CINCINNATI — The result Tuesday was a gut punch. The impact, however, was nothing short of sensational.
That’s how anyone should look at the 74-73 last-second loss the Bearcats suffered at the hands of the Texas Longhorns in the first-ever Big 12 game played at Fifth Third Arena.
Yes, the Bearcats could’ve, should’ve, would’ve won the game if they didn’t commit 15 turnovers that led to 22 Texas points or if they didn’t shoot 8-of-15 collectively from the free throw line, or if Max Abmas was called for traveling moments before his game-winning shot that hit iron before falling through.
Tuesday night was a big-time moment for a basketball program that has been built by Wes Miller for precisely this moment.
“I told Wes before the game, he’s done a great job again building this program,” Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “You look at the league where they were coming from, they had to deal with Houston. Houston is a physical team. He’s built his team for the Big 12. They’re a physical team, they can rebound, they can play in transition.”
Terry wasn’t done complimenting the Cincinnati environment.
“This venue here, it’s always been a great basketball venue. I’ve been here years past and Cincinnati is a great basketball city. They understand basketball, they have great fans, have had great players and great teams over the years here. So, this is a great addition to the Big 12 in terms of – I’m not gonna say a basketball school – because football has been pretty good, too. But basketball has been what you guys hang your hat on here. This is a historic basketball program in a great venue.”
Tuesday is a game that could be repeated over and over this season, a game where neither team leads by double digits the entire game, where both teams use their fouls to extend a game, where the rims get tested with transition dunks and where physical rebounding and attacking the lane is the name of the game.
“That’s Big 12 every night, and again, in this league that’s why it’s the best league in the country, there’s no night off, whether you’re at home you’re on the road. You’ve got to come and take these wins these were no one’s going to give you a win.
“We found that out ourselves on Saturday. We played a well-coached Texas Tech team that came in and out-competed us on our home court and walked away with the W. But these are possession games. These are tough venue games. These are these are games where you have great coaching and you have great players.”
The fact that the Bearcats battled and came within a whisker of a 2-0 start in the Big 12 is of little consolation to Miller.
What the players and coaches already knew was made evident to the fans who turned out Tuesday. The electricity in the building will carry you through the first 5-10 minutes. Then execution under pressure will become priority No. 1. Effort with Wes Miller’s team is irrefutable It’s been on display for fans to see every night.
“Both games here in league play, we’ve just turned it over at an incredibly high rate and that hasn’t been the team we’ve been,” Miller lamented. “But you look down and you know, you got multiple guys with two and you got a couple of guys that are starters with three and four.”
It will take next-level execution and taking care of the basketball to reach that level in America’s best conference to knock off the likes of Kansas and Baylor, a team the Bearcats will play on the road on Saturday in Waco.
“Where we got to do a better job taking it away because they turned are they turned turnovers into easy baskets all night. You know that’s the that’s the kind of stuff that you know you the reason is you lost the game,” Miller said.
“Playing the best basketball league in America. It’s gonna take an elite effort and you can’t have a possession to take off. So, effort, I don’t think anybody that watched the team would say our guys you’d be disappointed in our players effort. But the effort plus the focus and attention to detail for 40 minutes we can get better there. We got a lot of work to do there.”
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— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) January 10, 2024
And never let it be said that Miller doesn’t publicly have the backs of his players. Sure, he may get after them in practices that the public and media aren’t privy to. But once the game starts, he will not throw anyone under the bus. John Newman III missed a critical front end of a 1-and-1 with 23 seconds remaining. It allowed Texas guard Max Abmas to come down and knock down the game-winner with 6.2 seconds remaining.
“What I don’t want to hear about is free throw shooting,” Miller said. “I hurt every time we lose, our players hurt every time we lose, but nobody’s going to beat himself more than John Newman, and that just that breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. And it ain’t fair because he shouldn’t do it because one missed free throw on a one-and-one does not define the game.”
Tuesday night followed up a great road win at BYU on Saturday. But there’s absolutely no time to look back now. It’s Miller’s job to keep the Bearcats looking forward, not back at heartbreak. The Bearcats are two games deep into the most rigorous schedule they’ve ever taken on in basketball.
The Missouri Valley, the Metro, Conference USA, the Big East, the America Athletic. All of them offered their own challenges and strength of schedule. But starting this year, the Big 12 is another species altogether.
“It’s gonna take a lot of effort in these games,” Miller told me. “That’s what it is. It’s the highest level of college basketball. It’s awesome. It was incredible atmosphere in there. That’s what we all came here for. But it hurts like hell when you come up with possession short.”
Just more fuel for the fire of Big 12 basketball.
