UNIVERSITY PARK — Patrick Chambers held his two young children — 3-year-old Grace and 2-year-old Ryan — on his lap as he talked to reporters Saturday after his team’s game against Nebraska.
It served to provide a little more emphasis as Penn State’s basketball coach talked about the 21-year-old player who had taken the podium a few minutes earlier.
“I’ve always said I hope Ryan ends up someday like Billy Oliver,” Chambers said.
Oliver, who has battled symptoms from concussions and migraine headaches since he came to Penn State in 2008, has decided to end his playing career, he said Saturday. The 6-foot-8 redshirt junior forward from Chatham, N.J., will remain with the team as a graduate assistant or a similar position and plans to pursue a second degree after earning his degree in finance in May. Oliver will remain on scholarship as a medical non-counter — he said the paperwork had already been filed — meaning Penn State will have another scholarship available for next season.
Oliver, who had not played in four of the previous six games due to concussion symptoms, said he made the decision Thursday. He dressed and warmed up for Saturday’s game but did not see action.
“It’s a decision that I put a ton of thought into,” Oliver told reporters after the game. “I talked to my parents, talked to my coach countless times. It seems right to me and more importantly to my team.”
The Nittany Lions found out that Oliver was stepping down on Friday. His roommate, junior point guard Tim Frazier, said he tried to talk Oliver into playing in Saturday’s game and called him “a brother of mine.”
“We’ve had a really tough couple days,” Chambers said. “Billy’s a kid that gives you everything he has. When he can’t get over the hump … it hurt all of us.”
Oliver suffered a pair of concussions during the 2008 preseason and took a redshirt that year. The following season, he played in only five games before being sidelined with exercise-induced migraine headaches.
He was symptom-free last season, averaging 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 14 minutes per game as the Nittany Lions went to the NCAA tournament and, as one of the few returning players from that team, took a much more prominent role this season under Chambers.
Oliver started 20 of the 21 games he played in and averaged 6.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24 minutes per game. His 3-point percentage went from .250 to .340 and he reached double figures in three games, including a 21-point performance in a 65-45 win over Purdue in January.
But less than two weeks later, Oliver’s symptoms returned, and he was held out of practices as well as the next four games while doctors ran a bevy of tests. He said even the chance of hitting his head in a game or practice made him hesitant.
“As much as I don’t want it to be, it’s in the back of my head when I’m playing,” Oliver said. “If I can't go out there and do everything to help those guys win, it’s time for me to move on.”
Penn State will welcome Akosa Maduegbunam, a guard from Boston, Mass., and Brandon Taylor, a forward from Trenton, N.J., next season. Freshman forward Peter Alexis has said he will seek a transfer. That will leave the Nittany Lions with one scholarship remaining for the Class of 2012.
