How Myles Dread and Penn State basketball’s resilience vs. Rutgers will help prepare them for March
Penn State had its collective back against the ropes again Tuesday night.
The Nittany Lions allowed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights to overcome a 21-point first-half deficit and cut the lead to one point on the back of a 26-9 run to open the second half. For the third game in a row, they were in a close matchup with 10 minutes of basketball left to play.
The last two occasions ended with losses after clawing back to tie a game.
This game was different. They’d only gotten here because they couldn’t hang on to a massive lead, not because they allowed their opponents to punch them in the mouths at the game’s outset. Still, they were in the same spot. In a close game without sophomore guard Myreon Jones and with senior forward Lamar Stevens facing a barrage of defenders.
Those games ended with a whimper, with Penn State’s opponents taking hold of the game, whether it was in its final minutes or its final seconds.
But on Tuesday, the Nittany Lions hung tough and showed resilience. They stayed the course even when Rutgers was able to take a two-point lead with 42.9 seconds left in the game. Sophomore guard Myles Dread and his teammates never lost sight of their goal. They never lost sight of the win, even when their massive lead vanished.
“We never panicked,” Dread said. “We didn’t. They were making their run. They’re a great team, they have great players, they’re big, they’re physical. We knew they were going to make a run. So we just didn’t panic. We didn’t let their run overwhelm us. We kept doing what we needed to do. They were making shots. They took the lead and that was when we really were like okay we have to buckle down.”
Their maintained composure set Dread up to make the most important play of the game as the clock ticked its final minute The sophomore guard splashed home a 3-pointer from the top of the key on a play that wasn’t originally designed to get him that look.
“They thought Lamar (Stevens) was going to get the ball,” Dread said. “And the play was designed for us to get a two and go to overtime.”
Penn State head coach Pat Chambers credited his team’s ability to stay locked in when it needed to, but it wasn’t just their steadiness that kept them that way. He made a concerted effort not to harp on is team’s errors.
Instead, he stayed the course. He was a guiding hand when his team needed him rather than a disciplinarian.
“The huddles were about attitude,” Chambers said. “You know, next play, don’t get too far ahead of yourself, play to win, we have more to give, (those are) some of the phrases I may have said in those huddles. And they believed in that and they stuck to that ... Me being calm and poised I think helps the team more than me compounding the problem by screaming and yelling and saying ‘you’re not playing hard and you’re not turning (the opponent) over and we’re making all of these mistakes.’ We’ll worry about the mistakes tomorrow, (instead I say to) keep playing with confidence.”
His efforts paid off for his team. They didn’t allow Rutgers to continue its run once they cut the Penn State lead to 51-50 with just over 10 minutes left in the second half. Instead, they punched back and turned the game into a fight rather than a beatdown.
It continued back and forth until the bitter end when Dread sunk the wide open 3-pointer on a play the team has run all season.
“We ran it all year,” Dread said. “We worked on it all summer, that progression, coming off a down screen. They were over-helping on Lamar ... My teammates trusted me and I did what I do best.”
The shot will garner plenty of attention after the win, as it should, but Penn State’s resiliency allowed it to walk out of the Bryce Jordan Center with a win Wednesday night. Their resiliency has allowed them to get back on track when they’ve stumbled and allowed them to overcome the absence of their second-leading scorer, Myreon Jones.
There will be more opportunities for resilience this season, whether they come in the Nittany Lions’ final three games, the Big Ten Tournament, or the NCAA Tournament. When those moments come, Penn State will be ready thanks to nights like Wednesday.
