Jim Foster was extremely straightforward with his message to his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga players as well as the media after Sunday's disappointing home loss to Virginia Tech.
His disappointment was not so much in the result as it was in how poorly his team played, and particularly the lack of attention to detail that helped lead to the result.
When asked if there was a positive to take from the 64-44 defeat - which ended the Mocs' six-game win streak - Foster answered: "The game ended, and we didn't get anybody hurt."
The UTC players have been involved in semester final exams, but that was not going to be an excuse for Sunday's performance.
"People make so many excuses for kids today, it's amazing," Foster said. "It's an accountability thing.
"Show up."
Defensively, the Mocs lost track of Hokies guard Kendyl Brooks, who had 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. After a poor first quarter, Virginia Tech shot 51 percent from the floor and outscored the Mocs by 13, once leading by 25 in the second half. Offensively, UTC got little from anybody other than its "Big 3" of Lakelyn Bouldin, Aryanna Gilbert and Keiana Gilbert, who combined for 32 of the team's points and 35 of its 48 shots.
"I don't think we got going offensively like we should have, like we usually do," Keiana Gilbert said. "The (Virginia Tech) defense didn't through us off; our shots weren't falling.
"We have to get other players involved."
Outside of those three, only junior point guard Molly Melton has reached double-figure scoring in a game this season. She had 10 points in a 64-61 win over Indiana on Nov. 20. Foster said that for the Mocs to be successful this season, other players are going to have to step up, adding that the Gilbert sisters and Bouldin would "do cartwheels and somersaults" if more players took shots.
"The whole philosophy behind what we do is to learn how to be accountable every day," Foster said. "We haven't been accountable every day. I hope we will start, and I'll know the next time we practice. We had terrific practices Monday and Tuesday (last week), I gave them a day off on Wednesday and we haven't had a good practice since then.
"That comes with older players leading and freshmen understanding. We can't make freshmen older: They've got to get older themselves between the ears and take the opportunities they see they're involved in and grow from that. That's how they get better.
"We can't depend on three people to score every game. We can't have people play double-figure minutes and have one shot, one shot, two shots. We just can't."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.