Wes Miller Highlights UC Coaching Legend Bob Huggins' Pregame Visit, Unique Practice Tweak Entering UCF Win

The Bearcats flipped the vibes from the past few weeks in a couple of ways.

Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Wes Miller looks at his notes in the second half of the NCAA basketball game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. The Bearcats lost, 63-50. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bearcats basketball team got a special pregame visit from former head coach Bob Huggins ahead of Wednesday's win against UCF. It was the latest surprise this week, following a Monday practice where Miller noted the team just played dodgeball instead of hammering more technique.

Sometimes loosening up and reminding yourself to have fun is the right elixir. Cincinnati played free and fast in the 93-83 Quad 1 win over UCF.

"He came in the locker room before the game and came to see me, and guys, if you've been alive on this earth in the last 40 years, and you think about Cincinnati basketball, that's the first person you think about," Miller said about Huggins' appearance. "To have his support, and he had a Cincinnati shirt on, I don't know if you guys saw that, and to have his support, and that's the kind of stuff that touches me and I don't take that lightly. Whether it's Mick Cronin or Bob Huggins and a long list of former players, the guys have been supportive, not just when things are going well. 

"They've been supportive when things are going bad. I don't know if you can have a higher drive than me, but whatever the highest drive is you feel a little bit extra because you feel some responsibility. But that was cool. And then I told him to come talk to the team, and I thought that was really neat for them, too. So yeah, that kind of stuff, it means a lot. I honestly can't put into words how much that means that somebody in his position is willing to come be supportive for all the right reasons."

Free and loose came up a lot in the postgame comments. Cincinnati has been playing tight for weeks, but smacking each other with some dodgeballs seemed to unlock their joy for competition again.

"I don't believe in gimmicks," Miller said about the unique activity. "I believe in work and I believe in an everyday approach. I'm sure that'll get out there. But the truth is simpler than dodgeball. We played dodgeball on Monday, and it's the first time in a long time that they've all smiled, not smiling silly, smiling like having joy, just competing. And the coaches played, guys, I was freaking smiling, not silly, not funny, just joy, competing. And we all fell in love with basketball at one point, when there was no pressure and there was no expectations, we just fell in love with competing, and we liked basketball better than any of the other ones. And it was just good to see them get back to losing themselves in competition.

"Afterwards, that's what we talked about, 'Hey, man, you got to go play basketball the way you played dodgeball today,' and at some point in your life, that's how you played basketball all the time. You didn't carry all this extra stuff on your shoulders. And honestly, I thought our guys practiced that way yesterday, and I thought they played that way today. I think Day Day would agree. So, you know, we're not going to try to become a dodgeball team, but we got to continue to play free and loose basketball, not always with our style of play, but in just our brains like we just got to play free and have fun. And that doesn't mean play soft and not play hard, but we got to let some of the other external stuff go, and again I thought the guys did a nice job with that tonight."

Cincinnati has a clear path to success in the Big 12 after a wonky week leading into this win: Run, play free, and slam home that basketball with their high-flying athletes.

There's a long climb to get back into NCAA Tournament contention, but Wednesday was a great sign for an extended bounceback.

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