Postgame Notes| Coach Chambers Quotes | Penn State Student-Athletes Quotes | MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo Quotes
Penn State Basketball
Josh Reaves and Lamar Stevens Postgame Press Conference
vs. Michigan State – January 13, 2019
Josh Reaves | G | Sr./Sr.
Q: Josh, it's been common theme recently that you guys aren't been getting to the line enough, Pat [Chambers] just said it, can you put a finger on why you're not getting to the line enough?
A: We haven't been making shots, and we've been taking a lot of them. Most of them have been around the perimeter so that's our main reason. After that, we're just playing out of control and turning the ball over. We did a pretty good job this game and last game trying to limit our turnovers, but we keep getting charges, going out of control, and playing to fast at certain times.
Q: What kind of challenges did Nick Ward present in the paint tonight?
A: He's a big body with long arms. He knows how to use his body well. He plays angles and takes advantages of them. His athleticism, and the way he spreads the floor is hard to guard.
Q: Josh, Pat [Chambers] was saying some good things about Kyle [McCloskey] and the effort he gave in his minutes tonight. I remember talking to Kyle [McCloskey] at media day earlier in the fall. He said that he tries to emulate his game after yours. The way he plays on defense, and he plays hard. What did you see from him today in the minutes he gave?
A: It's the Kyle I see every day in practice. Gives 100% effort in everything that he's doing. He's just out there competing, and out there trying. Coach said it, you're just going to have people out there grinding and that's what Kyle does. He's going to run through a brick wall for anybody on our team. If he keeps it up I could see him getting minutes.
Q: Specifically with Rasir [Bolton], he only played six minutes tonight. He just seems like from the eye test he hasn't looked like himself offensively the last couple games. What do you guys as the upper classman on this team try and say to him because we've seen what he can do when he is playing with high confidence?
A: We just have to help him along. I feel like he hit that freshman wall and we just have to keep pushing him, keep trying to encourage him and just keep talking to him to try and get him to play harder, play tougher, and make sure he understands what he needs to do to see the floor and make sure the ball is going in.
Q: Can you describe what it's like, the physicality of a game like this, when you're playing someone like Michigan State, and when shots aren't falling how mentally draining it can be and how sometimes you let your guard down for a couple of minutes they get six-to-eight points and all of the sudden your down by ten?
A: They play really fast, they're very efficient, they know how to win, they just play hard the entire game, they are very physical. I'm not a big, I know Lamar [Stevens] can attest to this, but the physicality that the bigs play with, it can take a lot out of you. Guards push the ball up the floor the entire game. It does get a little tiring, but you just need to push through and fight through it.
Lamar Stevens | F | Jr./Jr.
Q: Lamar you made your first three-pointer since Duquesne today, can you put a finger on what your struggles from three-point range has been like this season?
A: I've just been missing. I don't know. I have to keep working. I work every day so hopefully they'll start falling for me.
Q: Lamar, you guys have both been through the rigors of a Big Ten season before, obviously not the start you wanted now but what is the message to the freshman and the guys who haven't been here before?
A: Well our freshman have got to get tougher. That's what we try to preach to them. We need our young guys to step up because they're playing big time minutes, and impact the game however that is. We need to try to keep motivating them, and try to keep teaching them what level you need to compete at in the Big Ten and win.