Talor Battle Transcript

The transcript of the interview Chris DiGiacomo (CD) and I (MP) had with sophomore point guard Talor Battle (TB). Last year as a freshman, Battle became a leader on the Nittany Lions squad and made a number of big shots throughout the season. Battle became a star last year against Michigan, setting career highs with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 three-pointers made.

Battle enters the season as one of Penn State's young guns, and the expectations for the second-year player from Albany, NY are as high as any point guard in Penn State history.

MP: Alright, Talor, last year you guys took a lot of steps certainly late in the year to become a better team. What kind of stuff did you do in the off-season to prepare for this season?

TB: I just wanted to be a consistent shooter. Last year, I started off the season poorly shooting the basketball, so one of my goals was to work on my consistency in knocking down shots, and working on my pull-up, mid-range jump shots, and I really think I progressed throughout the summer.

CD: Talor, we saw at times last year where you would put the team on your back and really step up as a playmaker. What would you say coming into this year are you bringing to the table that would help define you from last year?

TB: I think a big thing is leadership. Obviously, as a point guard, leadership really comes along with it and I think I need to help lead more. And obviously, it’s not just about shooting. I just want to be a playmaker, like you said. Whether it’s one game I have 13 assists one night, or scoring 25 another night, I just want to go out and be able to do whatever I can do to help my team win.

MP: A lot of times last year you were looked at to take a shot late in the game to either win a game or send it to overtime. How much confidence did the coaching staff really instill in you when they were looking to you at the end of the game?

TB: I guess they had some confidence in me to give me the ball. My whole life I always wanted to take the last shot. And I’m obviously man enough if I miss it to take it and deal with the fact that I kind of lost us the game, maybe if you want to say that. But, obviously, I’m just real confident, so in late game situations, I just want to step up and take the shot, and I’m glad the coaches have confidence in me to do so.

CD: You guys had some big wins here, especially in this house last year against Michigan State, most notably. What do you say to those fans out there that you hope continue to keep coming back and filling up the seats here at the BJC?

TB: They’re big. They’re a big component to our success, and none of that last year could have been possible without them, and we just hope they keep showing up, and we’re gonna do our best to win games for them and for ourselves and for the program.

MP: Jamelle said that after the Illinois loss last year to end your season that a lot of the team was upset and really angry about how the season had ended. What did you come out of that game with, personally. Were you angry, upset or anything?

TB: I was really upset because I kind of left my man and let him score the game winning lay-up. So, I kind of blew us a game so to speak, so I was really upset and it kind of ate at me. I’m just really ready to get back at it and just hopefully the NCAA tournament.

MP: Did you use that as motivation in the off-season to prepare for this year?

TB: I don’t know if I used that, I used a lot of things as motivation. Obviously, I just want to get better. I don’t really think you should need motivation, you should just want to be able to go out and get better on your own. That’s kind of what I do, and I’m just really looking forward to this year.

CD: Where do you see this team ending up this season? There are a lot of hopes this year and you guys seem very, very confident in getting the record better, and continuing on your progress to next year. Where do you guys see at the end of this season? What’s your ultimate goal?

TB: We want to be dancing at the end of the season. I would be lying to you if I told you we didn’t. That’s our goal, we just want to be in the NCAA tournament and we’re working hard and hopefully we got all the pieces of the puzzle to get there and we just win games. But what we gotta do is to win on the road. Obviously, we have shown that we can win here, but the road is what’s going to determine whether or not we get into the dance.

MP: What do you think is the most important part in taking that next step and making the NCAA tournament?

TB: I think we gotta defend. Obviously, that’s been a knock the past couple years, that we haven’t defended, and we’ve really been working hard this preseason and over the summer. We’re ready to go and we’re fired up, trying to get into guys, and create offense off our defense, like I said so we can get to the tournament.