Dec. 14, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" When the 2015-16 schedule came out for the Nittany Lion basketball team, the first full week of December was the non-conference period circled.
Penn State lined up four games in a span of eight days, including a road trip to George Washington and two games inside historic Rec Hall.
When he scheduled the games, head coach Patrick Chambers was confident in his team's ability to handle the busy stretch, but he knew it would be a challenge.
After posting a 3-1 mark and playing George Washington, which is now ranked No. 11 in the latest NCAA RPI, to a 10-point decision on the road, it's safe to say the Nittany Lions will head into final exams week with confidence and momentum.
"It's been a difficult week. I've put a lot on them this week ââ'¬" four games, exams, papers, you name it, probably not the best week to schedule four games. However, I think we grew up a lot," said Chambers.
Penn State did a little bit of everything during the week and found different ways to win along the way. The stretch began with an 81-70 victory over Eastern Michigan on Dec. 5 on a day when Brandon Taylor netted a career-high 27 points.
The Nittany Lions then traveled on the road to George Washington on Dec. 8 and played the Colonials to a 76-66 decision in Washington. Shep Garner scored 22 points, and the Lions got as close as nine down the stretch before falling by 10.
But the team bounced back rapidly. Just 48 hours after the GW game, The Lions shot 56 percent from the field and had four players reach double-figures in an 81-67 victory over Canisius. The win marked the program's first inside Rec Hall since 1996.
"I was pleased with four different guys hitting double figures and different guys stepping up," Chambers said. "I thought he played with a lot of energy. I thought we had really good bench support tonight. We just have to continue to get better... It's nice to finally get a win in Rec Hall. It feels good."
Stepping on the floor for the third time in five days, the Nittany Lions stayed the course during a cold shooting day on Saturday. Penn State played, arguably, its best defensive game to date and limited Louisiana-Monroe to 50 points and 34 percent shooting from the field in a 54-50 triumph.
"We really buckled down on defense," said Chambers. "We got great stops when we needed great stops. Although we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds again, I was really proud of the way we contested and competed because sometimes when you have a young team and you miss shots, you're to going to play defense. You're not going to do anything and they just gutted it out. I believe that was a gutsy win for us."
Saturday's win was the type of game Penn State may not have won in previous seasons. The Lions showed tremendous grit down the stretch. Considering all of the basketball the team had played during the course of eight days, and with it being a day where Penn State shot just 33 percent from the field and 3-for-20 from 3-point range, it would have been easy to let those numbers dictate effort on the defensive end of the floor.
"It's a great feeling to pull games out like that," said Taylor. "It's something coach preaches every day - defend and rebound. When shots aren't falling what do you do? You toughen up on defense and you do the little things and that's what we did."
The Lions made life miserable for the Warhawks on offense from start to finish. Jordan Dickerson led the team with a career-high seven blocks. Josh Reaves added three blocks, including an emphatic swat in the final seconds to help seal Penn State's third win during a grueling week.
"That's two months of going hard," said Chambers. "We've been on the road, traveling and practicing. Now we had this crazy week. It wears you down physically and mentally. We gutted it out. I'm really proud of the guys."
Penn State heads into the final exams break with a 7-3 mark. The Lions will rest and regroup before the final three non-conference games of 2015.
The stretch run begins on Saturday in The Palestra against Drexel. The team will then fly to Las Vegas for two games. The first will come on Dec. 22 against Colorado (No. 20 in RPI). Penn State will play either SMU (No. 7 in RPI) or Kent State (No. 76 in RPI) in the Las Vegas finale on Dec. 23.
There is a lot of basketball yet to be played, but Penn State's step forward during a busy week was evident by the way the Blue and White found ways to be successful under challenging circumstances.
"We need a few days to rest. We've played a lot of basketball and now we've got Drexel next and that's our focus," said Taylor. "We're going to rest up then get back into the gym and work on our habits."