(24:06):
now that we don't need to take that might be
taken later in the same possession. But I don't look
at as good shots. And because of that, it's almost
like a turnover.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
You're listening to The Coach Sean Miller Show from Dilly
Bistro at Marymount on fifty five KARC and the Varsity Network.
Welcome back to Dilly Bistro. And the Sean Miller Coaches.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Show knew this season behind the mic, presented by deer Park.
Dear Park Roofing allows fans to watch every Sean Miller
Coaches Show live here from Dilley Bistro. Check out the
Xavier Men's Facebook page to receive notifications on upcoming shows
and check out the shows you may have missed.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
All right, we do have a mic up here at
the table. We're gonna put it the use right now. Rick,
go ahead, coach.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I appreciate you being here and answering questions. Yeah, I know,
the most important game is the.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
One coming up.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
However it is you see week and with the portal
the way it is. Years ago, there was enthusiasm amongst
the players to play this game. Does that still exist
or is it the fans that drive the UC enthusiasm.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
No, it means a lot to the players. I can
assure you that. I would say that. I can't speak
for UC, but I'm sure it means a lot to
them as well. You know the history of the game.
When you make your decision to come to Xavier, you
understand that part of what you're signing up for is
this game called the Crosstown shootout. I think you know that.
(25:40):
You know, it's certainly a big game. It's an exciting game,
meaningful game for all the reasons that everybody knows. But
I would say whether you transferred from another school, Drew
Lavender transferred from another school.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
C J.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Anderson transferred from another school. I'll use those two guys
as an example, Jordan Crawford transferred from another school. That
game meant a lot to those three guys, no less
than it would have meant to somebody like Justin Doleman
who came straight from high school. Now, they may not
play in as many crossdown shootouts, so you know, the
days of watching a guy play in four you know,
(26:16):
I think those are less on both sides. But the
meaning of the game I think holds its holds its
merit today as much.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
As any time.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
Okay, well, I have as a Xavier graduate, I have
a son who's a UC graduate. Yeah, so I wish
you luck on your sixth in a row.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Okay, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Greck, thanks for asking a question. Appreciate it. But Chi,
you know, I like to talk about the big guys.
And John Hugli played about twelve minutes four against TCU
hit a three pointer, But to me, the most outstanding
play that I saw that I hope is repeatable and
has an impact in the offense as we move forward.
You talk about how important it is to run your
offense crap. He sets screens and passes and little things
(27:02):
that actually open up the floor for the guards and
everybody else on it. I thought, he said, a really
nice screen for Conwell, And I know it seems maybe
insignificant in the scheme of things, but if you again,
like the box out from medics, if that can be
repeated as he learns to do that and they work together,
that's something that can have a huge impack as this
season rolls on.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
No, for sure, no doubt being able to set good screens.
I think when you look at the way our teams constructed,
you know we have a lot of guys that can
make shots off of screens, and you know when you do,
you tend to do things like that more often, Joe,
And as you know, guys like yourself want to score
the ball. You don't want to set hard screens for
(27:41):
guards because you don't get credit. So being able to
coach guys like yourself who are very self centered when
it comes to scoring no credit and uh and gets
you to be unselfish and stream for other people. That's
part of that's part of that's part of my job,
I know, deal with guys like you. I'm talking about
today's version, you know, and by the way, not fouling
(28:03):
when you screen, that's part of it.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
As well as John.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I can't believe Joe didn't when he's talking about John
Hugley that he didn't lead with John made a three
last game.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Yeah, we we you know, we're working hard with John.
I think he's a big part of this season. We
need more from him. I think he can give us more,
you know, right when I think that he like like
Dante's example of you gave him a little bit longer
of a runway and you know he delivered. And I
think confidence is really important when you don't start the game.
You know, a coach can give it to you to
(28:36):
some degree, but you really, at the end of the
day have to be able to give it to yourself
by your performance and your belief in what you do.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And how does that happen. It happens by passing that test.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
You know, had got more of an opportunity look what
I did against a good team on their court. I
can build and grow from that. And I think John
a couple of times this season has been close to
being able to get some momentum, and whether it's a
foul or something that doesn't work out for him, he
just hasn't been able to turn that bend. But we're
working hard with him. More importantly, he continues to work hard.
(29:08):
I thought he's had a good weekend of practices and
you know, now's the time for him to keep developing
and give give us more.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
It goes to the like fragile state of these players
because John Hugliot, you know, this is his third school
and I was looking at his career high and I
think his career high was like thirty four points when
he was at pitt Or, Oklahoma. I'm not sure where
he was when he had that. But this is an
experienced guy, yep. And for him to to just it's
(29:40):
almost like a reset from a confidence standpoint. It's just
a very different role. You know, asked to have a
reduced role on a better team. It's sometimes hard as
opposed to, Hey, you know, I'm a starter. I know
I'm going to know I'm going to be able to
play through mistakes and have that confidence as opposed to
(30:04):
on this team where he's asked to be really good
but in a diminished role from where he was on
those other teams, which is it's really something mentally that
he along with other guys that come from maybe different
programs and are now asked to play a different role.
(30:26):
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
So last year at Oklahoma, John played seventeen minutes a
game and he averaged around eight points in the twenty
four games he played. He didn't finish the season because
of an injury that he's fine with right now, But
in those twenty four games, you know, Oklahoma was better
(30:48):
than they.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Were when he went out.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
When they lost him, they lost a lot of momentum
down the stretch and ended up not making the tournament.
But eight points a game. His ability to shoot from
the field, he was a fifty five percent shooter from
the field. He actually shot byron in the high thirties
from three. He didn't shoot a lot of threes, but
that occasional three you saw him shoot.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
He can do that.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
But really what John's had is he has good hands,
and he's got a wide frame, and he can demand
the ball and get fouled and score the ball and
make twos, and just being a guy who can come
in off the bench and really impact what we do.
