Student-Athlete Quotes
Brandon Triche, senior, guard
It has only been a few games, but do you feel like you are being more assertive out there this year?
“I’m just playing basketball. To me, that’s all it is -- just being a senior, being one of the leaders on the team and just trying to help the team as best as I can.”
I know you guys won convincingly, but the reality is in today’s college basketball landscape you can’t overlook a single team, can you?
“No you can’t. I think they played us tough the first half. We are a good team at adjusting and we adjust pretty quickly, in our zone as well as offensively. We were able to adjust. We were able to go on a few runs. Baye (Keita) did well and Trevor (Cooney) did pretty well defensively. It started with defense. We were able to get on the break and get easy shots.”
You mentioned defensive -- you guys had 14 steals today and the guards were responsible for a lot of those -- even if they didn’t get the steal they got the deflection. Talk about you effort out top defensively tonight.
“Trevor (Cooney) had six steals. He was very active. He’s playing better defense in the games than in practice. He made it a lot easier for me to play up there. He motivated me to play defense. I think as guards, we did a good job rebounding. I had seven today. Mike (Carter-Williams) had six as well and we were able to get on the break just being able to rebound and play tough defense.”
Is that a mindset for you and Michael to hit the glass and to go in and try and help out?
“Yeah. With him being 6-6 and me being 6-4, I try and get as many rebounds as I can, especially offensively and defensively. I remember in the past few years I tried to get on the break a little more and what would happen is we wouldn’t get the rebound and I would just look silly running at half court. So I figured if I get the rebound, I can start the break myself.”
Baye Keita, junior, forward
Don’t you think when you are younger you just get it and you need to fire it up there right away because you are afraid the defense is going to collapse and so now you are able to collect yourself a little bit.
“Yeah. That’s what he (Coach Boeheim) told us the whole time. When you get the ball nobody else can take it out of your hand. So that’s the way I tried to play in the game.”
Is that the most confident you’ve felt in a game so far?
“Every game when I want to go in, I’m confident. It doesn’t matter what game, if I play one minute or two minutes. Every time I go in I’m pretty confident. I think that confidence is not a problem.”
You’ve always been a guy who has been in pretty good shape. How has that helped you in terms of staying alert in the game?
“I think that being in shape is really healthy. I work out all the time with Ryan (Cabiles). Ryan has been helping me a lot. Like I said, my weight was not that high, so that was helping, but now I got my weight up and being in shape, I think it’s compared to last year. So I think being in shape will help me when there is a key moment during a game.”
Michael Carter-Williams, sophomore, guard
It seemed like you and Brandon were making a concerted effort to help out on the glass. I think you had six boards and he had seven. Just talk about that mindset of trying to help out on the glass.
"I think we’re both bigger guards and I think we can rebound with the big men, especially on the defensive end. We know that defense is not over until we get the rebound, so we try to go and hustle after every rebound.”
It’s so early in this season. Where are you in your progression do you think?
“I think the team and I can get better every day. I think we can be as good as we want to be and be a contender for a national championship. So we’re just getting better everyday in practice and just looking forward to it.”
This team looks like there are a lot of guys out there who look like they love playing the game and just want to play the part. Cooney is one of them. Is that how you feel everyday in practice?
“Definitely. I think we all love to do what we do. Like you said, Trevor
(Cooney) loves to play. We just go into practice looking to compete against each other and we know that will translate over to the game because we all love winning.”
Can you talk about not overlooking people in college basketball early in the year? You see upsets happen all the time. You guys won convincingly today, but you can’t overlook anybody at this point.
“Yeah, definitely. I think that’s what’s good about our team is that we respect every team and we scout every team the same. We don’t scout one team more than the other. We respect the players of the other teams. Great players on Wagner. And we don’t take any team lightly.”
Along those same lines, Princeton is next. We all know about Princeton and their deliberate style and having to be patient. Talk about facing the Tigers on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a good game for us. I think they’re going to do a lot of backdoor cuts and a lot of movement on offense. So it’s going to be a good game for us to work on our zone and hopefully come out with the win.”
