Jamelle Cornley Transcript

The transcript of the interview Chris DiGiacomo (CD) and I (MP) had with senior captain Jamelle Cornley (JC). Cornley is one of the best players in Penn State basketball history. He is a 1,000 point scorer and looks to finish the year in the top 10 in school history in points and rebounds.

Cornley enters the year as the unquestioned leader of the team, bringing a high level of intensity to the court for each and every game. To say the least, he is fired up about this year and how last season ended.

MP: Jamelle, what are some of the things you’re looking to accomplish with this team, this being your senior season?

JC: First off, win as many games as possible. I think every team in the country wants to do that. But, to make sure we go ahead and play as hard as we can. Outside of the bigger goals, such as winning the Big Ten championship and getting to the NCAA tournament, we want to start at some of the smaller goals. And that would be protecting this home court and win as many games as possible and have fun. So it should be a season to remember, and hopefully we’ll be able to accomplish some of those goals.

CD: You talked about the home court. What do you want to say to those fans out there? We saw them pack it strong especially late last season. What are you gonna say to them to come back and fill this place up again?

JC: I think we’re not done yet. We’ve just really started. That’s pretty much my message. I’m actually meeting with some of the student section later on tonight, and we’re not done yet. We’re just starting, and hopefully you can come out and support us because we’re gonna give it our all, especially under me. I’m gonna make sure we play as hard as we can. I can’t promise you we’re gonna win every game or we’ll score a ton of points, but we’re gonna play as hard as we can. We can control that.

MP: Now you guys, you had the unfortunate injury with Geary Claxton early in Big Ten play last season. However, a lot of the young guys then got to play, and you guys got to play together as a group, and a lot of those guys came back this season. How big do you think that was in terms of the team’s success this season?

JC: It was huge because now they’re able to play in pressure situations. We lost close games and we won close games. An example of that is the Indiana game here, and another example of that is the Illinois game in the Big Ten tournament. So we know what it takes to win and we know what it takes to lose, and you know your feeling on that. You never want those feelings when you lose close games. So, you carry on some of that experience and some of that energy and all that stuff and bring it to the beginning of the season, and hopefully things will happen on the positive end.

CD: Obviously, this is your senior year. Let’s say 5-10 years from now, what do you want people to say about you and the way that you played, remembering your time here at Penn State?

JC: 5-10 years from now, I pretty much want them to say that Jamelle Cornley came out here and gave everything he had to turn around this program. He was a leader that made sure everyone felt comfortable, and he wanted to make sure that everybody understood that if you continue to work hard, you’ll be successful one way or another. That’s pretty much my biggest goal. There’s no individual stats that I want. I don’t really care for that at all, but to make sure that Jamelle Cornley put everything out here, and that he tried to put some people in these seats.

MP: Now you talked about the Illinois game last year that ended your season in the Big Ten tournament. A lot of people thought that might have been a premature ending, that you guys maybe could have made a run the way you were playing at the end of the season. How much have you guys thought about that game, and in the off-season, use that as fuel to get you guys going in the off-season?

JC: I think that that game, unfortunately it was the last game of the season, but that game I was probably most proud of the team because they were so angry at the end. And when you have the anger that they had, I think that they were ready to play some more, and they were ready to get back into the flow of the upcoming season. So we use that as motivation because Illinois kind of over-celebrated, we felt. We took that as, we did our job, we beat them twice already. They deserved that win. They played hard and everything. But I think the team was pretty pissed off and we’re gonna use that as some motivation for not just them this year, but for every team that we play against.

CD: Obviously, everyone we have talked to says that you are the unquestioned leader of this team. But guys like Stanley and Talor, they got to get some experience last year, and they’ve been able to give some advice to the freshmen. What has their transition to becoming team leaders done for this team in your mind?

JC: It’s done a lot because now they have to look at themselves and say ‘I’m here now. I’m a veteran now.’ They understand what it takes to win the games and how hard it is to fight back. Now, they have to take that knowledge and pass it on to somebody else. So it not only helps the team, but it helps me too, because now I don’t have to feel obligated to try to tell everybody certain things. The younger guys can go and talk to Stanley and Talor and guys like that, so it helps out a lot.