TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

After playing about 10 minutes per game last season, you are now getting double that time on the floor and averaging around eight points and four rebounds per game. Where do you feel the most significant improvement has been in your game, allowing you to make more of an impact?
I feel the biggest change has been in my poise. During my freshman year, I think I was trying to do everything at once. That applies to our whole team as well, we've learned how to slow things down at both ends of the floor. It's worked out for us.

Was that something you feel you gained through work over the course of the summer, or rather as part of the learning process during your freshman season?
A little bit of both. One year of experience does a lot, but with the amount of work put in over the summer you naturally get more reps and feel more comfortable with the speed of the game at this level.

Do you often talk to freshmen like Brian Andre and Parnell Smith about being patient throughout the year regarding playing time?
Definitely. I was in the same position as them last year. I talked to Brian about it within the last week. I told him the minutes are going to come, but that you just have to be prepared when they do. You can't worry about how much time you get - it's about quality and not quantity.

Throughout December, your team seems to be playing with a higher level of defensive intensity. Do you feel that to be the case, as well?
We've definitely picked it up on defense. Our coaching staff puts a lot of pressure on us to do that. We don't want to allow our opponents to get easy catches. Our efforts on that end of the floor help out our offense, as well. We work very hard against one another in practice, which makes it that much easier to do in a game situation.

How rewarding has it been to get off to the start you have after a five-win season last year?
It has been great. Roderick Middleton and I recently spoke about that, though. We've done a lot as compared to last year, but in the overall scheme of things we realize that we have a long way to go.

Do you guys thrive on playing in front of an energetic crowd like the ones you see at Alumni Arena?
I can't speak for everyone else, but personally I love playing in front of the home crowd. It gets your adrenaline pumping. I feed off the crowd so much that sometimes it hurts me - because on the road, you don't always have that atmosphere. I have been working on not relying so much on that.

As a post player at 6-foot-6, what are the largest obstacles you face? What types of things can you do to overcome them?
The biggest challenge is strength - and I am working on that every day. Obviously the height is a factor, as well - sometimes I am playing against guys two, three or four inches taller than me. What I do mostly to combat that is to stay low and use my quickness. If I do that, I can really turn the situation in my advantage.

In the men's basketball media guide, you listed The Iliad as your favorite book. When did you read it and what impact has it had on you?
I was a junior in high school when I first read it. It wasn't just the book, but also Mr. Nolan - the teacher who gave it to me. He was a great teacher. I've held onto that book in part just to remind me of how much I learned from that class.

When you were at Benedictine High School outside of Cleveland, your squad once played a game against LeBron James' team - in fact, you scored 24 points in that contest. What do you remember about both LeBron and that game?
As far as LeBron, it was like he was an adult playing against boys. He was physically dominant, but mentally strong, as well. From my perspective, I feel like that game made me a better player because of the competition. A month or so ago, my younger brother talked to LeBron and he said he remembered that game against us and that I was one of the tougher opponents he faced in high school. I take pride in the fact that I played him hard.

Do you watch the Cavaliers a lot now? How thoroughly do you and your teammates follow the NBA?
We argue a lot about the NBA - like who's the best rookie and who the best team is. We're all from different spots across the nation and naturally we all back our hometown team. So we do follow the NBA and talk about it quite a bit.

-The "10 Questions with…" feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.