Cincinnati

Thursday night's game against Cincinnati marks the midway point of the 2022-23 regular season. Isaac Brown previewed the matchup with local media Tuesday ...

Yesterday in practice, there was a lot conditioning, a lot of getting back in transition, a lot of loose ball drills, a lot of taking charges, just playing with a lot of energy and trying to make sure we're winning all the 50/50 plays. We're just a better team when those guys touch it on the block, so we've got to get them more touches." "Any time the leader of your team, a guy that they know is hurt, is willing to give his all and go out there on the floor and play when he's not 100%, those other guys that get those nagging injuries, it helps them to come back quicker when they see a guy like Craig Porter putting it all on the line. the ball a lot more on the block. Porter's willingness to put his body on the line and the example it sets: If it's rebounding, the next day in film we go watch rebounding and we do a lot of rebounding drills in practice. He couldn't do the stuff he normally does like block shots, rebound, constantly drive by guys, get in the lane, but his leadership and his attitude on the bench talking to guys, it helped to calm their nerves." All of sudden, they start getting transition baskets, and then they start to make threes, so we've just got to get better at that." You've got to be able to talk to each other, talk about who's back, talk about who's picking up the ball, yelling out the ball screen coverage, just being loud and intimidating with your voice." You can't allow a team to just throw the ball up the floor and get an easy basket. And then, in the half court, you can't allow guys to break you down, get layups and fouls. Every day in practice, we're talking about communicating, but you've got to take it into the game.