It has only been a few games, but do you feel like you are being more assertive out there this year?
“I’m just playing basketball. To me, that’s all it is -- just being a senior, being one of the leaders on the team and just trying to help the team as best as I can.”
I know you guys won convincingly, but the reality is in today’s college basketball landscape you can’t overlook a single team, can you?
“No you can’t. I think they played us tough the first half. We are a good team at adjusting and we adjust pretty quickly, in our zone as well as offensively. We were able to adjust. We were able to go on a few runs. Baye (Keita) did well and Trevor (Cooney) did pretty well defensively. It started with defense. We were able to get on the break and get easy shots.”
You mentioned defensive -- you guys had 14 steals today and the guards were responsible for a lot of those -- even if they didn’t get the steal they got the deflection. Talk about you effort out top defensively tonight.
“Trevor (Cooney) had six steals. He was very active. He’s playing better defense in the games than in practice. He made it a lot easier for me to play up there. He motivated me to play defense. I think as guards, we did a good job rebounding. I had seven today. Mike (Carter-Williams) had six as well and we were able to get on the break just being able to rebound and play tough defense.”
Is that a mindset for you and Michael to hit the glass and to go in and try and help out?
“Yeah. With him being 6-6 and me being 6-4, I try and get as many rebounds as I can, especially offensively and defensively. I remember in the past few years I tried to get on the break a little more and what would happen is we wouldn’t get the rebound and I would just look silly running at half court. So I figured if I get the rebound, I can start the break myself.”
Baye Keita, junior, forward
Don’t you think when you are younger you just get it and you need to fire it up there right away because you are afraid the defense is going to collapse and so now you are able to collect yourself a little bit.
“Yeah. That’s what he (Coach Boeheim) told us the whole time. When you get the ball nobody else can take it out of your hand. So that’s the way I tried to play in the game.”
Is that the most confident you’ve felt in a game so far?
“Every game when I want to go in, I’m confident. It doesn’t matter what game, if I play one minute or two minutes. Every time I go in I’m pretty confident. I think that confidence is not a problem.”
You’ve always been a guy who has been in pretty good shape. How has that helped you in terms of staying alert in the game?
“I think that being in shape is really healthy. I work out all the time with Ryan (Cabiles). Ryan has been helping me a lot. Like I said, my weight was not that high, so that was helping, but now I got my weight up and being in shape, I think it’s compared to last year. So I think being in shape will help me when there is a key moment during a game.”
Michael Carter-Williams, sophomore, guard
It seemed like you and Brandon were making a concerted effort to help out on the glass. I think you had six boards and he had seven. Just talk about that mindset of trying to help out on the glass.
"I think we’re both bigger guards and I think we can rebound with the big men, especially on the defensive end. We know that defense is not over until we get the rebound, so we try to go and hustle after every rebound.”
It’s so early in this season. Where are you in your progression do you think?
“I think the team and I can get better every day. I think we can be as good as we want to be and be a contender for a national championship. So we’re just getting better everyday in practice and just looking forward to it.”
This team looks like there are a lot of guys out there who look like they love playing the game and just want to play the part. Cooney is one of them. Is that how you feel everyday in practice?
“Definitely. I think we all love to do what we do. Like you said, Trevor
(Cooney) loves to play. We just go into practice looking to compete against each other and we know that will translate over to the game because we all love winning.”
Can you talk about not overlooking people in college basketball early in the year? You see upsets happen all the time. You guys won convincingly today, but you can’t overlook anybody at this point.
“Yeah, definitely. I think that’s what’s good about our team is that we respect every team and we scout every team the same. We don’t scout one team more than the other. We respect the players of the other teams. Great players on Wagner. And we don’t take any team lightly.”
Along those same lines, Princeton is next. We all know about Princeton and their deliberate style and having to be patient. Talk about facing the Tigers on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a good game for us. I think they’re going to do a lot of backdoor cuts and a lot of movement on offense. So it’s going to be a good game for us to work on our zone and hopefully come out with the win.”
