Penn State Men's Basketball
Student-Athlete Postgame Press Conference
vs. Jacksonville State – November 12, 2018
Lamar Stevens | F | Jr.
Q: Lamar, what's it like to see someone like Rasir [Bolton], a freshman, excel this early in the season?
A: It's big time. I think since the offseason and preseason I've been telling everybody about how good these freshmen are, and how good Rasir really is. I think him being under-recruited and undervalued in his high school career. When he got here I knew he could play, and he worked really hard, so he deserves moments like this.
Q: Lamar, this is the second straight game where you've been double teamed for the majority of your touches on the offensive end. How did you respond this time around? It seemed like you were making a more conscious effort to dribble out of them rather than pass through them this time.
A: I thought with the dribble out that we could get the ball reversed to our shooters and get open shots or attack close outs. That's just the way it went tonight because they're a really athletic team, they're really fast, so I just thought that was best for us tonight.
Q: Lamar, you talked about the meeting you guys had about your roles and everything. To see those guys, it seems like they're filling them. It's one thing for everybody to sit in a room and nod their head and go "that's what I'm going to do" and then have them go out and actually do it. How reassuring, how good is that to see this early on?
A: I think that was the point of the meeting. We wanted everybody to know exactly what you do, and to do it really well. I think everybody's really taken pride in what they do, and that's a really good basketball team.
Rasir Bolton | G | Fr.
Q: Rasir, it's one thing to hit those pull-up threes, it's another thing to drive in and hit [Josh] Reaves first, and then [Myles] Dread for wide open shots. What did you see the defense doing there where you sort of kicked it out like that?
A: As I was driving, Coach tells us to play off two feet so you can see your options, so you can survey the floor, so I just kept doing what we do, what we worked on in practice. I drove came off two feet, I saw his man stepped up, so I just tried to make a pass to him.
Q: Rasir, how have you adjusted to not being a starting player? I'm assuming you've started for most of your life. Has Coach had conversations with you about coming off the bench even though you're playing 30 minutes?
A: I don't really focus on it. I just go into the game, try to win and play Penn State basketball. It's all about the team. It's not about me or starting or whatever. It's whatever we got to do to win. That's what has to be done.
Q: What do you take out of those first few minutes, when you're kind of watching everything unfold out on the floor when you're not out there?
A: Just studying. Reviewing the scout in my head. Seeing the reads, seeing what the defense is doing, seeing what they're doing on offense and just trying to go in and make a play.
Q: Rasir, you seemed extremely level-headed and smooth, similar to how Tony Carr was last season. Did you watch Tony Carr play at all, maybe take anything from his game?
A: I definitely watched Tony a lot last year. Coming in, knowing I'm going to either be on this team or he's going to leave, one of the two, seeing that I could fill his spot. Just taking his level headedness, and just how calm he was in any situation. Down, tied-up at Ohio State, comes down and makes a deep three. He's just always level-headed, always thinking about the next play, so I try and take that from his game.
Q: Rasir, Coach mentioned that Jacksonville State likes to pack it in, and that's why you're taking so many threes. At first they weren't falling, not for you specifically, but the team. Is it hard to continue with the game plan when the shots aren't falling early on?
A: No, you just have to trust Coach. Coach knows what he's doing. He's going over everything, he's not going to lead us wrong, so if he says keep driving and kicking we're going to keep driving and kicking. The shooters are going to make shots when they have to.