Student-Athlete Quotes Columbia
Wes Johnson, Jr., Forward
On his 3-point shooting
“I’ve been working with Coach Murphy a lot, before and after practice just getting a lot of shots up and finding my rhythm.”
On his adjustment after sitting out a year
“I’m just having fun, everything else is flowing. Right now I’m back to my normal self.”
On what he was watching during his time on the bench
“It was really just what we needed work on, the biggest thing we needed help with. Rebounding was a big part of that -- especially defensively -- so I focused on defensive rebounding. I knew the offense was going to come. We have a lot of offensive players on our team, so it was really just picking and choosing what I needed to do.”
On how the team has come together
“Everybody just really bought into defense and we all trust each other. We are a close-knit team; we are going out there and playing together. Everybody holds every one accountable for their mistakes and that is really helping us.”
On the second half
“We knew we had to come out with a spark. The first half we were a little sluggish and weren’t playing with enough energy. We came out the second half and found our own energy from within ourselves.”
Andy Rautins, Sr., Guard
On his ankle
“It is doing well. It is feeling a lot better and I’m getting treatment for it. Since I’ve played on it so much after the injury it might still be there pain-wise but it is going to continue to get better.”
On second-half adjustments
“We hold each other to high standards and I think that is what we realized at halftime that we weren’t playing our game. We fired each other up a little bit more on the floor vocally and got easy transition buckets.”
On getting steals
“It's being in the right spot, a lot of anticipation and watching film to recognize where guys have their tendencies to find shooters. It is pretty easy to get your hand on the ball when the high post has their back turned to you and they’re trying to kick out. You can always play hard on defense despite how your offensive game is going and I think that is something everyone on this team prides themselves on.”
On what the team has to work on
“Being more efficient. We came out to start the game and had a few lackluster turnovers here and there throughout the game. I think we had more turnovers tonight than we’ve had in a while so we need to clean that up for sure. We’re still continuing to be selfless out there and that is what we have to build on -- our defense and our selflessness.”
Brandon Triche, Fr., Guard
What he takes from the win
“There are going to be a lot of games like this where you have to find motivation in yourself. Just like what we’ve done in the past couple games -- we adjust in the second half to take away their strengths and we get big plays. If we keep doing this we’ll be fine.”
On playing former teammate Nick Pascale (Colgate forward)
“It is my first time playing the. We’ve talked about it a little bit and I’m definitely excited to play.”
