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Post-Game Quotes: Penn State 61, Morgan State 48
Coach Chambers, D.J. Newbill and Shep Garner
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Post-game Quotes
Penn State 61, Morgan State 48
Bryce Jordan Center (University Park, Pa.)
Attendance: 7,402
Patrick Chambers, Penn State head coach
Q: To have Shep Garner come out and play like that as a true freshman, what does that mean for him and the team in general?
A: The kid earned the right to start. He gets it done on both ends of the floor. It shows as a team, a staff, and a program our confidence in him to be able to make plays. I've watched him play since he was a young kid and he is fearless. I'm proud of the way he competed; we obviously needed his production tonight. The ball was not dropping for us, but in general I was proud of my team. To be a freshman and to come out and play the way he did is great. The future's bright for him. Penn State basketball is definitely changing for the good.
Q: When did you decide that Shep was going to start and when did you let him know?
A: I knew he was going to start about two weeks ago and I let him know on Monday. I let all five guys know on Monday. I had individual meetings with the five guys. We had healthy competition for about five weeks and it was that important that they knew that. They excelled and did everything I was asking them to do. I think it's an honor to have your name called out in front of a really good crowd tonight and to have your picture up there its an honor, and that's the way I'm treating it.
Q: Your bigs struggled on scoring tonight and seemed like your guards did most of the scoring.
A: I thought Morgan State had some really good bigs. They had a kid seven feet, and he's the greatest kid, I've known him since high school. I thought our bigs did a really good job. They had 19 rebounds and 11 points. I think that's a productive evening and that's what we need out of them. They are not selfish, there were a few times they could have gone and made their go to or counter move, but they kicked it out for open shots for their teammates. Maybe their shooting percentage wasn't great and maybe they had a few turnovers like everyone else, but I thought they were very productive.
Q: What do you think about the turnovers tonight? Is it just because it's the first game and people are getting used to playing with everyone?
A: I expected right around 15 or 16 turnovers, I wasn't expecting 18. I knew we were going to turn the ball over, being a freshman you know [Garner] is going to turn the ball over and when DJ [Newbill] is at the point he's trying to make plays for everyone. We'll work on it; I just don't like the careless ones. I take pride in good footwork and being really solid with the ball. We just have to do a better job of that.
Q: Tonight you had four players with at least seven attempts, how is that different than last year and what does that mean for this team?
A: I think that makes us harder to defend. I think that when Fordham is going to scout us tomorrow they're going to look at it and say we have to stop Newbill, but everyone is getting their opportunities and again we're selfless and sharing the basketball. We might have a good shot, but we give it up for a better shot and that's what we have to continue to work on. I want to give credit to Morgan State. They turned us over when they needed to, and we hurt ourselves as well. We wanted a tough matchup and that's exactly why we put them on the schedule.
Q: You guys had a lot of turnovers tonight. Do you guys feel like you are still trying to get on the same page since you are doing things different from last year?
A: Well it was the first game. I felt like we were super excited. We had some careless turnovers. We were excited to be out there and play another team. It is something we have to work on. Just making crisp passes and little things like that.
Q: What were some of the difficulties about getting a new opponent?
A: It was not knowing who those guys are. In practice we all know each other's names. We watched film on them but it is different when you are actually out there. We came out and played hard. We started off slow but we kept the intensity up.
Q: What did you think of Shep's game?
A: I thought he played great. He played with confidence. I told him he earned the right to start the game and to take advantage of the opportunity. He listened and worked hard every day. He is a big contributor to our team right now.
Q: What are some things the offense did to keep you off the ball at first and keep you quiet?
A: I wouldn't say that, I think I just didn't get good shots. We had contribution from a lot of players. They pressed, we got the ball up the floor and we did get some good shots. It wasn't about them slowing me down.
Shep Garner, freshman guard
Q: What were you like before the game--knowing you're getting your first college start and knowing your mom is singing the national anthem?
A: I was excited. It was my first college game. It was like a dream come true. I couldn't wait to get out on the floor with my brothers. My mom used to sing the national anthem at my games for high school, so I was kind of used to it. But you wouldn't think your mom would sing the national anthem at your first college game.
Q: What have you been able to learn so far by playing with a guy like D.J. Newbill?
A: I learned so much from him. I probably get annoying sometimes. I pick his brain all day long. He played point guard here for a whole year so I ask him every type of question I can just to get as much information as possible.
Todd Bozeman, Morgan State head coach
Opening statement:
Obviously I first want to tip my hat off to Pat [Chambers]. He does a good job with his team, they are building here and putting together a good team that you guys can be very proud of. I thought we had some breakdowns and that we obviously have some things to work on. We knew coming in that [D.J.] Newbill was going to be a very active guy. Brandon Taylor, even though he didn't shoot the ball well, we knew that he was going to very active as well. I thought John Johnson came in and made a couple of shots in the first half and [Geno] Thorpe came in and made some baskets. Overall we obviously have some work to do with it being the first game of the season. We're going home tonight.
Q: Their freshman Shep Garner had a big game, did you know a lot about him? When you go into the first game of the season like this, how tough can it be to game plan for a freshman?
A: It is hard only because you haven't seen him on a college level, some freshman respond better than others. We knew of him because he is from Chester, and we have a young man from Chester so he was familiar with him. With freshman sometimes you never know. And it's hard when it's the first game because you have new pieces and you don't know how they're going to play, whether they're going to play the same as they did before. You can't get their scrimmage tapes so you're going blindly at it. But they did the same thing so they had the same disadvantages that we had.
Q: Jordan [Omogbehin] had some foul trouble early and we didn't see much of him the second half, how did that affect you?
A: I had three or four guys that had two fouls in the first half. Jordan [Omogbehin] is coming along, he has gotten so much better since he came with us and he is moving better. I just thought that I wanted to have some guys that were a little more active on those ball screens. They hurt us in the first half with the dribble-hand off and your bigs have to get involved with that and they didn't so that was what I was thinking of when I did that.