Big Ten title chances on the line as No. 22 Penn State men’s basketball faces No. 16 Michigan State
Michigan State guard Cassius Winston has been one of the best players in the country this season. He’s an excellent lead guard and will be a handful for Penn State Tuesday night in East Lansing when the Nittany Lions take on the Spartans.
Penn State head coach Pat Chambers was asked Monday afternoon how Winston compares to a player he’s coached before, former Villanova and current Toronto Raptors’ star guard Kyle Lowry.
“Wow, that’s a good question,” Chambers said, pondering the comparison. “Cassius is probably a better shooter at this stage in his career. I’m not saying Kyle couldn’t shoot, (because) he could. Kyle was a winner and Cassius is a winner. I think Cassius has a great understanding of when he needs to score and when he (needs to) make everyone better around him ... They’re different as far as where they are in their careers, but (being) winners jumps off the screen.”
Winston has done plenty of winning in his time as a Spartan. Since he became a full-time starter in the 2017-2018 season, Winston has led the Spartans to 78 victories in 96 games and two Big Ten regular season titles with a chance for a third this season.
If Penn State wants to upset Winston and the Spartans Tuesday night, it’ll have to find a way to slow him down. The senior guard can impact the game in several ways on the offensive end and that’s not lost on Chambers, but he wants to make his team focus on itself and what it does best.
“Cassius is one of the best point guards in the country,” Chambers said. “I think it’s got to be about us and how we defend and how we rebound. ... It’s really about what we need to do to be able to try to go and win a game on the road ... If we go out and play Penn State basketball, defend and rebound, fly around the floor with discipline ... if we can do that we give ourselves a chance.”
A chance is all Penn State can ask for against a team ranked No. 9 in the country in Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings and No. 16 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. If the Nittany Lions, who are ranked No. 22 by the AP and No. 16 on KenPom, can create that chance and take advantage of it, they’ll be in a discussion that hasn’t been on the radar very frequently. With a win, Penn State will have a realistic shot at winning the Big Ten regular season title.
Chambers admitted he’d allowed the opportunity to enter his thoughts.
“I wouldn’t be transparent if I didn’t say I thought about it,” he said. “I’m a human being ... I’ve been here a long time. I don’t want to get ahead too far ahead of myself. But it’s nice to be in this situation. It’s great to be where we are right now as opposed to where we were in the past.”
With a win over Michigan State the Nittany Lions would improve to 17-5 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten. That would put them one game behind Illinois and a half game behind Michigan State and Maryland. The Nittany Lions would retain control of their destiny with games against the Illini and Spartans still laying in wait.
“We just have to control what we can control,” Chambers said. “And we are in control of our destiny. We are. So as long as we go Penn State basketball and give ourselves a chance, we’ll see what happens.”
The Nittany Lions have found plenty of success thus far, enough to give themselves control of their own destiny, but Chambers still doesn’t believe his team has reached its peak. The Penn State head coach said he’s looking for his team to maintain pursuit of that peak.
“As coaches we’re always looking for perfection and it’s probably never going to happen,” Chambers said. “But it’s that quest and that journey to try to reach it that we always go on. We always show up every single day to develop those habits to pursue being the best defensive team that we can be and being the best rebounding team we can be and sharing the ball. I think we’re getting closer and closer to a complete game but we’re still a little bit away. I think our guys know that and I think they’re striving for that as well.”
But that’s still too far ahead for Chambers to look. He and the Nittany Lions are trying to stay right where they are and take advantage of the opportunity at hand.
“I’m trying to stay present,” he said, “I’m trying to stay in the moment. There’s 10 games (left), 10 total games. And a lot can happen in those 10 games. A lot. I think it’s going to get wild, I think it’s going to get crazy here down the stretch.”
