In his senior season for basketball at Stony Brook University, Jameel Warney has left his mark on Stony Brook Athletics, helping SBU winning 23 games this season. In his perspective, it is all credited toward his work ethic. He has put up fantastic statistics for the Seawolves.
With his final season coming to a close, center Jameel Warney has made a lasting impression. He has averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds, and over three blocks a game. He has also accounted for 55 career double-doubles, over 1,200 rebounds, 200 assists and 260 blocks. Additionally, he has led the Seawolves to the top of the conference with 92 blocks 296 rebounds and 541 points this year.
Warney started as a young kid from New Brunswick, New Jersey, playing AAU Basketball in eighth grade. He played for the Jersey Hot Shots, which was the same team that second all-time Stony Brook leading scorer Bryan Dougher played for. Warney broke Dougher’s scoring record only eight games into his senior season.
“It comes from practice,” Warney said. “Practice makes perfect. I just can’t do nothing and not have any natural skills. I just keep on getting better.”
He was recently named to the Naismith list, which honors the best NCAA basketball players every season. He’s leading the America East conference in points, blocks, rebounds and field goal percentage. He’s also looking at a possible second Conference Defensive Player of the Year award; he did it last year in his junior season.
Associate Director of the Stony Brook Athletic Communications Adam Gutes has seen Warney grow and develop into a determined athlete. “You’re talking about a kid who was quiet and a follower in his freshman year,” Gutes said. “Now, he’s the vocal leader of the team. He is now much more physically fit, and he just prides himself on defense.”
Warney came out of Roselle Catholic High School in 2012 and was the second all-time leading scorer with 1,968 points when he graduated. Multiple schools like Notre Dame, USC, Iowa and Temple seeked to recruit him, but he committed to Stony Brook in the summer going into his senior year of high school.
Being a student athlete is extremely stressful and Warney knows it as he majors in Multi-Disciplinary Studies. “You just need to have good time management,” Warney said. “But you need to be focused and dedicated to both things.”
Warney added that he’s unaware of what he wants to do academically when he graduates this year, but he definitely wants to be a professional basketball player.
Warney has been a part of four consecutive 20-win seasons. Stony Brook has earned both national attention and the potential of being a ranked team this season. He says that this is the best team he’s been a part of, and its mindset is to focus on getting better and winning.
“I feel this year has been a specialty year, Warney said. “We’re locked in and we’re healthy.”
As the all-time scoring leader at Stony Brook with over 2,000 career points., Warney has earned prestigious accolades and has been nominated for several awards. “It just shows how hard I’ve worked over the last four years,” he said. “The community has given me so much [appreciation], so I just wanted to give it back to them.”
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