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NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT

March 28, 2018

Patrick Chambers

New York, New York

HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: We're obviously very excited to be playing in the championship game, to be able to beat Mississippi State last night, a very good SEC team, a well-coached team. Ben Howland is one of the best in the business, Hall of Fame coach. Our guys were ready to play. They competed at a high level.

I thought we did some good things on the defensive end that really dictated the offensive end for us. So as long as we can do that -- now, Utah can make a ton of threes; they have had 12 and 14 in some NIT games this year. We'll have our hands full. We'll watch some film, break it down, prepare, and we'll be ready to go at 7:00 tomorrow night.

Q. I wanted to know, in reference to Tony Carr's performance last night, he had a good game. What do you think about his performance in the game last night?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: Yeah, I think him and Shep really set the tone in the first quarter. I mean, Tony ended up with 21-5-6, which is great. He played great defense, as well. He's been an emerging leader.

You know, I think since the game at Ohio State, he really came into his own, and he stepped up last night. Like I said, with his energy and shot-making ability and facilitating, I really felt like he dictated the pace in tempo for us.

Q. How well prepared are you for Utah tomorrow night?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: We're going to break down film as much as possible. I had a lot of guys play critical minutes -- I'm looking at it now: 40, 37, 30, 30, so that's a lot of minutes for our starters.

So we're going to prepare. We're going to be smart. We'll go through a walk-through today and get rest and then do a little bit -- get some shots up, free throws, things of that nature but make sure we rest our bodies and minds for sure.

Q. When you recruited Tony Carr, did you expect what you're getting from him? Is he exceeding it?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: For me, it's got to go to his IQ. He's got such a high IQ. He really sees the floor. He's every bit of 6-5.

I knew we were getting a good player. I knew he could make shots, but I think his shooting from three has really impressed me the most. He put in a lot of work in the off-season to improve his shooting. Obviously he was in the low 30s last year, and you know what, he fell in love with the weight room.

So really his work ethic overall has really been impressive, his high IQ. He makes everybody around him much better.

I think Shep Garner has been the benefit of Tony Carr being on the floor, having seen Shep Garner with a school record from three. And Lamar Stevens is five points away from scoring a thousand; I think Tony Carr really set those guys up for success.

Q. How have you seen Lamar develop this year?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: You know, the Lamar Stevens I think we all want to see is the one from last night. He was really efficient: 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists, took care of the basketball, played very good defense.

I mean, if we can bottle that up, we can really move Lamar around, he's a real perimeter threat and he showed his ability to pass and rebound last night. Without Mike, for him to get eight rebounds is big and he's going to need to continue to do that and definitely going to need to do that tomorrow night for us at 7:00.

Q. For you guys, with as many young guys as you have playing big minutes for you, is the motivation you feel like in the championship game, and maybe some of the carryover, a little bit different than, say, a Utah where they're talking about the seniors and talking about sending them out the right way. How do you feel that's different and how is the motivation for you different, carrying some of this over into next year and future seasons?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: Yeah, I think our goal was to get to New York and our goal was now to get to the championship game and obviously cut down nets; that's the same for Utah and Larry.

Shep Garner has been an incredible leader over the last 60 days. I think we're playing for him and Julian Moore. I know there's four seniors on Utah, but we have two that play critical minutes for us, and we need to remember who we're playing for and what it's about.

As far as the young guys, the sophomores, these experiences are critical in our development. These guys are really beginning to grow and find success and winning really helps because prior to that, we only won 15 games last year.

So for them to be at 25, second-most wins in the history of Penn State basketball, which is 122-year history, is terrific. So this has got to be a springboard for us, but as long as they continue to compete, continue to grow, continue to embrace these experiences, it can only help us for our future.

Q. On the call a couple minutes ago, Larry said that the biggest thing he was aggravated with with his team was mentally they just weren't prepared. You can't say that about Penn State last night. Do you think that's where you have a big advantage in this one?
HEAD COACH PAT CHAMBERS: I don't think there's a big advantage at all because he's got four seniors out there and they want to go out on a high note. There's only going to be two teams or a couple teams in the country that are going to end their season with a win.

I think the Big Ten Tournament being at Madison Square Garden has given us a little -- a slight advantage. Our fans, our alums, Penn Staters, the administration coming out the way that they did last night and I feel good that they will be out again Thursday night. That support is going to be huge for us. We also try to get Penn State basketball into the Garden over the last few years.

Obviously the Michigan game a few years ago, St. John's last year; so that's really helped us I think in the Mississippi State game because a lot of those kids have never been to New York, they never played at the Garden and so it was all very knew. Utah has a game under their belt. They will be prepared for Thursday night.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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