Penn State Men's Basketball
Head Coach Patrick Chambers
vs. Wagner – November 9, 2019
Opening Statement
"First of all, I want to give credit to Wagner. They're a little banged up, they only had seven or eight healthy bodies, but they competed and they played hard. I watched the Seton Hall game very closely – I didn't think that score indicated how hard they play. I was actually really excited to compete against them because I thought it would help us early in the season to get a good competition. We didn't start off great, but I'll tell you what, that second half, I thought we came out flying around. Turned them over a little bit, sped them up a little bit, and the ball started going through the basket for us. I thought our defense was consistent, 30 and 30 for both halves. I think we have the opportunity or, I think we have the makings of an elite defensive team. We got to tighten up some things which we will do this week before Thursday. I'm encouraged about our defense, where it is. Offensively we get a little stagnant but still, overall we got to the free throw line. I thought we moved the ball. We got some good shots, just didn't go early but we didn't let that affect us. I was really proud of the way the guys competed for the total 40 minutes."
Q: Second-straight game you guys kind of struggled from the free throw line. Is it frustrating to get to the line 33 times and not come away with too many points?
A: It can be deflating. I felt like it did a little bit in the first half and when we're in a media timeout, you know, routine, routine, positive thoughts, positive outcomes. We just got to keep getting there, keep putting ourselves in that situation and hopefully we'll gradually get better because we work on it in practice, trust me. I spent time on free throw shooting.
Q: Myreon [Jones], Myles [Dread] and Jamari [Wheeler] all have different skill sets, but they seem to be clicking together really well right now. How do you get the most out of each of those guys?
A: I think it comes down to really being intelligent with their minutes. I thought Jamari [Wheeler] in the second half was fantastic. He started off a little slow and even though Myles [Dread] didn't shoot the ball well, he still had five assists. So some real positives there. There's other things that could be done out there. Five rebounds, five assists and he went six-for-six from the free throw line. He was a bright spot but obviously we look at him as Mr. three-point-shooter. He's bringing other intangibles which is fantastic. With MJ, we knew what he was capable of. He's been real consistent and he's steady out there. He's really steady. We got to continue to work on his defense. I would actually throw Brock in there - Izaiah Brockington. He's been bringing great energy and juice off the bench. I thought for me he was my player of the game, because he was incredibly consistent with his competition level.
Q: You just touched on Izaiah [Brockington], but obviously, you get some depth scoring there from Curtis Jones as well. How important is that going to be moving forward?
A: You know, Curtis [Jones Jr.] gives us something that I've never had, an older guy, a senior coming off the bench that's really capable of scoring the basketball. He's still getting used to some of our schemes; he's still hesitating on the defensive end, but offensively, he's very aggressive and I think he showed what he's capable of. Now, it's only his second game back, so he still has to get the rust off a little bit. He's only going to continue to get better. And what a luxury it is to have an Izaiah Brockington coming off the bench, redshirt sophomore, technically a junior, and a senior coming off the bench when in years past they were freshmen. I'm bringing Seth Lundy along slowly, patiently. In years past he would have to start, or he would be the sixth man, now he's the tenth man. So that's a good thing for us.
Q: With having the distributing guards that you do, how important do you think it is, specifically in the half court, to get the bigs going, like John [Harrar], like Mike [Watkins], like even Lamar [Stevens]?
A: That's our game plan. I feel like they're the best front court in the country, maybe even in the Big Ten. We've got to get them touches. That was the goal early on. Lamar got a ton of touches early on, Mike got a ton of touches early on, and we've got to keep feeding those guys because that's going to open up everything else on the outside. So let's play inside out and see what we can do.
Q: Pat, how much stock do you put into fastbreak points? I think you guys have 42 through two games. Can you wear teams out mentally when you're in transition like that?
A: We can because I think you guys are starting to notice our speed and our athleticism one through five and even coming off the bench with [Izaiah Brockington], Curtis [Jones Jr.], and Seth Lundy, you can even throw John [Harrar] in there a little bit. He sprints, he plays so hard. When you've got guys like that running lanes and rim running, it's really tough to guard us in transition.
