There must be something about a Brother Martin education and the way its players are coached to talk to reporters. Jordan Cornish, a Brother Martin alum, is hands down the best interview on the Tulane basketball team, just as Brother Martin alum Rod Teamer is the best interview on the Tulane football team. Jesuit players, for what it is worth, generally give away very little in interviews.
I like Cornish a lot, and he is a good facilitator, leading the team in assists. But he needs to be more consistent as a scorer for Tulane for this team to reach its potential. Too often, he looks like the fifth wheel during games, and he has too much talent to be in the background.
Here's my interview with him yesterday after he went off four four 3s in 60 seconds at the end of the Memphis game, draining the last two from Alabama.
On streaky shooting (7 for 37 from 3-point range outside of four white hot games this year)
"For me it’s just confidence. Seeing one go in, two go in, after the second one goes in, it’s like OK, yeah. I do so much as a facilitator. I’m a guy that would rather get someone else involved and make the right play. For me, it’s picking the right spots and when to shoot and when not to shoot. Once I see one go in, I feel like I can make 10 of them."
On role as a scorer:
"I’ve had a lot of talks with the coaching staff about me being more aggressive scoring wise. Now a lot of teams are playing me to pass, so I need to be more aggressive and be the scorer that we all know I can be. It’s just picking and choosing my spots."
On shooting really well as a freshman at UNLV and really poorly as a sophomore:
"I never hit my freshman wall, so I think I hit that wall at the beginning of my sophomore year. I think I missed my first 20 3s my sophomore year, but I finished the year over 40 percent in conference. Shooting the ball is all about confidence. Once you see the ball go in, it’s like now I’m in a groove. I feel like that now. I’m being more aggressive to score. I feel good about it."
On finding his niche on this team:
"It definitely has its ups and downs. Just when to choose my spots. We’ve got guys like Cam and Mel. I’m the new guy on the team. A lot of times I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. It has its difficulties definitely. When should I be aggressive? When Cam is struggling and Mel is struggling, then that’s my time that I definitely need to be more aggressive."
On Dunleavy's unhappiness with total team effort in first half v. Memphis:
"We let them punch us in the mouth first. They came out with aggression. They were at home and had the home crowd, and we laid down. We rely so much on coming back. We had come back multiple times, but we just couldn’t get out of that hole."
on the crosscourt pass from Caleb Daniels to him that was intercepted during late hot streak:
"I felt like if I would have gotten that ball, it would have been 3. Ray hit two and then I hit the 4 and I looked up and we were down by 5 with 45 seconds left. I think Cam got the steal and I saw the ball coming over and I thought if I could catch it, it’s going in and it’s a 2-point game. But that one turnover definitely didn’t decide the game. The first half nobody was on point, and we just laid down."
On why rough first halves keep occurring:
"It’s just focus. We’ve all got to come out and play focused and do the details, the little things. We knew that those guys were going to come out and attack the glass. They beat up on Tulsa and Tulsa beat up on us. We took that for granted, and they came out and did the same thing.:
I like Cornish a lot, and he is a good facilitator, leading the team in assists. But he needs to be more consistent as a scorer for Tulane for this team to reach its potential. Too often, he looks like the fifth wheel during games, and he has too much talent to be in the background.
Here's my interview with him yesterday after he went off four four 3s in 60 seconds at the end of the Memphis game, draining the last two from Alabama.
On streaky shooting (7 for 37 from 3-point range outside of four white hot games this year)
"For me it’s just confidence. Seeing one go in, two go in, after the second one goes in, it’s like OK, yeah. I do so much as a facilitator. I’m a guy that would rather get someone else involved and make the right play. For me, it’s picking the right spots and when to shoot and when not to shoot. Once I see one go in, I feel like I can make 10 of them."
On role as a scorer:
"I’ve had a lot of talks with the coaching staff about me being more aggressive scoring wise. Now a lot of teams are playing me to pass, so I need to be more aggressive and be the scorer that we all know I can be. It’s just picking and choosing my spots."
On shooting really well as a freshman at UNLV and really poorly as a sophomore:
"I never hit my freshman wall, so I think I hit that wall at the beginning of my sophomore year. I think I missed my first 20 3s my sophomore year, but I finished the year over 40 percent in conference. Shooting the ball is all about confidence. Once you see the ball go in, it’s like now I’m in a groove. I feel like that now. I’m being more aggressive to score. I feel good about it."
On finding his niche on this team:
"It definitely has its ups and downs. Just when to choose my spots. We’ve got guys like Cam and Mel. I’m the new guy on the team. A lot of times I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. It has its difficulties definitely. When should I be aggressive? When Cam is struggling and Mel is struggling, then that’s my time that I definitely need to be more aggressive."
On Dunleavy's unhappiness with total team effort in first half v. Memphis:
"We let them punch us in the mouth first. They came out with aggression. They were at home and had the home crowd, and we laid down. We rely so much on coming back. We had come back multiple times, but we just couldn’t get out of that hole."
on the crosscourt pass from Caleb Daniels to him that was intercepted during late hot streak:
"I felt like if I would have gotten that ball, it would have been 3. Ray hit two and then I hit the 4 and I looked up and we were down by 5 with 45 seconds left. I think Cam got the steal and I saw the ball coming over and I thought if I could catch it, it’s going in and it’s a 2-point game. But that one turnover definitely didn’t decide the game. The first half nobody was on point, and we just laid down."
On why rough first halves keep occurring:
"It’s just focus. We’ve all got to come out and play focused and do the details, the little things. We knew that those guys were going to come out and attack the glass. They beat up on Tulsa and Tulsa beat up on us. We took that for granted, and they came out and did the same thing.: