	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BIG TEN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 2, 2019

Patrick Chambers

Hilton Rosemont - Rosemont, Ill.

PATRICK CHAMBERS: Good morning. For the first time in our tenure at Penn State, we have an experienced team, led by Lamar Stevens, and for us at Penn State, what a powerful statement he made this summer, Lamar and his family, by returning for his senior season.

They value an education. They value that degree. But they also have a belief in our staff, and Lamar has a belief in the guys in that locker room. It's powerful. That's a leader. That's a pioneer. It's an outlier. And for Penn State, we need guys like that.

Coupled with Mike Watkins in the front court, who's as healthy as he's ever been. He had a knee injury a few years ago, and now he feels much, much better. So with those guys anchoring the defense and the offense, that bodes well for us.

We've added some important firepower in Curtis Jones, a fifth-year senior, and Izaiah Brockington, a transfer who had to sit out last year, to go along with Jamari and John and Myles Dread. And a guy that I think is really going to emerge this year is Myreon Jones. So what you're hearing is depth. What you're hearing is experience. And what you're hearing is solutions. And that's what you need in the Big Ten.

When the Big Ten went to a 20-game league season, you need depth because if you're going to your 10th and 11th guy, there can't be any drop-off, and I believe we have that this year.

I'll say we have more answers than questions, and for me that's a luxury, an absolute luxury. Our schedule is difficult, just like last year, and that's the way we want it. It presents opportunities for us to get better and put us in position to be the most successful team that we can be by the end of the year.

Q. With a player like Lamar, what do you challenge him with this year as far as do you talk about all the things he means to your program? What do you challenge him with and what do you see as the ceiling for him?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: You know, I've been sharing this with Lamar. I'll share it here today. I've been talking about Mamba mentality, and I think that's the next level, that Kobe Bryant mentality, of every day you're going to win every drill, whether it's one on two, two on two, three on three. Whatever the breakdown is, you're the hardest worker in that drill. And if he accepts that challenge -- which he has, statistically right now he's No. 1 in all our stats in practices. And that's the way it's got to be, and he's got to lead the team in wins. Whatever team he's on, doesn't matter who is on his team, they need to compete at a very high level and win. There're no possessions off.

Q. Obviously traditional football school, what's it like for your players, you talk about expectations this year for your players, big expectations for this year, how are they handling that, and what are your thoughts moving forward for getting these guys moving forward and getting to the tournament and making a run?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: I think Penn State craves good basketball. A few years ago our attendance was very high as far as the last five, six home games, 11,500. Madison Square Garden, we had the most attendance, 11,500, since 2001. Penn State wants good basketball. I understand you think it's a football school. They want it. We're going to live moment to moment. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves, and we're not going to look back, either. We've done that. We've already been there. Let's learn from those experiences, those shared experiences and look forward, and take this day right now, how do we get better. We're promoting our program, we're promoting the Big Ten.

Now today when we go back, we're going to have practice. In those drills, take each rep as it comes and get better. That's another moment. But if we start looking too far ahead, if we start looking at NCAA Tournament, if we start looking at postseason or championships, anything like that, it's going to become very overwhelming, and we don't need that, and these kids don't need that, so we'll take it moment by moment.

Q. Lamar Stevens seems to be the only player on the team that has a history of putting up double digit numbers consistently. Who else on your team do you believe has that ability day and night?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: Myles Dread. I think he had a great freshman campaign. I look forward to him taking the next step in his progression as a basketball player. He's going to do more, not just shoot threes for us.

Mike Watkins, I believe struggled last year, had a lot of things going on off the floor and on the floor physically. So I look forward to him getting us to that double digit.

I look at Curtis Jones and Myreon Jones, guys that can produce points for us. So there's four or five guys that really can get us to double figures.

And that's got to be our offensive identity, right? We have to share the basketball. We have to limit our turnovers. We've got to make timely threes. We've got to get really good possessions, uncontested shots. And if we do that and defend and rebound the way we've been doing for the last four or five years, I think we can get multiple guys, four or five guys, to double figures.

Q. With Lamar coming back and with the experience that you touched on, there's kind of increased expectations. How do you anticipate those teams handling those expectations, and how do you get them to handle them?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: Yeah, just like I said, moment to moment, we can't get ahead of ourselves. And as long as we stay in the present and we're mindful and we're aware and our mantra is just get better every single day, then you're going to put yourself in that position. Again, I don't want this to be a long lens where we're thinking about the end of the season in March and April. That can't be the task here. We've been there, we've done that, we've got to learn from those experiences, learn from those setbacks and focus on moment to moment, practice to practice, drill to drill, and that's the way it's going to be.

Q. Tom Izzo is a stalwart in this conference, obviously, but he's been a guy who's reached out to young coaches or when they first came in the league went to play you at the Palestra when a lot of people wouldn't. What does he mean to you as a coach?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: It's a great question. Here's a guy when we're struggling last January -- he doesn't have to call me, he's got to focus on his own team, he's has his own injury, he has his own concerns -- but he's worried about me. Reaching out to me, just giving me guidance, and he's done that throughout my entire tenure, and I appreciate that. I appreciate his knowledge, his wisdom, his mentorship, and for a young coach in the league that's top to bottom I believe the best league in the country, to have somebody like that who's got your back and who's going to guide you, even though we want to beat each other so badly on the court, you know, he absolutely gets it, and he wants to make sure that this league is terrific, and he wants to make sure coaches keep their jobs and do the right things.

I'm grateful for our relationship. I'm grateful for our friendship.

Q. You spoke about Lamar Stevens and how important he is to your program and its culture. Is there any player on the team, younger player on the team currently that kind of exhibits the things that he shows and that they can continue to prolong when he leaves and moves on from the program?
PATRICK CHAMBERS: Great question. That's what's important for Penn State. We're older this year. We have veterans. We have experience. We have to stay that way. So the next group of guys -- Johnny Harrar, Jamari Wheeler, Trent Buttrick, Myles Dread, MJ, and then I think there's a guy out there not many people know about is Seth Lundy. He's every bit of 6'7", 218.

So I believe that we have stability, we have sustainability, and that's what you need in a great program. We don't want to be a one-hit wonder. We want, hey, we're going to succeed this year, and we want to back that up with consistency.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297