So far, we haven't been able to get that out
of him. Again, Here's what I go back to. John's
(31:35):
worked really hard in May, June, and July, and then
he followed that up in August, September, and October of
getting himself in much much better shape, you know, going
from you know, three one hundred and nineteen pounds at
six foot nine and now being around two seventy. You know,
that's a fifty pound difference. It took a lot of work,
(31:58):
a lot of dedication.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
But wearning that period.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Of time, that doesn't mean you're becoming a better basketball player,
you know. So I think one doesn't always compliment the other.
I believe that if the light really goes off with John,
which I think you can, I think it's gonna happen
here as we approach Christmas, and perhaps even more on
the other side of Christmas, now that he's had a
(32:22):
couple months of practicing playing games at two seventy, clearly
getting used to his new weight, getting on the other
side of it, and then eventually, I think my hope
is having some real value out there.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
How many minutes would you like him to get? Like
it around the seventeen they had at Oklahoma.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Yeah, you know right now he's at about twelve. We
would like to get more, and I know he would
like to get more, but I think for that to happen,
you know, we have to get a little bit more
benefits from just his overall play. You know, turnovers again,
they come in a lot of forms. And you know
one thing we haven't talked about Joe and Byron is
against TCU, we had twenty assists. That's a lot of
(33:01):
assists in a game like that.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
The problem is we ended up with fifteen turnovers. You know,
if if that turnover number is more towards twelve, we
probably won a hard fought game as opposed to, you know,
a tough loss.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
All right. Listening to the Coach Sean Miller Show live
from Delhi Bistro located in the heart of Marymount on
fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
the Sean Miller Coaches Show from Deli Bistro and Marymartin.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
When you're out of town and want to keep up
with live college sports, be sure to download the new
Varsity Network app. It's available for both Apple and Android.
Listen to college sports live with the Varsity Network app.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Bud like Proun sponsor Xavier Athletics, Easy to drink, easy
to enjoy.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
Coach Dalen Swain versus TCU. He had twelve points, four rebounds.
He knocked down his first three pointer of the year.
Talk about how.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
With one second, with one second left, yep, it.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Still, counsel right, Coach, you're right, I no doubt, We'll
take it one. I thought Dalen played well more aggressive.
It was great to see him contribute on the offensive glass.
You know, him and Marcus Foster combined for four second shots.
So when you talk about us having ten second shots,
forty percent of our second shots came from Dalen and Marcus.
(34:18):
That's something we're really really coaching them, encouraging them to
do more of. I think we're a better team, We're
more physical team. We have much more of an upside
when those two guys can be a factor on the
offensive glass. Both of them have done a really good
job of defensive rebounding this season, so it was good
to see Dalen in particular become more part of it.
(34:39):
But he was five for five from the floor byron
four rebounds, twelve points to assist two turnovers in twenty
four minutes. And defensively, I thought he was solid. There's
been games where he can give you more defensively, but
I thought for the large part he was a positive
in that game.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Did he get enough shots for you? Five for five,
five five opportunities to I thought he challenged a little
bit more versus South Carolina State and that game, I
think he took two shots and a lot of times
he didn't even seem to look at the basket while
they were pressuring him. Offensively, is his mindset is it
(35:19):
where it needs to be.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Yeah, we're hard at work at trying to just overall
make it more aggressive. If you think about what offensive
rebounding does, and that gives him a great avenue right
there to get an easy one, to get fouled, to
impact the game where you don't have to make a
three point shot, but it's another shot attempt. In transition
is where Dalen has shined, you know, both having the
(35:43):
ball and being you know, the faster the game. He
makes a lot of good plays a lot of times
passing sometimes keeping it himself.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
What we have to continue to.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Help him with is to allow him to be more
confident and more assertive in the half court when the
game's five on five and you know, being a great
cutter taking wide open, uncontested threes. We want him to
do that and to look at the basket first to
do that, to establish that he'll take it. Once again,
if Dalen makes one of three and he takes one
(36:14):
a game to a game, he makes us a better
team just from from the standpoint of that. He's a
factor that you have to acknowledge the fact that he'll
take and make an open shot. So we're working with
him on it. His starting point. If you go back
to where he would have been a year ago, he
wouldn't have taken him. Now we're starting to get to
him to the point where he's starting to become a
(36:34):
little bit more aggressive.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
You know, Coach, to your point in the TCU game,
when Swain become aggressive and started attacking the basket, you
could feel the momentum swing in that building, and I
think he had an awful lot to do with that
period of time. War Zavis maybe played some of the
best basketball the season. He just kind of took over
a little.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
And I would say that that's not just in the
TCU game. I think that's been prevalent through nine games.
You know, I think when you look at our entire season,
during key moments, key stretches. I'll go to South Carolina
at the beginning of the second half, many plays that
he made against Wake Forest, where when he's assertive, when
he's a part of things, when we're in transition, when
he's aggressive, we can get him going more to the glass.
(37:13):
I think that's the best version of our team moving forward,
and that's what we're trying to bring out. You know,
if I had a shot, you know, I could give
him like a flu shot of that, I'd be more
uh happy to take him to CVS to do it.
But you know, it takes time, it takes experience, and
you know a reminder with daylan Is Dalen is the
player that once was. He's nineteen. He got here at eighteen,
(37:37):
he played his entire year as a true freshman, came back.
Now he's a young sophomore. You know, you start to
think about his learning curve and his development. He'll be
better in January and February than he is today.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
All right, This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show from
Billy Bistro and Marrymount on fifty five KRC and the
Varsity Network. Welcome back to the Sean Miller Show by
from Billy Pistro Coach. The Musketeers take on Morgan State
tomorrow airtime. It's six dirty tip off at seven o'clock.
