Jerrod Calhoun, Eric Mahaffey Oakland Exhibition Postgame

Yeah, I thought, you know, obviously this is a strange game for us. We scheduled it for a reason. I have a great deal of respect for Coach Campy. I think he's one of the guardians of the game. What he's done at Oakland is truly remarkable. And that zone is, you know, something that will benefit us, whether that's, you know, Monday or throughout the year, you've got to play against teams that play zone. And we did the best we could with our guys. It's a hard zone to simulate. But I thought 31 assists for a team that is starting to come together, that's pretty special. And then the other thing we wanted to take away was their threes. They only had four. So a lot to clean up tomorrow, but happy with bits and pieces of the game. Do you like your chances if you hit 15 threes per game? I know your team. Is that what we made? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I thought every game is going to – you're going to need something different. We told our guys, you know, this game is going to be a game. You're going to get a lot of open looks against the zone. So, you know, Miles, MJ, those guys can fill it up. And everybody did a good job of finding them. It wasn't just one guy. Yeah, I mean, at the end, you know, we gave up six or seven. I think we'd have held them under 50. Where we got to get better is on the defensive rebounding, right? I think we're not finding our guys, right? We got to go hit. We got to secure the rebound. I thought we flew around. I thought our press was good, something we just worked on in the last, really, three days, Keegan. So we've got the ability to play a lot of guys. You've got to play fast. And one way you can speed people up is through the press. Yeah, he'll practice, I think, tomorrow, if not the next day. He's got a blister the size of a golf ball. So it's not worth it this time of year. We've got to have him ready to go by Monday. Chad, what do you think you've learned the most about your team on the preseason when these exhibitions are in the rear view? Yeah, that's a good question. I tell these guys every day is a learning opportunity with your team, especially when you're brand new. Start to understand who can retain information in the huddles, who struggles. I got an elite staff, so we'll address some of those situations. I think we got a lot of guys we can play. I think we have depth. Obviously, we can force turnovers. And I think our guys really like each other. You know, you don't have that many assists with this group if they don't really care for one another. So we've got the pieces. You know, biggest concern would be the physicality. We've got to continue to get tough around the glass. We get that taken care of. I think guys like Trayvon Carson, Eric Mahaney, we've got a lot of guys that do a lot of things. And, you know, the guy to the right of me, I think we've asked a lot of him. He's playing the one, the two, the three, the four. You guys should really be asking him questions because he's really getting good for us. Seven different guys hit threes. Is that what you should expect? You guys didn't take the hint. I said, we've got to ask my apes some questions. Yeah, I mean, that's how our team plays, Scott. If you know anything about our offense, anybody on any given night, you know, it's whatever the game needs, you know, there's certain players they can provide that. And just whether you start, you come off the bench, like who really cares? At the end of the day, it's about being efficient, making the right play. Every game, somebody's going to be our leading scorer. It's going to be different. We have a lot of guys, and I think guys that come in off the bench can see what the game needed. And I thought these bench guys provided a big spark tonight. Anywhere teams out. Eric, how much have you played the one in your career? And are you surprised at kind of how naturally it's coming to you? No, my dad always said, like, my position is the one. But I played in high school. for like for the whole high school season but that was it you got a former teammate that joined you In the last week, what was your reaction and Coach, how important was he? Oh, I was really excited Uh, I love Monty, had him there, played with him for two years at Akron, I think he brings like what we need for this team: rebounding, uh, extra space on the floor, he's a big body on the floor, so I loved it. How excited should fans be about being able to watch him in America during the finals? Yeah Oh, they should be really excited, like he, you know what you're gonna get from him, he's gonna He's going to bring 100% every day. He's going to bring 100% to the games. He's going to play big. So, we played him at the five last year a lot. So, like, he played against a bunch of guys. So, I think he's going to do well this year. So, you should expect a lot. Coach, with that recruitment, what did you see from him to bring him to Cincinnati? And is there a timetable on when you want him ready to kind of – Yeah, I mean, I think we have a really good team. I think from John Cunningham to Brad to Mike to Connor, There's a real alignment here, probably the best place I've been at as far as alignment from top down. So there's a plan on these guys, Kai was coming off an injury, it was a 10 minute max today and then also the same thing for Amani. So we never sway from what Mike Rayfield tells us to do. That's one thing that I think our teams have gotten pretty good at and pretty well conditioned following the strength coach and following sports science. I think you have to be really smart how you approach every practice. And I thought Amani tonight played exactly 10 minutes, Akai 10 minutes. And he'll be ready. We're trying to teach him so many things. We have to do an unbelievable job the next four days of preparing him to play a basketball game. And that's hard because he's only had three or four practices. So, you know, as teammates and assistant coaches and myself, we've got to continue to help him. they were effective on the offensive glass early. Was some of that just they shoot a lot of threes, so there was a lot of long rebounds? What were you able to do? Because you kind of took that away from them as the game went on. Yeah, I mean, sometimes you've got to remind guys in huddles. And sometimes as a coach, you've got to light a fire in guys. And that's kind of what we did at halftime. We talked about that. I think they had eight at the half. They finished with 12. You know, rebounding is a choice, right? Having a good attitude is a choice. There's a lot of things in basketball you have the choice to make. And our guys just got to make that choice. I don't think you can get in trouble for an exhibition. Did you think you fouled that much? Yeah, because I see it at practice. You know, Doug Servins, I believe, I looked this up before the game. I think at one point he was in five straight Final Fours. So these guys are the best of the best. And Doug Servins, my very first year of coaching, this is year 15 as a head coach, probably gave me the best advice I've ever gotten by a referee. I think I've had three technical fouls in 15 years, maybe four. Paul Molinari has more than me, by the way. And that's a true statement as an assistant back in D2. But I was complaining so much to the officials. As a young head coach at the D2 level, Doug looked at me dead in the eye. We were playing at West Virginia, Fairmont State, and said, you need to worry more about coaching your team than you do worried about the officials. And as a 29-year-old head coach, he was right. So you'll see. I don't say a ton, and I think those guys got a job to do, and we got to clean some of that up. But it's, you know, it's that time of year, right? You're putting your hands on them on drives, hands on the post. You know, I thought Deshaun Baden was going to foul out, and I think he played about two and a half minutes. He gave up seven points in two minutes on fouls. It's crazy. talk about the assist totals for this team how much do you guys enjoy you can see it at practice how much do you guys enjoy moving the ball and making the pass that sets up the other guy I think like as like you said like the ball presented you so when the ball touches anybody I mean I'm selling on the opposite end because I'm selling the ball to them like that means we're playing better on like all assists in the game so I love the way they do the ball