Penn State Men's Basketball
Penn State Head Coach Patrick Chambers Postgame Press Conference
vs. Wisconsin – January 11, 2020
Opening Statement
You know, Wisconsin played a great game. They do what they do. They got stops and they got some major production from [Micah] Potter, which we knew. We played him as a shooter, but obviously he has got a high release and he's every bit as 6-10 or 6-11 and he was on fire. He made big-time shots in the game. It seems like that's what you need. You need somebody to get hot, especially on the road for them. They did a great job. I thought Lamar [Stevens] really competed at a high level tonight, but we need everybody. We need everybody. We're hitting a little speed bump here, a little bump in the road for us and we just have to go back to work. There is plenty of time here, a lot of games left. Our goals are all still intact. We just have to keep getting a little bit better. I would call it 'Big Ten tough.' Rutgers exposed us to a little bit of that and Wisconsin exposed us to a little bit of that. And we've got to make shots. Let's call it what it is. Look, if you told me I was going to hold Wisconsin to 58 points, I'd say we're going to win the game. We're going to win the game, especially at home because we shoot the ball better at home. We really do. We play well at home and we gave up 'serve' if I can use a tennis term. We had serve and we were doing a great job here and now we lost serve. So, we are going to have to steal one on the road. That has to be the mentality.
Q: Pat, you went eight-plus minutes without scoring with starters and two-plus minutes at the end of the game. What were the issues at those specific points? Were shots just not falling or were you not getting good shots, what was happening?
A: I don't think we got good first shots in the first few minutes. I think Wisconsin came out and played like a very desperate team. We didn't play bad. I don't think we played poorly, but I don't think we got great shots in the first four minutes of the 16-minute timeout. And, then obviously we got better shots as the flow and everything came down a little bit. But give Wisconsin credit for their defense and for making life very difficult.
Q: You only had four guys score in this game. That's not tenable in the Big Ten I would assume. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but what led to that and how do you get past that? How do you get more guys involved?
A: Yeah, for two games now, we haven't really shot the ball particularly well and I thought we had some good ones too. Some open, in rhythm, you know really good looks, so we have to do a better job. And then we'll look at the tape and I'll look at the offense and see if we have to tweak something, but we need everybody. To be successful, we have to spread the ball around. We need more than four guys scoring the basketball.
Q: Lamar hasn't really had to be the singular force this year, but some of your marquee guys have over the past couple of years. Do you want to see him be more of that player while these guys try and figure out the slump, maybe carry a little bit more of that load early on if guys aren't doing things?
A: Unfortunately, we're going to have to. We don't have a choice. Everybody's got to do their job. If you're a shooter, you've got to make some shots. If you're a driver, you've got to drive the ball and play off two feet. That's putting a lot of stress and pressure on Lamar Stevens and he's ready for it. He's capable of it. Hey man, you're embedded, you know for a few days there. He's going to need help and guys need to clear their heads and step up and start performing.
Q: Pat, you've worked so hard to get to this program to where it is. You're ranked, tournament talk, but with that comes a different level of expectation. So when you take a look at just the last couple speed bumps, you said 'Big Ten tough.' Then you go 0-for-12 from the field and you get down 10-0 right off the bat in the game with a big crowd, how does all of that play into keeping the fans engaged, making sure they're continuing the climb and what you've built up until the last week or so doesn't start to slip with fans and say 'Oh, here we go again.'
A: Well, hopefully they continue to come out. We've got some great wins under our belt already. Our resume is very strong. What a great crowd, too. Thanks for mentioning that. It says here 10,000 people, which is outstanding and the students aren't even back yet. Most of them come back tomorrow. Look, just one day at a time. Hopefully, they stick with us and we turn this thing and we flip this thing. It's just a little speed bump. So, we're going to learn from it, we're going to get better from it and we're going to go compete in Minnesota on Wednesday night.
Q: You said Thursday about low possession games. Rutgers did it to you then Wisconsin did the same. Is there a commonality between those two teams and what they do maybe offensively and defensively that you feel like is giving you guys trouble?
A: I'm going to really simplify this and you're probably not going to like it. You've got to make shots. When you have open shots, you've got to make shots. And then if you go to the free throw line, you've got to make your free throws. And if you can get a deep post up, you know we have got to do the little things just a little bit better on our post stuff. Again, I'll evaluate our offensive sets. Coach Ferry and I will see what we can do better. Again, I thought we had some good looks both nights. We had good looks at Rutgers. We had good looks tonight. We've got to make those. We can't go 0-for-whatever. Our three-point shooters have to step up and play with confidence and I give them that. I keep telling them that they're going to make the next one and I'll continue to say that. And they'll start falling. They will. They work too hard, the law of averages say they work too hard.
Q: Pat, Mark mentioned the first eight minutes without a shot. So, I'm wondering what's your mindset in the first media timeout when you're taking bad shots and it's still 0-0 and then the second one when you still haven't scored, but now you're down 8-0.
A: I wouldn't say they were awful shots. You know, we got a couple good ones there, but you can't panic. You know what I mean because now that basket looks like a golf hole. So, I think it's more about motivation and giving them confidence and letting them know I believe in them. I think that's the most important thing I can do as a leader and as a head coach. And that's what I did the whole time and it flipped. The ball started going in for us. I think we cut it to a good amount in the second half. We started getting up and down. We started getting stops. Things started to move for us, but we need to do it in the Big Ten for 40 minutes, especially against teams that are tough and physical and play the way Rutgers and Wisconsin do.
Q: Pat, you've mentioned in the past not letting one loss turn into two and two turn into three. What separates this being road bumps from turning into a skid?
A: Because we're different. We're older, we're a little bit more talented. Our front line is older. Curtis Jones is a fifth-year. These guys have been here. Experience. Experience.
Q: Coach, I think it's fair to say that Myles [Dread] had his struggles offensively as of recent, but what does he do on the offensive end really well when you guys are going and how does his struggles hurt that offense and make it become a little more stagnant?
A: When Myles is going, he's making threes and making great plays for everybody. He did that in the last four minutes against Iowa. He had four assists to lead us to victory there, but he has got to make some threes. There's no doubt about it. We need him to do that because he will space the floor and that way our drivers have more space out there, which we had early on. That's why we were scoring at such a high clip. We were making some shots and guys were spaced. Back to the drawing board, we'll keep working. I know he will.
Q: Pat this team has always been one that is going to attempt a lot of threes. You're averaging 26 per game so far this season, but at what point are you drawing the line in instilling confidence in them to attempt those threes and like you said, perhaps making tweaks to the scheme of the game plan?
A: I think the right guys are taking threes. I really do. And the guys who are low percentage are only taking a couple and they're maybe at the end of the clock. I think we're taking the right ones. And we've got to keep taking those right ones because we do have good shooters on this team and we've got to continue to play like that.