That game will be on seven hundred WLW. What can
(38:09):
you tell us about Morgan State?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
You know, it's our last home non conference game. They
play very fast, they play a lot of players. They
are going to test us on two areas that we
have to really be sure in and that is blocking
them out, not allowing them to get those second shots.
They crash the glass from a lot of different places.
Very athletic, very physical, and we also have to be
(38:33):
able to take care of the ball. They pressure and
they really try to force turnovers. So it would be
a great game to be able to do really well
in the area of low turnovers, taking care of the ball,
and then from a rebound perspective, being a team that's physical,
that's ready for the shot when it goes up, and
blocking out keeping them off the glass and then obviously
(38:53):
getting our fair share, so we'll be tested in both
of those areas.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Coach any opportunity for a guy like Cam Fletcher to
get in a game like this.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, Scam's getting better.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
He really is. You know his history. He's dealt with
two just really tough injuries Byron, and part of our
promise when we brought him here is just to make
sure that there's no way in the world we rush
him back, that he's not only healthy, but just healthy,
and then just double check and triple check and make
sure that we bring him along incrementally, which we have done.
(39:22):
And if he's gonna get an opportunity to be a
part of things, it'll be uh, It'll be here in
the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
I'd like to thank everybody for joining us here for
the Sean Miller Show at Dilli Bistro where you're really
appreciate you taking the time. I love seeing you. We're
in Marrimont, We're on fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
The best health outcomes, be seen, be heard, be healed.
Visit tryhealth dot com. But late, easy to drink, easy
to enjoy, and buy Dilly Bistro presenting sponsor of the
Sean Miller radio show. The preceding has been a Learfield
presentation on the Xavier Sports Network
Live from the Dilly Bistro in Marymont. Welcome to the
Shawn Miller Radio Show on the Xavier Sports Network from Learfield,
presented by Try Help. Try Health provides surprisingly human care
that drives the best health outcomes. Be seen, be heard,
be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com. But late, easy to drink,
(00:23):
Easy to enjoy, and by Dilly Bistro, presenting sponsor of
the Sewan Miller Radio Show. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome to the Sean Miller Show live from Dilly Pistro
and Marymont. I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkin at
the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers Sean Miller. Great
crowd again the night. Thanks for joining us, we sure
do appreciate it. And savers now seven and two on
the season. The Musketeers lost to TCU on Thursday, seventy six,
seventy two. Our next show's next Monday, by the way,
(00:57):
on December the sixteenth. If you'd like to call in
the number five three, seven, four nine fifty five hundred.
We've had some trouble with the phone lines the last
few shows, so we'll give another try tonight. Who knows
what will happen. If we'll get some calls, that would
be great. If we don't, we'll be final. So but
to get a chance to give.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Us a call.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Coach, you had a rare weekend off after playing on Thursday.
What was the schedule like and how did you utilize
that time?
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Yeah, Joe, it came in a good time for us. Obviously,
we got back, as you guys know, very later. I
think four in the morning is really when we all
walked in our house there on early Friday morning. So
Friday was off for the players. You know, we have
finals week this week as well, so you know, not
only did they you know, have to recuperate from the
late arrival, but we gave them the day off and
(01:41):
then you know, Saturday and Sunday because there is no class,
we really had an opportunity to work, to have good practices,
to learn from our TCU game, both the good and
the bad, as we always do. And then you know,
really turn the page to this week. You know, not
only you see at the end of the week, but
more importantly the game that we're in charge of, which
(02:02):
is the next game Morgan State tomorrow night. So We've
really kind of taken that look of taking the weekend
to get our guys footing off the long trip, and
then the second part be as ready and improve as
much as we can as we now enter this big
week ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
You say you looked at the good and the bad.
I just I know when we talked to you after
the game, you saw some positives, but overall you said
it was an opportunity that was missed for the Musketeers
to get it to win on the road. And Musketeers
trailed by I think eleven with about seven minutes to
go in the first half. With about three or four
minutes to go, you have a six point lead. That's
(02:42):
a seventeen point turnaround during that period of time. You
could argue you're playing some pretty good basketball.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Yeah, Joe, no doubt. Look, I think that you look
really at each game separate from the next. But I
will tell you, you know, you start to establish some
patterns as well. I think each season, and sometimes within
the front work of a season, teams can kind of change.
But right now, we don't come out of the gates
with a lot of confidence. We don't and I don't
(03:07):
mean the jump ball or the first three or four minutes.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
You know, at the halftime.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Of TCU, they were dominating us on the offensive glass.
They had nine second shots. They had a freshman David
Punch that you know, got the start and two of
his second shots. He ended up with two for the game,
but he had two big ones in the first half
where he got the ball and put it right back in.
