Cronin: Some guys 'can play better than they're playing'
Bill Koch, bkoch@enquirer.com 6:08 p.m. EST November 21, 2014
Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin shouts instructions to his team against Morehead State. (Photo: The Enquirer/Gary Landers)
As the University of Cincinnati Bearcats prepare for their third game of the season Sunday against Eastern Illinois, coach Mick Cronin is still waiting for his three most experienced players to come to the forefront.
Seniors Jermaine Sanders and Ge'Lawn Guyn, along with junior Shaq Thomas, have yet to step into the prominent roles that veterans have traditionally assumed during the Cronin coaching era at UC. Instead, the newcomers have done the bulk of the scoring.
"We still have some guys that can play better than they're playing," Cronin said, "The three guys that have played (extensively) for us were guys that have never been star performers."
Two of the three – Guyn and Thomas – are returning starters from last year and have started both games this season. Thomas has scored only three points and has made one field goal in nine attempts in 38 minutes. Guyn has scored seven points on 3-of-13 shooting. He's 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
Sanders did not score in the season opener against St. Francis (Pa.), but he bounced back Wednesday against Morehead State with eight points and five rebounds in 23 minutes.
Cronin says he's not worried about Sanders, calling him a solid player who will make open shots and can play multiple positions. And he says Guyn has been bothered by a finger injury that has affected his shot.
Thomas is another story.
"Shaq has just got off to a bad start," Cronin said. "I've got to do a better job of coaching him. He's got to take more normal shots. He took one shot in the second half that he should have taken and he made it. He's got to become the master of the 8-foot pull-up jump shot. He's got to stop and shoot and quit dribbling into people and trying to shoot circus shots. Circus shots are low-percentage shots, even for the guys in the circus. He's got to shoot normal shots - two feet, two hands."
According to Cronin, Thomas worked hard during the offseason to correct his flaws, but he tends to revert to his bad habits in games.
Fortunately for UC (2-0), several of the newcomers have compensated, especially junior center Octavius Ellis, a junior college transfer who has averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds with five blocked shots. And guard Farad Cobb, another junior college transfer, stole the show against Morehead State with an electrifying 24-point performance during which he made six of nine shots from 3-point range.
Cobb did not score in UC's opener, but scored 16 points in the second half against Morehead. Ellis has been solid from the first exhibition game and has clearly been the most consistently productive player on the roster.
"Octavius is our best player because he can affect the game on both ends," Cronin said. "He's leading us in blocked shots, deflections, rebounding, field goal percentage and points per game, so I'm not going out on a limb telling you he's our best player right now."
Two other newcomers – freshmen Gary Clark and Quadri Moore – played well in the opener, with Clark scoring 10 points and Moore nine, but neither accomplished much in game two.
"We've got a lot of guys that I think are capable," Cronin said. "They just need minutes."
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