Penn State Men's Basketball
Postgame Press Conference
vs. Wake Forest – December 4, 2019
Patrick Chambers | Head Coach
Opening Statement: It's been a heck of a month. I don't know it was either Mark, Nate or Ben who asked me before these six games, "What do you hope to learn about your team?" I think we learned a lot about our team. We definitely looked sluggish in that first half. You could tell that they had a week off, they were flying around. We were trying to catch up to them and we have great speed ourselves. The resiliency, the persistence that they displayed. Leadership, Lamar and the leadership council, those huddles, at halftime. We're going to really grow from these last six games and continue to learn. Alabama is a good team. I'm shocked about their record. That's typically what happens with a new coach, everybody needs to get used to each other. They're really talented, really skilled and have some really good players. Our second half was fantastic defensively. Rebounding is still an issue, but we got the timely ones. That middle ball screen, man, I think everybody's watching Ohio State and saying this is what we need to do to Penn State, so we cleaned that up in the second half for sure. Lamar Stevens played like a big-time player defensively. You look at 11 rebounds, five blocks, two steals and I thought he made really unselfish plays to get to six assists. We get to breathe just for a little bit, although they have exams this week. That's the other thing that concerns you, you know we have guys that have exams, and we have the six-game stretch. So, we're going to learn from this game so much and we'll get better for sure. I know I'm going to get better.
Q: You called a timeout like 90 seconds in. Did you know that it was going to be...
A: ...I saw it man, I know my team. I know this team. I can tell you that. I am so connected and I'm in the foxhole with this team. We are so connected, and I could see just a little bit of a couple hero shots early, there were too many threes in the first four minutes there. The pace that Alabama plays with and Nate [Oats] is a great coach, obviously he's had a lot of success. We were ready and we worked on it but when you finally do it and play the game it's a little different. I saw we were a step slow.
Q: Pat, you mentioned you were a little sluggish. It was one of those games when the veterans had to lead the way and dig down. Curtis [Jones] was one of those guys. How influential was he showing his veteran presence today?
A: You know, I think it shows our depth again. On any given night, if one guys not playing well the next guy needs to step up. I had a hunch on Curtis [Jones], I had a hunch on Myles [Dread] at Maryland, I thought Myles was due to break out and he did. I had a hunch on Curtis [Jones] that he was going to have fresh legs, which he did. I put him back in with two fouls. I normally don't do that especially with under four minutes to go, but I just felt like we needed some veteran leadership there and some baskets. We needed to score the ball a little bit, and Curtis definitely provided that for us.
Q: You talked about it a little bit, but can you kind of juxtapose the defensive effort in the first half, versus what you did in the last 10 minutes? It seems to me that you can really hang your hat on what you did in the last 10 minutes.
A: It goes back to the mental conditioning of it, or the mental fitness, or the mental toughness, however you want to phrase it. I felt like we were a step too slow, and that's why our ball screen defense wasn't very good. We've been working on it, trust me, even before Ohio State we were working on it. We did some different things. We trapped sometimes, we switched one through five sometimes. I tried to keep [Kira Lewis Jr.] off balance, I think he's a terrific player. I mean trust me, I remember him from last year. He was so good down the stretch in the last four minutes of the game at Alabama where we were up one. You don't forget that stuff. I just thought we were a little bit tighter. We had a little bit more energy and I give credit to the students in the crowd again. I thought it was loud on Tuesday, it was loud today. I don't know the numbers off the top of my head, but I thought they gave us a little push and then we started getting stops and making some big baskets.
Q: Coach as you mentioned, Lamar [Stevens] seemed to really take over in the second half defensively. What does it mean that your best offensive player could take over a game on the other end of the floor as well as score the ball?
A: The fact that your best player wants to play defense at all is fantastic. You know in the NBA they're calling it a "two-way" player. I don't get that. There are only 10 guys on the floor. What do you mean two-way? That's football. Football has offense, defense and special teams. That perplexes me. Lamar [Stevens] can cover a guard, that's why he's going to play on that next level. He can guard anyone one-through-five. That's a special talent.
Q: Pat, it's one thing to come back from nine down, but then you get to 57-57 and you fall back down again. I guess there's about four minutes to go and you're down four, It looked like [Lamar] Stevens took over there. Did you want him to take over or was it just the way it worked out?
A: When we were in timeouts Coach [Jim] Ferry, who's our offensive coordinator, and I talked about where we could get him the ball in space, and I thought he did a really good job. I thought everyone did a good job of knowing their roles in that situation. Lamar knew it was his time. He had to make big shots for us. I thought he got in the paint, and that's what he needed to do. Don't settle for threes like we did in the first half. Let's get in the paint and make good decisions. He had a couple nice little shots in there, and then he kicked it out to [Izaiah] Brockington for one that was a massive shot. Almost the same spot as Maryland, although that was a three and this was a two. I thought Lamar [Stevens] on the defensive end, he blocked shots and became a dominant player the last four minutes.
Q: Nate [Oats] said something funny that was revealing, usually you can switch up on other teams, get them to switch on you and you're going to have a mismatch. Against you're guys you have nine guys who are not going to embarrass themselves on defense.