And you know, when you go down thirty seven to
(03:33):
twenty nine on the road, you know, you set yourself
in a hole, in a rut. You give that home
team a lot of confidence, and a lot of that
confidence them from They were just the more physical, a
team that played with more force, a team that seemed
to be more confident in what they were doing. We
were just kind of feeling our way through. Towards the
(03:56):
end of the first half against TCU, we found our
footing and we certainly played much better. If you look
at the last six eight minutes of the first half,
that's when we started our rise that you had talked
about Joe and the Fourth War, the Fifth War, that's
the last eight minutes of the first half, the first
(04:16):
four minutes of the second half, the second four minutes
of the second half, and then the third four minutes
of the second half. So if you really look at it,
right there, I just gave you about sixteen to twenty
minutes where we won every four minute segment. We were
the better team during that period of time. And then
I go back to how things have ended for us,
where you know, playing against both Michigan on the road
(04:38):
and playing South Carolina State. We've talked about it, where
we don't finish the game. You know, that team makes
that run on us and either puts us away or
makes the game more difficult. And really with TCU, I
think the most disappointing part once we took the lead
by six points because of the play that I just described,
we folded when we really they went back to back
(05:02):
to back layups. I called a timeout on offense. You know,
our guys again finishing with what we're doing, the turnovers,
and we really never they didn't have to beat us
at the end of the game. They never really had
to score against their defense. They got to steal. They
got another turnover in which we fouled, and on an
underneath out of bounds play, we filed a three point
(05:23):
shooter and you can't ever do that. But in particular
in that situation, you add all those things up, missing
a front end of a one on one on our end,
you know, the last six minutes felt really funny. In
some ways, we just get got out of the way,
and that's disappointing because I think when you look at
the game as a whole, that twenty minute period of
time that you referred to Joe, you're right, it might
(05:46):
have been the best actual twenty minutes of the season
we've played, considering an away game against a big twelve
opponent and really having.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
To dig ourselves out of a hole.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
But we have to get to a point where if
we're in a hole, it's not because of us, it's
because the team's playing lights out. Maybe some of that
was Michigan. When you think of that first half that
we played Michigan, some of you have to tip your hat.
They were playing at a very high level. But in
the TCU game, we didn't come out with the mindset
of going on the road, how difficult it is to
(06:17):
win on the road and do the things that quite frankly,
we did throughout the game. We weren't able to do
it at the beginning and at the end. Now, this
is the third straight game where we're really you have
to address how we end the game with more purpose
and playing smarter and finishing games off because, as you
guys are well aware of most of our games, when
you get to that last eight minutes, regardless of how
(06:40):
it felt getting there, you know you're down for, you're
up for, it's tied up, and you have to be
able to get from that eight minute mark to the
finish line.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
So I'll say that. I'll also tell you that.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
You know, in the games that we've played, in six
of the nine games, you guys would be able to
point to me about our teams really terrific job of
taking care of the ball. We've talked about this even
at Dayton in front of their crowd, which is in October.
We came out of the gates through the first six
games of playing with eight turnovers, ten turnovers. We went
(07:14):
an entire half one time or two times maybe having
two or three turnovers and a half, and then all
of a sudden, we got to Michigan, South Carolina State
and now TCU where we've gone like nineteen fifteen and sixteen,
and look, we don't have the personnel the firepower to
overcome fifteen, sixteen, nineteen turnovers. We don't.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
We can overcome ten or twelve.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
That's winning basketball. And we have to be able to
get back to playing a forty minute basketball game with
ten turnovers, twelve turnovers, eight turnovers, and when we do that,
we're so much better of a team. By the way,
when you look at TCU, one common theme the turnovers
in the twenty minutes that I talked about us playing
(07:58):
really good basketball very few. Most of our turnovers came
in the first eight to ten minutes of the game.
In the last seven minutes you had the time in between.
That's when we're able to play good basketball, do a
great job of taking care of it. And that has
to be one of our team's identities where when you
(08:18):
play us, we do a great job of taking care
of it with our back court of Ryan Conwell and Daveyon,
and I think the experience we have, we're calling on
that to be a team that doesn't turn the ball over.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
These last three games. That has hurt us immensely.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
Coach, it seems like the other thing that jumps out
to me is the slow offensive starts. Like you go
back to South Carolina State, Michigan, even South Carolina going
back that far and then TCU, it seems like it
takes time for them to kind of get warmed up
(08:55):
or get adjusted to the defense that they're playing.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Sometimes Byron, though it's not the first four minutes of
the game, you know we've actually gotten off to you know,
twelve ten, you know where, you know it's band it's
a shootout.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Wow, neither team can miss.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
But you're right if you look at the first halfs
in particular of the last three games, we're clearly a
better team. Go to South Carolina as well. You know,
who we were in the first half of the game
was very different from the team that we became in
the second half. And you know, some of it is
just the personality. Look, I give Daveon a lot of credit.
(09:34):
He's a high character guy. He's back for his fifth
year with us. I've talked a lot about even on
this show. The terrific season he had last year was
somewhat understated. I mean, when you lead the Big East
and assist a turnover ratio average twelve points a game,
and you know you end up shooting the ball like
he did. He shot the ball at thirty seven percent
(09:54):
from three a year ago. Davion has not played as
well as we need him to play the last couple.
It always starts with the point guard. The point guard is,
you know, the head of the snake. He gives your
team confidence. He has to do a great job of leading,
taking care of the ball, being that guy that's three
to one four to one assists to turnover ratio. His
(10:15):
assist to turnover ratio on the season through nine games
is outstanding, but he had a lot built up in
the first six games. It hasn't been nearly as good
in the last three. And this doesn't all fall on him.
But I do believe that our guard play can be better.
He can be better, and we need him to be
better as we now step forward.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Cause you talk a lot about you like, on offense,
when the ball his energy, are you seeing enough of that?
Talk about what you mean by that, and is is
the energy of the basketball the same as it was
earlier in the season.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
So you know, Byron talked about our slower starts, and
I would call him sometimes a subpar first half followed
by a better second half, you know, especially on offense.
You know, you just wow, man, it's Dalan Swain comes
out after halftime, looks like a different guy, and that's good.
