Penn State Men's Basketball
Josh Reaves Postgame Press Conference
vs. Illinois – March 10, 2019
Q: Was there a moment when you realized that "things are really clicking for me?"
A: I'm just in the moment. I wasn't really thinking. After I hit a three, they called a timeout after that and all my teammates mugged me, and they were saying to keep shooting the ball and to keep playing. I think that is when I realized that I was doing a little something. I was just trying to play basketball and keep the momentum going for us.
Q: When you guys started 0-10, people would agree that it didn't reflect your talent as a team. What was the process like to stay forward and go 7-3 over the past 10 game and ultimately earn a bye in the first round of the Big Ten?
A: It really starts with the coaching staff coming into to work every day with a great attitude and great mindset that we are going to get better and we're going to be able to get tougher and finish those games because the majority of them were close games. The leadership on the team, the upperclassmen are really doing their job helping the team understand that this is how we need to play, this is what we need to do, this is what's going to help us be successful, and the underclassmen really did their jobs. They did what they did, they bought in to Penn State basketball and we've been able to go on this run at the very end, like you said, get a bye. I don't think anybody ever thought that we would be able to get here but we are just going to continue proving people wrong.
Q: How satisfying does it feel to have a "Josh Reaves game" for your last game here?
A: It's satisfying. I just wanted to win this game. That's really all I was focused on. All the scoring, all the rebounds, I'm just playing basketball. They kept leaving me open, so I kept shooting. My teammates kept talking to me and telling me to shoot the ball. Lamar [Stevens] draws a lot of attention. Jamari [Wheeler] moves really well without the ball. Mike [Watkins] and John [Harrar] are very big bodies, so they take up a lot of space. Rasir [Bolton], MJ [Myreon Jones], and Myles [Dread] have been shooting the ball really well. I was able to take advantage of those chances and I'm grateful that we got that win.
Q: Has it been a relief to win seven of your last 10, being really the only senior that plays as much as you do, there is always a lot of pressure on guys to carry a team and do a lot of things to go from 0-10 to kind of finishing out. Has it been fun for you again?
A: Yeah. Like you said we went 0-10, and it was very rough and a dark time for us. Just having the team that we have and the personalities and just the competitiveness out of every single person, want to get better, and want to win. It was very satisfying to end the way we did and to go on that streak I'm grateful to have really did it.