This week The Lafayette takes a timeout with senior co-captain Matt Klinewski, who just scored his 1000th college career point.

Matt Benusa: You’ve only missed one three pointer on eight attempts from beyond the arc this year, but you only shot four three-pointers before this year. What’s with the change?

Matt Klinewski: I have more confidence in my three point shot. Last year I was mainly a mid-range shooter, but this past summer I worked on my shot with a lot of the coaching staff. They told me “it’s just one step back” and “you’ll be fine, you’re a great shooter,” and my teammates have a lot of confidence in me.

MB: You’ve also now scored 1000 points for Lafayette. What was it like to score number 1000?

MK: It was a great milestone to reach. I would have liked to win the game against George Mason, which was a tough loss, but it’s nice to be able to put the ball in the basket and say I have a thousand points.

MB: As someone who has multiple 30+ point games, how do you consistently score that much?

MK: Just being confident. I have a lot of confidence in my offensive game. I think my teammates around me help by getting me the ball when I’m open, so I owe a lot to them.

MB: You were named captain of the basketball team this year along with Eric Stafford. What’s it like being an emotional leader on the team, too?

MK: For the past three years, I’ve learned a lot from the captains on the team going back to my freshman year when we won the Patriot League. Now, I’m just trying to use all those leadership skills I’ve learned and my own leadership skills that I have to help this team come together and find ways to win. Whenever we have off games or off points in the game, I have to help remind everyone to keep control, keep their poise.

MB: The next game for the team is against 2015-2016 [national] champions Villanova. How are you preparing for that?

MK: We’re taking it one step at a time. We’ll probably go over film from our last game against NJIT, learn from that and put our focus on Villanova. It will be a lot of fun to play against them.

MB: How did you get into basketball?

MK: Basketball runs in my family. My mom played basketball for Drexel. When I was growing up, basketball wasn’t my favorite sport, but my family told me to just keep playing. They said, “basketball is in your blood,” and luckily, I’m now playing Division I basketball for Lafayette.

MB: The season just started, but what is the outlook for the season?

MK: I want our team to keep getting better. We just finished our second preseason game, so we’re still in out-of-conference schedule. Right now, our team has to keep getting better and better, and once league play comes, we’ll hopefully be at our best. We just need to get that first win under our belt.

MB: Since it’s your senior year, what do you want to do this year?

MK: Really, I just want to get the team better.

MB: What’s the best game you’ve ever played?

MK: My best game ever was my freshman year when we won the Patriot League championship. It was a lot of fun playing in that game. Then there were a couple of games last year when I scored a lot of points, but I would have to say it’s definitely the Patriot League championship.

MB: Are you going to the rivalry game this Saturday? Who do you think is going to win?

MK: I do believe I am going. We have off Saturday, so I’m going to go get my tickets because we usually have a game that day. Lafayette is going to win.