But we need, we need everyone to be the same
throughout right. That's that's what you're after. Consistency and as
(11:08):
we keep playing and as we grow we are in December,
a lot of times teams find their footing and players
find that that they become more of what they're good
at for portions of the game. It starts to spread
throughout the game, and you know, that's clearly, that's clearly
what we're after. But I would say the second thing
that that we're well aware of is, you know, coming
(11:31):
into this season, based on how our team's constructed and
to some degree, how the game changes, we're shooting more
three point shots. And I think there's some real value
in that, you know, taking good three point shots, having
multiple guys shoot them. You know, if you think about it,
one out of three, you make one out of three
thirty three percent, that's one point per possession. Right three
(11:55):
times down, you made one one point per possession. If
you think about, you know, a two point shot, you know,
if you make you know, one shot in three possessions,
you know that's that's two points in three possessions, not
three points in three possessions, So.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Play that out.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
The point is, you know, being able to take good threes,
and then if you're taking twos, being able to get
the ball in the box on drives, post up second shots,
get fouled and start to get away from what we
call those tough twos. That's one thing through nine games
we're proud of. I think we're doing a good job
in that area. However, we're taking between four to six,
(12:34):
three to five what I would call bad threes right now,
Threes that that's great if it goes in, but if
it doesn't, no one can get the rebound. Or if
Ryan Conwell shoots that shot, that's a really good shot
for Xavier because he's an outstanding three point shooter. But
if this guy takes that same shot, it's not as
(12:55):
good of a value shot because quite frankly, we want
him to take wide open, uncontempt threes, not the first
pass of the possession like Ryan cant right. So I
think we've taken the weekend to really really look at
that because the category I would put a couple of
these shots in would be it's like a turnover, can't
get the rebound, you have a very slim chance of
(13:18):
making it, and sometimes it ignites the other team on
a transition opportunity. And byron into your earlier question or point,
most of those shots that we found that we're taking
that aren't good happen in the first half. They happen
more early in the game, and I think sometimes it
(13:39):
puts us in a hole. When we played Dayton, even
though I know that's scrimmage, those shots were taken and
they went in and it was like, wow, this looks
like a video game. Well, sometimes that happens too, but
over time, especially against the best teams on our schedule,
basketball is a game of great shots. Like we have
to make sure that the threes we take are taken
by the right player at the right time and that
(14:02):
he's open.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
And I think if that's.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
The case, i think our plan is solid and we'll
come out on the positive side. So looking at TCU,
looking at South Carolina State, looking at Michigan, you know,
I think that's big been a big feedback position with
us this weekend, and as we move here into this week,
you know, an early shot, even though we want to
play with great pace, has to be a great one.
(14:26):
We all have to understand that that player who took
the shot and where he.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Took it from is great for us.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
So you know, I think sometimes you'd like to have
everything worked out on game one, but through trial and
error in multiple games and situations, shot selections that can
that can grow and become better as the year goes on,
and we need that in our turnovers to both trend
in the right direction.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Right now, you're listening to the Coach Sean Milber Show
live from Dilley Bistro located in the heart of marymountin
fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
the show Miller Show from Dylley Bistro and Mary Matt.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Coach.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
I thought Dante Maddox played a good game for you,
But one particular play that he made that really just
kind of went by quickly. In the second half, he
got in front of their big center O Day, and
he boxed him out, didn't get the rebound, but he
cleared a lane for Freemantle to grab the rebound. And
little plays like that can make a season if you
do them over and over and over again. How did
(15:27):
Xavier change the rebounding stats so dramatically? In terms of
actually how they approached the game on the floor, in
terms of the personnel and what they did. That to
me would be one of those plays.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean, if you look at the rebounding in the game, Joe,
both teams had ten offensive rebounds, and when you look
at second chance points, we had thirteen second chance points.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
TCU had nine.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Coach, and they had nine offensive rebounds in the first half.
So you did a great job in the second half
that off.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
So and then we both had twenty one defensive rebounds.
So we end the game with thirty one thirty one.
I don't think I've ever seen that identical rebounding, But Byron,
it's what you brought up to me earlier.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Your point. You can look at.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
It and put a positive spin on it, but I'm
telling you, at halftime, you don't really know how the
second half's going. It was not even close. Who was
the more physical team in the first half. You know,
our deficit of thirty seven to twenty nine had a
lot to do with the fact that we had to
overcome nine second shots in one half. The same team
(16:32):
went out after halftime in the last twenty minutes and
TCU had one second shot. By the way, at halftime,
I don't know. I don't have it here of how
many second shots we had at halftime, but I'll be
willing to bet that we had nowhere near ten. You know,
I would say that most of our second shots came.
So it's not just the shot went up, but I
(16:52):
think it's a reflection of the readiness, the confidence, the physicality,
all that goes into winning a game. Actually on the road,
you can't kind of wait your turn or touch and
feel to see how it's going to go. You have
to come out of the gates attacking, and you have
to be able to keep keep that going throughout the
course of that two hour period of time. And there's
(17:15):
gonna be teams that make runs on you. There's gonna
be times where we do turn it over. But the
physicality and the readiness and just being an identical team
for two halves, that has to be the standard.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
When you do what we.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Did at TCU, you play with fire. And then once
we took the lead, we almost became that same team
that we were in the first half towards the end
of the game. And we have to we have to
improve that, fix that and and build on on some
of these lessons here that we're learning in the month
of November and December.
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Coach and Dante Maddox. The prior game against South Carolina State,
I think he came in for like thirty seconds and
got you know, made a couple mistakes, came out, didn't
come back into the game. So it was almost like
a restart for him in this game. You put him
(18:07):
in early, and I don't know if you were trying
to send him a message, but it sounded like he
got it because I thought he was probably the toughest
he's played. Yeah, he really did a great job rebound
in the offense. The defensive charge or defense that Joe
was talking about near the basket against the center. Ye,
(18:28):
we saw that angle and that centers. That's a big dude,
and then he was gonna get bopped and he stood
in there and took it and then made some timely
shots for it. Do you see him kind of turning
the corner overall and heading in the right direction.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
I do you know, Byron just giving him a little
bit more of a runway to stay in the game
for a longer duration. Thought it helped him. That doesn't
mean that by giving him more of an opportunity that
he's going to deliver. He did that, you know, even
three for four from three. He gives us firepower off
the bench.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
The one thing about Dante is you know, his three
point percentage for his entire career has always been really good.
