Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller calls out UVU fans in postgame press-conference
After suffering a 74-68 defeat to Utah Valley University in the NIT Quarterfinal round, Wes Miller had both praise and criticism towards UVU faithful.
In the postgame press conference following Utah Valley University’s 74-68 victory over the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller called out UVU fans. Despite the high praise of the Wolverines and their fans tonight, Miller argued that the Wolverines deserved that amount of support throughout the season.
“This was special tonight. It was loud. They were into it. They supported their team. I watched a lot of film coming into this game, and it isn’t like that every night,” said Miller. “What I would say, I probably can say it because I’m not the coach here I don’t care if people don’t like it, it should be like that every night with the job that Mark has done and the way this team has played this year. This team has won at BYU, at Oregon, at New Mexico, at Colorado. They should have had it like that for senior night. I turned it on and I couldn’t believe it.”
“That was a heck of an environment. We’ve also played in some great environments. I coached in a mid-major league and I know it’s not normal to get that every night,” said Miller. “I know how special that is. I would tell all of these people to appreciate what you have and make the environment like that every night not just when Cincinnati comes to town in the NIT because that was a difficult environment to play in.”
Additionally, Miller praised UVU, stating that they were comparable to some of the best opponents that they went up against this season.
“Houston is the number one team in the country, we played them three times and a host of other really good basketball teams, some of which are still playing in the NCAA Tournament. This is a really good basketball team with really good players and really well coached, so tip your cap to these guys,” said Miller. “I want to give credit to Mark and his club. They are a really good basketball team.”
The UCCU Center was absolute mayhem tonight, and Miller makes a fair point. With the Wolverines boasting their best season of all time at 28 wins, the idea that the UCCU Center was not even close to capacity on Senior Night for Trey Woodbury, arguably one of the program’s best players of all time, is somewhat disappointing. Utah Valley University may never see another season as the one they have had this year, so it is important to support them and create an atmosphere that entices top recruits to want to come and play here, so that the team may have continued success.
As for Miller, he had one final message of encouragement for Wolverine fans.
“It was pretty special tonight and I would say that [if] people appreciate what you have and come out and keep supporting it like that it will get really special here.”
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Senior at Utah Valley University majoring in applied communications.