A: We have a deep group. I wasn't pleased with all the paint touches in the first half, but I thought we did a better job in the second half, hence 31 points. We can go deep into our bench and everybody understands what we're doing schematically on defense. Last year we were too young to be able to change defenses that much. I'm bringing in freshman right. If you want to do a five-man switching or trapping a ball screen or playing normal. You know what, I'm really proud of Mike Watkins because he executed defensively really well down the stretch. If you watch the last five seconds again, we had a foul to give which is fantastic. We utilized that strategically. Jamari [Wheeler] does his job. Mike Watkins had to play a four man because we wanted Lamar [Stevens] on the kid who just hit the three in the corner. Mike, for the most part in the last 15 minutes did a really good job, and he was in foul trouble.
Q: Lamar had that run where he had the and-one, the jump ball, another shot and a layup and a block. A 7-0 run on his own. But before that, he wasn't really doing much offensively. Obviously, he was great on defense and that's why you keep in the game, but he only sat 1:18. How much trust do you have in him?
A: A lot. A lot. Lamar and I are very close and he'll tell me when he needs a break. He tried to and I told him we were going on offense and then he was fine. He found his second wind. But him and I have that connection where he'll tell me when he's tired because I'm asking these guys to play hard on both ends of the floor. Call fist up, fist up, fist up. If you can't get it done for me, that's what we've got to do. The last two games, he played a lot of minutes. By the way, the games before that, he didn't play a lot of minutes. He's been in foul trouble most of the season until the last two.
Q: Some of it is probably a necessity, but why do you think it's important to trust in Jamari in moments like that when maybe he is not having his best afternoon?
A: Because I know he understands what we're doing. I know that he, his speed and his quickness and his toughness against Lewis was the right decision to make. And we were trying to go offense-defense as much as we could, and I just trust him out there. I do. And I believe in him and he understands his role. He's so mad at himself from that lob. He was so mad at himself. I was like "Hey man, next play. We've got to move on." I'm mad at him too, but I've got to move on as well. But again, we can all say what Jamari Wheeler doesn't do, but there are a lot of good things that he does do. And he's a winner.
Q: How did you guys circumvent Alabama's on-the-ball pressure after the first half? In the first half, it seemed like they were disrupting the flow of your offense.
A: Yeah, there's no doubt. We simplified. There were ready for a lot of our screen to screen action. We've gone a lot to that this year. We think it's really been productive for us, for Lamar, for our shooters as well. Really just went to our four-out, one-in concepts and I think that was the difference. Kept a real simple middle ball screen, maybe some horns action. So guys understood like a little bit more equal opportunity, a little bit more just playing freely. Not having to think too much about what cuts we're running. And something that I learned from Jay Wright that even when you simplify, they're going to play at a higher level. Now, they're going to play and they played really well together. I know we had more turnovers than assists, but I'd be interested in how many assists we had in the last 12 or 10 minutes.
Q: Pat, you just don't develop this kind of defensive depth by an accident. How much do you guys look at how well a guy plays defensively while you are recruiting them because it looks like you have a string of guys now who I assume have done this whether at the college level or high school level.
A: You always know Mike, we got Mike right. We got Lamar, we got that. I think the one pivotal guy, and obviously Jamari we know him now, the pivotal guy that we need that had to sit out last year was Brockington. We knew we were losing Josh Reaves. We knew we had to get somebody athletic that was tough, that could defend multiple positions and he can do that. And Curtis Jones is long. I don't know if we realize he is 6'3½ and really rangy and he is long so he is able to do that. And then Seth Lundy who's got a bright future is every bit of 6'6'' and has a Big Ten body who can cover multiple positions. So, you see that, you recognize that in the recruiting process. I think, again, I wish [Izaiah Brockington] didn't have to sit out last year, but we knew what we had waiting for us.
Q: Pat, you look at Mike in the first half. He only played seven minutes and was minus five. And then in the second half, he's up to +10. Like you said he was influential down the stretch defensively, especially for a guy like Mike who you talked about going day by day. How is he able to make sure that he stayed engaged and really make a huge impact down the stretch?
A: You know what I did, and I don't know if you guys noticed, is that I talked to him a lot in the huddles. When I took him out, I was trying to really be clear with him on what I was doing. "Hey, we're doing offense-defense here. Hey, we don't want you to pick up your fourth, but you've still got to play hard." And this was the strategy that were going moving forward. I mean, I wanted to put him in the first half again, I really did. We were reeling a little bit and were back on our heels, but we steadied things. The ship got steadied a little bit. And, I thought he for the first time played really well in foul trouble. And he's older now, right. He's a fifth-year senior so it's good to know that he can do it.
Q: Coach, especially at the end of the first half, Curtis Jones really stepped up. He had those two big three-pointers and that layup as well that really helped you guys keep in the game. What do you think he brings to this team and do you think he can keep up this production?
A: Look, for the older gentlemen, he's our Vinnie Johnson. Alright. For the younger group, he's our Jamal Crawford. He's a guy that I know that can put the ball in the basket and that's what he's been asked to do his entire life. So, we get that and we know what he can do. So now I just need him, again like Mark said, we need him to keep learning our system and our schemes as far as defending and rebounding. But to have that luxury, Brockington gets it done against Maryland and Jones does it here tonight. And you see the Big Ten, you see what's going on. I mean, the Big Ten from top-to-bottom is a bear and you're going to need that depth as you get deep into February.
