1-on-1 with Jay Jay Chandler: On adjusting to college, A&M's future

On how he’s adjusted so far in his first year…

“You’ve just got to get used to all the different roles, like you’ve got to change your roll from high school to college – you have be able to take in a lot of stuff from scouting, from practice, all the different plays. You just have bring it all in and just stay focused. Like every day is a new job opportunity it feels like. You just have to come out here and keep putting your best foot forward, just keep fighting and all that. A&M’s been good. It’s been good so far. I’m just going to keep riding it out and see how it goes from there.”

On his role with the team and his minutes changing game to game…

“It could be difficult, but the coaching staff here they talk to me every game – always make sure my mind’s in the right state and all that, make sure I’m not having outside distractions, keeping tunnel vision, just playing my role, executing the game plan and just being out there trying to help win the game.”

On the importance of basketball to his life and growing up in Katy…

“Basketball has been in my family since I was born. I was born, my dad was playing basketball, my two older brothers were playing basketball, my mom was like a team mom on my dad’s AAU team and stuff like that. I’ve been playing basketball my whole life, and I was really playing football too. So I was playing football, and once I got to high school I was like, ‘Oh, yeah I’m just going to stick with basketball,’ because I was like better at basketball than I was at football. So I was like, ‘This might get me to where I want to be in life.’ Living in Katy when I was young, it was quiet. It’s very busy now. Living out there has been great. I’m always going to represent for Katy every time I step on the court. Whenever people ask me where I’m from, I’m not going to say I’m from Houston. I’m from Katy. That’s where I’m from. Katy, that’s home.”

On his two older brothers….

“I’m the youngest of the bunch. My two older brothers — they always pushed and everything, and whenever they were doing drills, I would jump in too whenever I was little. Now since I’m the youngest and we’re about the same size and stuff, whenever we go in the gym they’re always hitting me, just like all the physical stuff. They got me in my physical game and stuff like that. I always had to play up. I always had to play faster. I always tried to stay with my brothers whenever I was growing up with the level of basketball and stuff. They basically taught me everything and my dad too, making sure I had all the basic fundamental skills down and stuff. And now I’m here. They haven’t beat me in a while. They think they can, but that won’t happen.”

On being recruited by Texas A&M….

“My family always knew that Texas A&M was close and stuff like that. It’s not too far. Whenever I was coming into high school, I was like just checking out which schools were close. I always looked at the close schools first, and then you start expanding and stuff. A&M has always been there. I’ve been talking to them seriously since the end of my sophomore year. And since then, everything’s been straightforward every time I talked to the coaches and stuff when they were recruiting me. They always came to me just telling the truth and stuff and not just telling me what I
wanted to hear – to actually tell me something to help me, and I felt like it would make my future come true. I just felt like this would be the best place to come whenever I was deciding.”

On the future of the team going forward….

“It’s looking really bright. We’re trying to hang up some more banners up in here and all that. We’re just going to keep coming out here and winning games. I don’t think we’ll have a down year anytime soon, but we’re going to keep coming out here and winning games and making everybody proud, get some more banners up in here and win national championships. So I think our future is going to be very bright.”