Now that basketball season is finally underway, I got the chance to sit down with one of the athletes of the week, senior Ben McNew, to ask him a few questions about the team and what to expect this season.
“This season so far has been pretty good,” said McNew. “It’s still very early. We’re 0-2, which is unfortunate, but we talked about how we could be 2-0 if some things went right the other way. We’re still excited. We’re looking forward as the season goes along to keep going and keep pushing.”
When asked about the state of the team this year, McNew said, “We have me and Clayton [Winter]. We’re both seniors. Clayton’s actually a year older than me, but is still classified as a senior. Then we’ve got a mix of younger guys that are still really productive: Tyler Hall; Cam Jones, who’s a sophomore; Cayden Lancaster and many more guys. But it’s a good mix. It’s a nice team.”
Next, I asked him about his personal and team goals for the season. He responded, “To start off, [my] personal goal is to keep being me and keep playing the best I can: keep playing hard, keep trying to lead the team. And then team goals would be obviously to start winning, and then down the road compete for a championship with my brothers.”
When asked about being chosen as athlete of the week and what that means to him, McNew said, “I think me, like I said, going out there and just playing my game, being aggressive, trying to set the tone at a very early age, going out there and trying to help my teammates be them while I be me, because I have a little bit more experience than some of them. It’s the world to me. It shows that my hard work is paying off… It’s awesome.”
“First and foremost, thank you for your support against the Berea game,” McNew said when asked what he had to say to the Asbury student body. “There were a lot of people there, and they really showed out. It was really loud. I would encourage them to keep coming out to the games. It’s a lot of fun, and your support is always a big help for us, especially on the court, having home-court advantage. I appreciate every one of them and everything they do for us.”
