March 8, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A new season begins for the Nittany Lion basketball team when the ball is tipped inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (16-15, 7-11 Big Ten) will meet seventh-seeded Ohio State (19-12, 11-7 Big Ten) in the second round of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament (ESPN2). Thanks to thrilling double-overtime win against Illinois on Sunday, the Nittany Lions clinched a bye in the conference tournament for the first time in program history.
"We have limitless potential (heading into the tournament)," head coach Patrick Chambers said. "(I told them) don't put a limit on anything we can do. Once you do that, you have really stopped getting better...You just have to continue the process of getting better each day and prepare for Ohio State. That's our main goal. We are worried about us and what we can control - our attitude, our effort level and our communication. If you take care of those three things, you are going to give yourself a chance."
The Nittany Lions are relishing in the opportunity they have in front them. After the 18-game Big Ten regular season, a clean slate levels the playing field in Indianapolis. The Lions will take confidence into what could be a wide-open series of games on the first three days of the tournament. And the Lions enter the postseason playing their best basketball, having won four of their last six games..
"Guys are very healthy heading in to the Big Ten Tournament," said Chambers. "...We are averaging nine threes a game (in the last eight). Our assists have gone up dramatically. Defensively, we are defending the two much better. We are defending the three much better...Our statistics (across the board) are much better during the last eight games. To me, that means we are getting better. And that excites me."
Seeing one another for the second time in 2016, the Lions and Buckeyes played on Jan. 25 in a 66-46 victory for Ohio State. However, both teams are playing much different basketball, and the Nittany Lions are significantly healthier than the first meeting between the two teams.
"We are two very different teams than when we first met," Chambers said. "We didn't have Josh Raves. They don't have (Jae'Sean) Tate now. And Shep (Garner) blew out an ankle in the first minute of that game. It's going to be very exciting to see and it's going to be interesting to be a part of come Thursday."
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