The Canes completed their roster overhaul with the signing of 6'5 swingman AJ Staton-McCray. He has two years of eligibility left coming off a season where he scored 11.5 ppg, grabbed 4.5 rpg and dished 1.3 apg while compiling 1.6 spg and shooting 44/41/84. Staton-McCray joined CanesInSight to discuss Canes Hoops and his unique athletic background:
On why he joined Miami: Just the family-like style. Coach L, how he plays basketball, his mindset. And the fact that it's home.
On how he developed his defense: I think tennis helped me out a lot. I used to play a lot of tennis growing up. I feel like that helped me a lot on the defensive end. And I just love it, to be honest. It's something I always pride myself in doing. So I bring that everywhere I go.
On how tennis helped him as a basketball player: Hand-eye coordination. I did a lot of stuff growing up. Baseball, tennis, football. So that helps with hand speed, hand-eye coordination, footwork, speed.
On his tennis career: Tennis was my first sport. I was talented enough to have an opportunity to play professional tennis. I was on that track, but I didn't take that next step because I wouldn't have been able to play college basketball. So I decided to keep my amateur eligibility. And towards the end of my freshman and sophomore year, I decided to take basketball more seriously. That's just where my life took me.
You have the USTA, which is like AAU for basketball. And then the ITF was more like the G-League, where you have opportunity to get to the ATP. I was lucky enough to be able to play in the ITF around 15 and 16. I played like two or three tournaments. I wouldn't say I did good in them. I was young. I was still going through things. But if I would have kept at it, I would have been great. But I lost in the first rounds. It happens.
But I could have actually earned money just from making those first couple rounds, because that's how it works. You get to the first round, you make money, win or lose. But I decided not to take that just because I wanted to also try basketball out as well. I didn't know which one I wanted to play.
On his mentality going from an individual sport to a team sport: Just loving the spotlight. That’s hat's what tennis is about. You're always in the spotlight. In the Kansas game, we all went out there loving the crowd. I love playing with the crowd and against the crowd. It brings extra energy. Also, with the individual side, you don’t worry about the last position. It’s always the next point, next position. Just going on to the next one. That also helps with the team aspect of basketball, as well.
On the summer workouts: I don't know how it was last year, but we seem pretty together. Everyone talks to each other. We hang out in the locker room with each other. It’s a family-type vibe out here. Coach L was really enforcing that type of vibe, too, for us to be together. Other than that, it's been good. Just been stacking days and getting better.
On what he brings to the team: My mentality defensively. Bringing my dog that I've always played with since Samford, since high school. And then my shooting capabilities. Being able to shoot with more volume, but also keeping the same efficiency. I’ve been working on that a lot. And being a tall guy that can help grab rebounds as well, run the floor, be good in transition. [Coach L] is very adamant about running the floor.
On his improvement as a shooter: Hard work. The coaching staff at Samford helped me out a lot. Being healthy also helped, not having to wear a brace, not having to worry about your knee or whatnot (Staton-McCray suffered a season-ending knee injury as a sophomore). So being healthy also helped out a lot as well.
On what the big schools missed about him coming out of high school: Just me being able to be a game changer. I’ve been the x-factor of any team I've played on. You could ask my head coaches. They've all said the same thing. Even my AAU coaches, they've all said the same thing: “He's one of those guys that really likes to win.” So I'm all about winning. And when you're about winning, good stuff happens.
On what he sees with this Miami roster: There’s more team. I think we're going to share the ball a lot. I see it in scrimmages. We run the floor. That’s always going to equate to winning when you play as a team. And having Matt back and Nigel back is always a plus. Two big time scorers on the floor.
On Jalen Blackmon and Jahlil Bethea: They can find open guys. They can create their own shots. That's always a plus. Jahlil is a big-time athlete. Jalen's just a smart guy. He's been in college for a minute, so he just understands the game. I see that in both of them.
On the team’s experience: It should be a big factor. Look at the teams the past few years that have done big things in the tournament. They've all been guys who've been playing for a little minute. That's just how it shifted with the NIL and all that. [The experience] should play a big factor in not worrying about who's doing this, who's doing that. Just winning. Everyone on this team wants a March Madness run.
On the players he models himself after: I like Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] a lot. Shai’s been the guy I've been watching for the past six months. Derrick White's another guy who plays defense, who's able to make the right play at the right time, hit shots and create as well for others. I'm a big Paul George fan. Those are my three right now.
