Dec. 23, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lion basketball team wrapped up its non-conference season on a high Monday afternoon with a 69-49 victory over Dartmouth.
Thanks to 17 tallies from D.J. Newbill and 12 from Geno Thorpe, the Lions will head into Big Ten play with a program-record 12 non-conference victories (12-1). Penn State's lone setback during the non-conference portion of the schedule came in double-overtime against Charlotte (52 in the RPI) in the Charleston Classic.
The Nittany Lions played a wide-range of teams, styles and personnel during a non-conference season, which featured four neutral site games and two true road games. Head coach Patrick Chambers is confident the early slate prepared the Lions for Big Ten play.
"I thought it was a great non-conference," Chambers said. "I know many people might not think that, but I thought it was great. It gave us a variety of styles of play that are going to prepare us for the Big Ten. We played on the road, we played neutral sites, we played against really good big men, we played against really good guards, we played against really good individual players and we played against really good coaches. When you do that you come out the way we did, 12-1 - we are in a good place.
The Nittany Lions illustrated great depth during the first portion of the season. Chambers utilized a rotation eight deep of players who averaged at least 14 minutes per contest. Newbill led the way offensively averaging 21.4 points per game, which ranks No. 9 in the nation.
Penn State's offensive output and production on the glass and defensively outside of Newbill was paramount to the team's success. The Lions have firepower on both ends of the floor throughout the rotation. And each player excelled in his role to help best serve the team.
"This year we have more of a veteran team, mixed in with some youth," said Chambers. "Our leadership did a really good job of preparing us for this game today. These are the toughest games. Drexel is a city instate rivalry game, this game before Christmas, for both teams, is very hard - coming off exams and wanting to go home for Christmas. You have a lot of other things on your mind, rather than playing Penn State basketball. I was really encouraged how we finished these last two games to prepare us to go up against Wisconsin on New Year's Eve."
Riding a 10-game winning streak, the Nittany Lions played well down the stretch of the non-conference season, knocking off a talented George Washington team at home, Drexel in a neutral site game and Dartmouth on Monday.
"We can still get a lot better though, which is scary to me - on how good we can really be when we are all dialed in and focused and that is what we will work on when we get back, after this little Christmas break," Chambers said.
Since he arrived on campus, Chambers has preached about the importance of defending and rebounding. Those two items are staples in the foundation of the program, and that's where he thinks the team can still take another step forward.
"We can still do a better job defensively," said Chambers. "We can still do a better job on the offensive glass. We can still do a better job protecting and taking care of the basketball. I thought we shared the ball today, but you can always get better with spacing and little things like that. I think our approach needs to continue in this manner, but we need contributions from a lot of different guys."
Penn State's evolution from game one in November to the triumph over Dartmouth has been noticeable. A big piece of the team's success is a byproduct of its maturity. The Lions approached each game with a veteran mindset, and the results speak for themselves.
"I think for the most part we did a good job. This team really grew and I think we corrected some of our flaws or things that we were not good at game-by-game, but we won't really know where we are at until we get into the Big Ten Conference," Newbill said.
Now, all eyes are on the 18-game Big Ten slate. The Lions will have a brief holiday break before preparing for a matchup against No. 6 Wisconsin. After opening up in the Kohl Center on Dec. 31, the Lions travel to Rutgers on Jan. 3 and then host Michigan on Jan. 6.
"It is a new season now. It's nice to be 12-1, that's great," said Chambers. "New season, 0-0. Our focus is on Wisconsin. We are going to relax for a little bit, I am going to enjoy Christmas first and then we will get ready for Wisconsin."