Interview by Annie Fehrenbacher
Gargoyle co-editor-in-chief
Published Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006, Gargoyle, sports

SENIOR AL RENNER broke Uni's all-time scoring record on Dec. 16 in Uni's 72-48 victory over Oakwood, but the Illineks' leading scorer this season is sophomore Mike Renner. The Gargoyle recently interviewed Uni's hotshot brothers.

Gargoyle: Al, what was going through your head during the Oakwood game when they stopped to make the announcement that you had become Uni's all-time leading scorer?

Al: I was happy because I'd … always looked at that and sort of made it my goal, [but] not too much. But I was also kind of thinking, because I was looking over at Mike … that in two years I'm probably not gonna have that record anymore.

Gargoyle: Mike, is that one of your goals?

Mike: Yeah, I wanna do that. [Al laughs.]

Gargoyle: How do you think it's going to be different without him here?

Mike: He really helps me actually on offense ‘cause I know what he does and he knows what I do, so in a game he opens up a lot of looks for me and I try to open up looks for him.

Al: Most of them are this way to that. [Al gestures from himself to Mike.]

Gargoyle: Al, this year you've been giving out more assists than in previous years and Mike's been taking more shots. Do you think he's trying to steal your thunder?

Al: Yeah, that's probably what he's doing. I mean, he's always been a gloryhound. [Laughs.] And statistics don't really mean that much. It's more important to win for me.

Gargoyle: Al, if you could change anything about your five years of Uni basketball, what would it be?

Al: Mike would have made that shot against Blue Ridge [in last year's regional].

Mike: [Somewhat dejected.] Yeah.

Al: And we would have won. And we'd have been regional champs. [Mike sighs.]

Gargoyle: He's putting a lot of pressure on you.

Mike: Yeah.

Gargoyle: How does that make you feel?

Mike: Well, I was really sad after that game. Because, I went through all the motions and I knew people were counting on me to make that shot. It was hard not to make it.

Gargoyle: That's a lot of pressure as a freshman.

Al: It's all right. He made the ones before. He came down and made some ridiculous ones.

Mike: Yeah, people forget that I made one 10 seconds earlier to make it even close. [Al laughs.]

Gargoyle: What's your forecast for the future Uni basketball?

Al: It's pretty cloudy. The JV look all right — they've got some talent. And Mike's team was good subbie year — that team's got some talent, but I don't know the underclassmen all that much. I think definitely they're gonna take a hit when my class leaves. But I don't think it's gonna be a huge dropoff. It won't be like some old Uni teams.

Gargoyle: Well, we did have the state record for all-time losing streaks. [Uni lost 96 consecutive games between 1974 and 1979]. Still do.

Al: Yeah, we'll be competitive in conference, I think. Probably top half of the conference.

Mike: I think this year's senior class paved the way, and now more people are gonna say, “Hey, they're not that bad — maybe I'm gonna come here.” … And more classes will come in with people who are thinking that they can actually play basketball here.