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 during his weekly press conference. Topics included Kenny Pohto's big game and what it means for the second half, Craig Porter's calming influence and how a bum ankle inadvertently led to the next step in his evolution as team leader, plus what went wrong against ECU and what the staff is doing to make it right. Read on for the transcript:
 

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HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN ON:
 
… the loss to East Carolina:
"East Carolina came in and played well. We couldn't guard them defensively… They shot it at 40% from the three-point line. We didn't do a good job of getting our defense set. It's the first time all year I felt like our defense really broke down, so give them a lot of credit."
 
… upcoming opponent Cincinnati:
"They've got a lot of veteran guys. (David) DeJulius is averaging 16-per-game. Transfer, (Landers) Nolley, from Memphis, is averaging 15-per-game and shooting (43%) from the three-point line. (Jeremiah) Davenport is always dangerous. No matter what he's shooting, he seems to play well against us. They've got some big kids inside. They really defend at a high level. Good basketball team, good veteran basketball team. So we've got our hands full. We've got to defend at a higher level, get back in transition and make them go against a set defense. We've got to value the basketball, can't turn it over. They're forcing (14.2) turnovers-per-game. When we played them up there last year, they just picked us up full court and tried to put as much pressure as possible on the basketball, and we didn't handle that well."
  
…what he saw go wrong on defense against ECU:
"You've just got to have basketball knowledge. If a guy takes off running, you know you've got to take off running with him. 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. I thought we guarded them for the first four or five minutes of the game. All of a sudden, they got a couple transition baskets. They saw it go through the net and then that gave them confidence, and they started making threes. It felt like it was the same thing in the second half. We came out, we defended, we turned them over for about four or five minutes. 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."
  
… communicating on the defensive end:
"It's a bunch of new guys, but we're 14 games in. Guys have to get out of their comfort zone and start talking. You've got to communicate. The teams that are successful are the ones that communicate.. Every day in practice, we're talking about communicating, but you've got to take it into the game. 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."
 
… the injury bug's effects on rotations and overall chemistry:
"I thought before conference started, every game we played this year we had an opportunity to win, if it wasn't for turnovers and maybe some rebounding. We hadn't played anybody that just came in here and just beat us or pressed us. Going into the conference, all of a sudden we get one or two injuries, and it changes our rotations."
 
…Craig Porter maintaining his leadership role from the bench:
"He was very vocal. The last game against East Carolina, he said, 'Coach, I'm not 100%. If it's an emergency, I can go on the floor,' and it was an emergency. We were down 21-12, and he got on the floor and kind of calmed those guys down. 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."
 
… Porter's willingness to put his body on the line and the example it sets:
"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. So I think that's great leadership on his part."
 
… learning from mistakes and staying confident after losses:
"Every game. If it's rebounding, the next day in film we go watch rebounding and we do a lot of rebounding drills in practice. The last game, it was transition baskets. 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. After the game at Central Florida, where we turned it over, all we did was passing. So every day we're working on something... Those guys are still bought in. They're still confident that we can win games. We've just got to put a good 40 minutes together, put that loss behind us and continue to get better and better."
 
…Kenny Pohto's breakthrough against ECU:
"He's getting in better shape. I hate to say that this late in the year, 14 games in, but Kenny missed all summer. He was over in Sweden… When he got back, he had a nagging knee injury that took him awhile. He may have missed three or four weeks. When we got him in practice, he couldn't go for an hour and thirty minutes; he probably would practice half the time. He's getting in better shape, number one. He's also starting to figure it out. He has a high basketball I.Q. He's always in the right spots on defense, whether that's a ball screen coverage or helping out and running up the lane to help out on a guy driving the basketball. Early on in the season, he settled for threes, but he's starting to figure it out… We've got to get him and James Rojas the ball a lot more on the block. The last game when those guys touched the ball in the paint, we were 16-of-19 from the field, and we were 0-1 from the three-point line. We're just a better team when those guys touch it on the block, so we've got to get them more touches."
 
…the importance of getting the ball in the paint:
"When it gets in the paint, number one, you're drawing more fouls at the basket. Your guys at the top can cut and get easy baskets. When they start to double team, the fact that Kenny Pohto and James Rojas are excellent passers, it frees (other) guys up to get wide-open shots because those bigs are not selfish. They can score with their backs to the basket. It helps us a lot when we just go inside."
 
…the frustration of seeing repeat mistakes so far into the season:
"The first two or three games, we were struggling to get matched up in transition, struggling to keep the ball out of the paint. We were turning the ball over at a high rate. It's a little disappointing, this late in the year -- 14 games in, two conference games -- that we're making the same mistakes. Those guys are playing hard, but I don't think we're playing smart. I don't think we're communicating at the level we need to communicate, and we talk about that every day in practice, in film. We've just got to make it hard. Every day in practice, practice is harder than it's ever been since I've been here. Guys were doing charge drills the other day in practice, we were diving on the floor for loose balls, we did a lot of conditioning, and we're going to continue to do that. Losing will not be tolerated. We've got to play better. We've got to fix it."