He's very consistent in practice with it, works very difficult,
very very hard after practice, before practice on his shooting.
He's always after it. Loves this game. And and look,
I think that we have learned that we need more
(19:26):
from our bench. Our bench has to continue to be
more confident, be more a part of what we're doing.
If you talk about finishing games, part of the solution
to that problem is, well, who can you play more
to rest your starters? Who can you play more to
maybe get a scoring punch or a rebounding punch or
something that can help us win that doesn't come from
(19:48):
the starting five. Good teams have that in college basketball.
And I think we've settled in to allow Dante to
have a bigger role. You know, he did another thing
in that game which you guys have pointed out five
defensive rebounds in nineteen minutes as well.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And so nine points, three for four from three.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
It's a game where when you look at you always
try to as best you can see the positives with
the negatives, regardless of the final score. I thought a
big positive in the TCU experience was just the overall
play and impact Dante had. I think it's a sign
of things to come. You know, he's been with us
now for nine games. His attitude is really good since
(20:27):
the TCU game, no surprise, probably he's had a couple
of great days of practice, and my hope is that
that's a game that can really start his ascent as
a key player and a guy who can come in
the game and impact winning. We really believe in him,
and I thought he passed a big test there in
Fort Worth.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You know, coach, after a game like that, do you
spend more time on the floor than typically you would
at this time of the year with the players, or
more time in the video room, or just more time
in general work on it everything.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I think it's threefold, Joe.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
I mean, one, you want to have individual talks with
the players, you know, whether it be with the video
or not. You know, sometimes it's just to give them
real honest feedback on what they did and didn't do
well what we need them to do better, and making
sure that communication is really clear. You know, practice is important.
You know, it's not really the length of time right now.
(21:24):
You know, we've really dialed our entire time on the
court back to about ninety minutes. But in that ninety minutes,
you know, we want to push those guys. We want
to get up and down, and we want to really
work hard to improve on the things that we have
to improve on. And there's a big list right now.
You know, just how do you get better? You just
get better every couple of days, so not overly long.
(21:46):
And then the last part is just the film, you know,
being able to watch. You know, we've shown our guys
film of the TCU game. We're obviously preparing for Morgan State.
But the other thing that we do once in a
while is just show them last year, two years ago,
or periods of time when we were playing well earlier
in the year, just to remind them that this is
what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
So I think it's a combination of all those things.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
And you know, most importantly, I think we have an
attentive group and I would be surprised if we didn't
play with a lot of energy and effort here tomorrow
night against Morgan State.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Coach, you were nine for thirty two from behind the
nine for twenty eight against TCU from behind the arc.
Where do you think your three point shooting is as
a team?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Are you? Are you?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Are you happy with the number of shots that you're
taking and the quality? I know you always want to
get better shots. You alluded to that a little earlier,
But in terms of number of attempts, are you okay
with it?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
I am?
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I would just say that Byron, the key point is
one I've already brought up, and that is just if
you take a three, it's got to be one that
is a good shot for Xavier. You know, like you're open,
knowing who you are, the period of time, first six seconds,
first eight seconds, and it got to be you got
to really be one of those guys, elite shooters. You
(23:07):
got to be a guy like Ryan Conwell. I think
Daunte Maddox is that as well. You know just where
the ball's gonna find you, and everybody expects you to
shoot it because it's such a great.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Shot for our team. Right. So, I think when you.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Look at that that's the first thing that I would say, uh.
And then the second part of it is, you know
the analytics of it. If you're open, you know, you
look at that ten nine for twenty eight that that
chalks up to thirty two percent. You know, it's one
point per possession when you shoot, when you make one
of three. Zach has had a tough stretch. I look
(23:42):
at Zach as taking good threes, and I watch him
every day, not only in practice, but just in his
overall individual workouts. It's just a matter of time. Let
me tell you the four that he took. If any
one of those four goes down, it's a different outcome
in the TCU game. So we want him to keep
taking them. I'm fine with that. I think it's just
a matter of we're probably taking three or four right
(24:06):
now that we don't need to take that might be
taken later in the same possession. But I don't look
at as good shots. And because of that, it's almost
like a turnover.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
You're listening to The Coach Sean Miller Show from Dilly
Bistro at Marymount on fifty five KARC and the Varsity Network.
Welcome back to Dilly Bistro. And the Sean Miller Coaches.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Show knew this season behind the mic, presented by deer Park.
Dear Park Roofing allows fans to watch every Sean Miller
Coaches Show live here from Dilley Bistro. Check out the
Xavier Men's Facebook page to receive notifications on upcoming shows
and check out the shows you may have missed.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
All right, we do have a mic up here at
the table. We're gonna put it the use right now. Rick,
go ahead, coach.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
I appreciate you being here and answering questions. Yeah, I know,
the most important game is the.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
One coming up.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
However it is you see week and with the portal
the way it is. Years ago, there was enthusiasm amongst
the players to play this game. Does that still exist
or is it the fans that drive the UC enthusiasm.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
No, it means a lot to the players. I can
assure you that. I would say that. I can't speak
for UC, but I'm sure it means a lot to
them as well. You know the history of the game.
When you make your decision to come to Xavier, you
understand that part of what you're signing up for is
this game called the Crosstown shootout. I think you know that.
(25:40):
You know, it's certainly a big game. It's an exciting game,
meaningful game for all the reasons that everybody knows. But
I would say whether you transferred from another school, Drew
Lavender transferred from another school.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
C J.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
Anderson transferred from another school. I'll use those two guys
as an example, Jordan Crawford transferred from another school. That
game meant a lot to those three guys, no less
than it would have meant to somebody like Justin Doleman
who came straight from high school. Now, they may not
play in as many crossdown shootouts, so you know, the
days of watching a guy play in four you know,
(26:16):
I think those are less on both sides. But the
meaning of the game I think holds its holds its
merit today as much.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
As any time.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
Okay, well, I have as a Xavier graduate, I have
a son who's a UC graduate. Yeah, so I wish
you luck on your sixth in a row.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Okay, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Greck, thanks for asking a question. Appreciate it. But Chi,
you know, I like to talk about the big guys.
