March 30, 2018
NEWYORK - Huddled up during Penn State'sfirst NIT team practice, Nittany Lion head coach Patrick Chambers said onething to his team - New York.
Inmoments when his team looked worn down or lacked focus, he'd bring the team inonce again and return to the same message - New York.
Infront of the largest NIT Championship game crowd inside Madison Square Gardensince 2005, nearly 12,000 fans saw Penn State capture its second NIT title andits first since 2009.
Asthe chaotic scene on the court calmed, Chambers ascended the bright blue ladderand carefully snipped the second-to-last piece of a dangling net hanging looselyfrom the hoop, and with a clenched fist, raised his arm high into the air.
Nextup the ladder was senior Shep Garner, who freed the remainder of the net toroars from crowd chanting "thank you Shep" over and over as he hoisted it highinto the air.
Climbcomplete.
"Ithink we've proven to a lot of people across the country that Penn Statebasketball is here to stay. It's not just a steppingstone, it's a destination,"Chambers said to a room full of media members tucked inside a media roomcentered within the maze of the MSG underbelly.
Whilethe final score illuminated on the video screen read 82-66, Penn State's finalclimb of the 2018 season wasn't easy. The Nittany Lions were slow to start,with Utah firing up early from 3-point range.
Trailing20-14 in the first quarter, the Utes were shooting 57 percent from behind thearc, at 4-for-7 with three treys from Sedrick Barefield.
Itwas a prime opportunity for Penn State to deliver its signature knock-outpunch. Just 17 seconds later, Lamar Stevens drained a 3-pointer before denyingUtah on the other end. Josh Reaves quickly finished with a bucket to pull PennState within one, 20-19. The Nittany Lions weren't done, using a 7-0 run cappedoff by yet another Reaves slam with a second left on the clock, closing out thefirst quarter on top, 21-20.
Stevens'triple was his first of four, as the sophomore finished 4-for-5 from 3-pointrange with a team-high 28 points earning NIT Most Outstanding Player honors.
Whenasked about his performance from the 3-point line though, Stevens madereference to "Space Jam" of course.
"Tone[Tony Carr] gave me his special stuff before the game and I think I was able toreally translate that to game and I had open shots and I was able to knock themdown. It's just a joke," Stevens said with a laugh. "He can really shoot and hewas like, I'm going to give you my stuff before the game and I guess it worked."
Beforethe end of the first quarter Stevens joined Carr as just the second sophomorein program history to reach the 1,000 career points plateau.
"Itmeans the world to me," Stevens said when reflecting on the milestone. "A lotof people said that the success we had in high school wouldn't translate tocollege. We worked really hard to prove everybody wrong. Being able to win achampionship after high school, it's hard to do. Being able to do this incollege, it's amazing."
Perhapsit wasn't really any secret stuff from Carr and instead, confidence.
"Ihave the utmost confidence in Lamar to shoot those shots," Carr said. "He putin so much work this offseason. He got some good looks and thankfully they felland it led us to the win."
It'sconfidence too that willed freshman John Harrar to a career performance withseven points and 12 rebounds, grabbing 10 boards in the first half alone.
"Ithink just the amount of confidence I had going into tonight's game was waymore than I ever had," Harrar said. "I felt like I was back in high school. Thetiming of the game was slowing down a lot for me."
WithMike Watkins out with an injury, Harrar knew he had some big shoes to fill, buthe was ready.
"Withthe managers, I try to work out so I'm prepared for the moment," Harrar said. "Earlyin the year, they are saying stay ready, stay ready and I did my best stayingready for this moment and for the Big Ten Tournament and that run we made theretoo."
Whenasked to sum up the year though, he and teammate Josh Reaves had the samereply.
Crazy.
"Thatsums it up. I'm just grateful, happy," Reaves said. "I feel so blessed to begiven the opportunity to come here. I always said it when I was gettingrecruited, I want to be on the team that changes everything. I feel like we'vedone that. It just feels so surreal."
REAVES VIDEO
Theteam that changes everything doesn't happen without Garner, the heart and soulof a Nittany Lion team that closed out the year with its second-highest winstotal in program history at 26-13 overall.
ForGarner, it all started with belief.
"Ibelieved in coach," Garner said. "I believed in what he was building here and Iknew that at the end it would be all worth it. As you can see, all the lumpsthat we took early in my career, it's all worth it because we won achampionship at the end and that's what everyone wants to do."
Garner'slast climb as a Nittany Lion was up the ladder to collect the last tangiblepiece of Penn State's commanding NIT run. With every step, memories flooded hismind. From the first time he arrived in Happy Valley to every up and down alongthe way.
"Itall makes sense now," Garner said. "We did something special. This is a specialgroup and I'll never forget what we did."
It'sthe whole though that's greater than the sum of its parts and as Penn Stateprepares to turn the page, there's perhaps never a better time to join theclimb.
"Ithink it's a springboard for us, to win 26 games, to cut down some nets, thatmeans winning," Chambers said. "You're winning, you're finding success and thathelps everything out. That helps ticket sales. That helps recruiting. We havecreated a lot of excitement but it's definitely a validation of how hard thestaff has worked and the risk and the trailblazing that a lot of these playerstook to say yes to us."