Penn State Men's Basketball
Penn State Head Coach Pat Chambers Postgame Press Conference
vs. Wake Forest – December 4, 2019
Opening Statement:
You know I thought our defense set the tone for this game. We defended, we rebounded, we really challenged our team because Wake Forest did a really good job on [Brandon] Childress. I watched a ton of film on him and he reminded me a lot of a guy named Scotty Reynolds that I coached at Villanova. Very shifty, very crafty, but finds ways to produce points for himself and his team. I thought the sophomores really stepped up. (Myreon Jones) and (Izaiah Brockington). (Jones) has been pretty consistent but I was proud of (Brockington). He's been a little down and he really responded after New York, and that's what you want to see. You want to see a young man learn from two games and then come back and really ignite a run.
Q: Pat, how important were the last two or three minutes of the half. You had all those back-up players in there and what does that say about your talent?
A: You know what Mark, I just said it to Steve Jones and Dick Girardi. I thought the last four minutes of the first half really set the tone going into the second half. Lamar (Stevens) was on the bench, Jamari (Wheeler) was on the bench, Mike (Watkins) was in and out. I thought John (Harrar) and Seth Lundy and Curtis (Jones) and (Izaiah Brockington) and (Myreon Jones) really held down the fort. Not only held down the fort, but increased the lead. We did that at Syracuse as well. Seth Lundy is playing some good basketball right now. It's nice to see that we can go deep into our bench and guys are producing.
Q: With Miles [Dread], how do you handle that situation where he's kind of struggling and it looked like it caused him to commit a few turnovers. What was your strategy in the second half?
A: I was trying to get him one. I wanted him to see the ball go through the basket because he's not shooting poorly in practice. He just has to shoot the next one like it's the first one. It's right here now, it's in between the ears. His form is perfect, we just need to get his confidence going. He needs to see one go through the basket. That was my goal, especially in the last eight minutes there, to try and get him one. He just didn't find it, but he can't compound the problem and allow it to affect his defense and rebounding. He has leadership ability so he can't let it affect that either.
Q: You guys took a double-digit lead pretty early. Then it seemed like things offensively slowed down, maybe a few more turnovers than you'd had. How do you balance wanting them to use their athleticism and high-flying stuff, versus getting sloppy?
A: Yeah I talked to them about that. You know this is no time for a hero or sloppiness. Be simple and solid. I want us to use our speed, and we play really fast. We're going to have turnovers when you play fast, it is what it is. We're not playing like a Wisconsin or Michigan under (John) Belein where they have single-digit turnovers. We're going to have some turnovers. As long as we keep it around 12 I think we're in great shape, we're not giving away too many live balls. I agree with you we have to take care of the ball and we cannot have back to back turnovers and things like that. That just ignites a run by the other team.
Q: All four of your last four opponents were ranked in the top 100. How does that help you guys going into a matchup Saturday against an Ohio State team that just beat North Carolina on the road by 25?
A: Yeah, Ohio State's a great team. I'm going to enjoy this one first. But, you know, I think our schedule has set us up. I think we're getting ourselves mentally and physically prepared to play these couple Big 10 games that are coming up here. And again, it's going to be great litmus test of where we are and what we have to work on when you're playing a top five team like Ohio State and I think Maryland's in the top 10, but you know, we'll see where we are.
Q: At this point in the season now, you've got this new team to play a decent amount of basketball, what would you say the identity overall this team is so far?
A:I like to think it's always defending and rebounding. And you know, you're going to see incredible speed out there. I think everybody's noticing that. So I think we're a team that's sharing the ball, although we didn't have more assistants than turnovers tonight, but typically, we've been doing that, we've been sharing the ball a lot. So defend and rebound. That's who that's who we are. That's we're going to hang our hat on. And on the offensive end, a team that has incredible speed and athleticism that can play 10 guys.
Q: It seems like Izaiah is knocking off the rust each and every game. Are you getting more and more out of him that you kind of expected?
A: Yeah, like I said in New York, you know, against the zone against Syracuse. I felt like he was blaming himself for Ole Miss, which there was a million possessions and he shouldn't have done that. But I thought, you know, the Yale game, this game, that's the type of production we need from him, you know, he's got a great mid-range, he's got incredible burst, he's super athletic, and it was nice to see him get a real good in rhythm free down from the top of the key, I think that's gonna help his confidence.
Q: You kind of touched on the run with, you know, with some of the backups at the end of the first half, but are some of those guys helping you in other areas of the game? And if so, where did you see that impact tonight?
A: Well first of all, the guys off the bench compete against starters every single day. So I get furious when the starting team doesn't win every drill or every game situation or every segment, but that just tells you how good our second team is. I mean, it really could start seven or eight guys right now. I mean, so I shouldn't say second team or first team, because we got guys that can really play. But look the way Brock is coming in with great energy. Curtis Jones is instant offense for us. Seth Lundy's playing with incredible confidence. The way he played Syracuse and tonight, being strong physically, he's got a Big 10 body. And John Harrar is you know, the hen, the mother hand. He's covering up all our mistakes because he's so solidly communicates the whole time.