And John Hugli played about twelve minutes four against TCU
hit a three pointer, But to me, the most outstanding
play that I saw that I hope is repeatable and
has an impact in the offense as we move forward.
You talk about how important it is to run your
offense crap. He sets screens and passes and little things
(27:02):
that actually open up the floor for the guards and
everybody else on it. I thought, he said, a really
nice screen for Conwell, And I know it seems maybe
insignificant in the scheme of things, but if you again,
like the box out from medics, if that can be
repeated as he learns to do that and they work together,
that's something that can have a huge impack as this
season rolls on.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
No, for sure, no doubt being able to set good screens.
I think when you look at the way our teams constructed,
you know we have a lot of guys that can
make shots off of screens, and you know when you do,
you tend to do things like that more often, Joe,
And as you know, guys like yourself want to score
the ball. You don't want to set hard screens for
(27:41):
guards because you don't get credit. So being able to
coach guys like yourself who are very self centered when
it comes to scoring no credit and uh and gets
you to be unselfish and stream for other people. That's
part of that's part of that's part of my job,
I know, deal with guys like you. I'm talking about
today's version, you know, and by the way, not fouling
(28:03):
when you screen, that's part of it.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
As well as John.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
I can't believe Joe didn't when he's talking about John
Hugley that he didn't lead with John made a three
last game.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Yeah, we we you know, we're working hard with John.
I think he's a big part of this season. We
need more from him. I think he can give us more,
you know, right when I think that he like like
Dante's example of you gave him a little bit longer
of a runway and you know he delivered. And I
think confidence is really important when you don't start the game.
You know, a coach can give it to you to
(28:36):
some degree, but you really, at the end of the
day have to be able to give it to yourself
by your performance and your belief in what you do.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
And how does that happen. It happens by passing that test.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
You know, had got more of an opportunity look what
I did against a good team on their court. I
can build and grow from that. And I think John
a couple of times this season has been close to
being able to get some momentum, and whether it's a
foul or something that doesn't work out for him, he
just hasn't been able to turn that bend. But we're
working hard with him. More importantly, he continues to work hard.
(29:08):
I thought he's had a good weekend of practices and
you know, now's the time for him to keep developing
and give give us more.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
It goes to the like fragile state of these players
because John Hugliot, you know, this is his third school
and I was looking at his career high and I
think his career high was like thirty four points when
he was at pitt Or, Oklahoma. I'm not sure where
he was when he had that. But this is an
experienced guy, yep. And for him to to just it's
(29:40):
almost like a reset from a confidence standpoint. It's just
a very different role. You know, asked to have a
reduced role on a better team. It's sometimes hard as
opposed to, Hey, you know, I'm a starter. I know
I'm going to know I'm going to be able to
play through mistakes and have that confidence as opposed to
(30:04):
on this team where he's asked to be really good
but in a diminished role from where he was on
those other teams, which is it's really something mentally that
he along with other guys that come from maybe different
programs and are now asked to play a different role.
(30:26):
It's not easy.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
So last year at Oklahoma, John played seventeen minutes a
game and he averaged around eight points in the twenty
four games he played. He didn't finish the season because
of an injury that he's fine with right now, But
in those twenty four games, you know, Oklahoma was better
(30:48):
than they.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
Were when he went out.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
When they lost him, they lost a lot of momentum
down the stretch and ended up not making the tournament.
But eight points a game. His ability to shoot from
the field, he was a fifty five percent shooter from
the field. He actually shot byron in the high thirties
from three. He didn't shoot a lot of threes, but
that occasional three you saw him shoot.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
He can do that.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
But really what John's had is he has good hands,
and he's got a wide frame, and he can demand
the ball and get fouled and score the ball and
make twos, and just being a guy who can come
in off the bench and really impact what we do.
So far, we haven't been able to get that out
of him. Again, Here's what I go back to. John's
(31:35):
worked really hard in May, June, and July, and then
he followed that up in August, September, and October of
getting himself in much much better shape, you know, going
from you know, three one hundred and nineteen pounds at
six foot nine and now being around two seventy. You know,
that's a fifty pound difference. It took a lot of work,
(31:58):
a lot of dedication.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
But wearning that period.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Of time, that doesn't mean you're becoming a better basketball player,
you know. So I think one doesn't always compliment the other.
I believe that if the light really goes off with John,
which I think you can, I think it's gonna happen
here as we approach Christmas, and perhaps even more on
the other side of Christmas, now that he's had a
(32:22):
couple months of practicing playing games at two seventy, clearly
getting used to his new weight, getting on the other
side of it, and then eventually, I think my hope
is having some real value out there.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
How many minutes would you like him to get? Like
it around the seventeen they had at Oklahoma.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Yeah, you know right now he's at about twelve. We
would like to get more, and I know he would
like to get more, but I think for that to happen,
you know, we have to get a little bit more
benefits from just his overall play. You know, turnovers again,
they come in a lot of forms. And you know
one thing we haven't talked about Joe and Byron is
against TCU, we had twenty assists. That's a lot of
(33:01):
assists in a game like that.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
The problem is we ended up with fifteen turnovers. You know,
if if that turnover number is more towards twelve, we
probably won a hard fought game as opposed to, you know,
a tough loss.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
All right. Listening to the Coach Sean Miller Show live
from Delhi Bistro located in the heart of Marymount on
fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
the Sean Miller Coaches Show from Deli Bistro and Marymartin.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
When you're out of town and want to keep up
with live college sports, be sure to download the new
Varsity Network app. It's available for both Apple and Android.
Listen to college sports live with the Varsity Network app.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Bud like Proun sponsor Xavier Athletics, Easy to drink, easy
to enjoy.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
Coach Dalen Swain versus TCU. He had twelve points, four rebounds.
He knocked down his first three pointer of the year.
Talk about how.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
With one second, with one second left, yep, it.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Still, counsel right, Coach, you're right, I no doubt, We'll
take it one. I thought Dalen played well more aggressive.
It was great to see him contribute on the offensive glass.
You know, him and Marcus Foster combined for four second shots.
So when you talk about us having ten second shots,
forty percent of our second shots came from Dalen and Marcus.
(34:18):
That's something we're really really coaching them, encouraging them to
do more of. I think we're a better team, We're
more physical team. We have much more of an upside
when those two guys can be a factor on the
offensive glass. Both of them have done a really good
job of defensive rebounding this season, so it was good
to see Dalen in particular become more part of it.
(34:39):
But he was five for five from the floor byron
four rebounds, twelve points to assist two turnovers in twenty
four minutes. And defensively, I thought he was solid. There's
been games where he can give you more defensively, but
I thought for the large part he was a positive
in that game.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Did he get enough shots for you? Five for five,
five five opportunities to I thought he challenged a little
bit more versus South Carolina State and that game, I
think he took two shots and a lot of times
he didn't even seem to look at the basket while
they were pressuring him. Offensively, is his mindset is it
(35:19):
where it needs to be.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Yeah, we're hard at work at trying to just overall
make it more aggressive. If you think about what offensive
rebounding does, and that gives him a great avenue right
there to get an easy one, to get fouled, to
impact the game where you don't have to make a
three point shot, but it's another shot attempt. In transition
is where Dalen has shined, you know, both having the
(35:43):
ball and being you know, the faster the game. He
makes a lot of good plays a lot of times
passing sometimes keeping it himself.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
What we have to continue to.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
Help him with is to allow him to be more
confident and more assertive in the half court when the
game's five on five and you know, being a great
cutter taking wide open, uncontested threes. We want him to
do that and to look at the basket first to
do that, to establish that he'll take it. Once again,
if Dalen makes one of three and he takes one
(36:14):
a game to a game, he makes us a better
team just from from the standpoint of that. He's a
factor that you have to acknowledge the fact that he'll
take and make an open shot. So we're working with
him on it. His starting point. If you go back
to where he would have been a year ago, he
wouldn't have taken him. Now we're starting to get to
him to the point where he's starting to become a
(36:34):
little bit more aggressive.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
You know, Coach, to your point in the TCU game,
when Swain become aggressive and started attacking the basket, you
could feel the momentum swing in that building, and I
think he had an awful lot to do with that
period of time. War Zavis maybe played some of the
best basketball the season. He just kind of took over
a little.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
And I would say that that's not just in the
TCU game. I think that's been prevalent through nine games.
You know, I think when you look at our entire season,
during key moments, key stretches. I'll go to South Carolina
at the beginning of the second half, many plays that
he made against Wake Forest, where when he's assertive, when
he's a part of things, when we're in transition, when
he's aggressive, we can get him going more to the glass.
(37:13):
I think that's the best version of our team moving forward,
and that's what we're trying to bring out. You know,
if I had a shot, you know, I could give
him like a flu shot of that, I'd be more
uh happy to take him to CVS to do it.
But you know, it takes time, it takes experience, and
you know a reminder with daylan Is Dalen is the
player that once was. He's nineteen. He got here at eighteen,
(37:37):
he played his entire year as a true freshman, came back.
Now he's a young sophomore. You know, you start to
think about his learning curve and his development. He'll be
better in January and February than he is today.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
All right, This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show from
Billy Bistro and Marrymount on fifty five KRC and the
Varsity Network. Welcome back to the Sean Miller Show by
from Billy Pistro Coach. The Musketeers take on Morgan State
tomorrow airtime. It's six dirty tip off at seven o'clock.
That game will be on seven hundred WLW. What can
(38:09):
you tell us about Morgan State?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
You know, it's our last home non conference game. They
play very fast, they play a lot of players. They
are going to test us on two areas that we
have to really be sure in and that is blocking
them out, not allowing them to get those second shots.
They crash the glass from a lot of different places.
Very athletic, very physical, and we also have to be
(38:33):
able to take care of the ball. They pressure and
they really try to force turnovers. So it would be
a great game to be able to do really well
in the area of low turnovers, taking care of the ball,
and then from a rebound perspective, being a team that's physical,
that's ready for the shot when it goes up, and
blocking out keeping them off the glass and then obviously
(38:53):
getting our fair share, so we'll be tested in both
of those areas.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
Coach any opportunity for a guy like Cam Fletcher to
get in a game like this.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, Scam's getting better.
Speaker 4 (39:02):
He really is. You know his history. He's dealt with
two just really tough injuries Byron, and part of our
promise when we brought him here is just to make
sure that there's no way in the world we rush
him back, that he's not only healthy, but just healthy,
and then just double check and triple check and make
sure that we bring him along incrementally, which we have done.
(39:22):
And if he's gonna get an opportunity to be a
part of things, it'll be uh, It'll be here in
the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
I'd like to thank everybody for joining us here for
the Sean Miller Show at Dilli Bistro where you're really
appreciate you taking the time. I love seeing you. We're
in Marrimont, We're on fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
The best health outcomes, be seen, be heard, be healed.
Visit tryhealth dot com. But late, easy to drink, easy
to enjoy, and buy Dilly Bistro presenting sponsor of the
Sean Miller radio show. The preceding has been a Learfield
presentation on the Xavier Sports Network
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com