Nittany Lions dialed in heading into final stretch

The Penn State men’s basketball team faced uncertainties coming into this season.

The Nittany Lions had lost their leader and top scorer in D.J. Newbill, leading rebounder in Ross Travis and another key contributor in Geno Thorpe.

No returning player averaged more than 9.2 points per game last season.

Penn State (14-13, 5-9 Big Ten) has endured tough stretches this season, but the Nittany Lions are now playing with confidence with two weeks left in the regular season. They have won three of their last four games going into a matchup with Nebraska at the Bryce Jordan Center at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“I’m just proud of the way that they responded from tough love and some setbacks and some hard scheduling in the beginning of the Big Ten season here,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said at the team’s media availability Tuesday. “And they never gave up hope and that’s something to be said, because we go hand-in-hand, the coaches and the players, we’re together on everything. And I think more than anything that’s what’s happened this year.”

Penn State went 2-8 to start its Big Ten schedule.

The Nittany Lions then snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over then-No. 22 Indiana. After a loss to Nebraska, they upset then-No. 4 Iowa and beat Rutgers.

Leadership was among the uncertainties going into the year.

And senior Brandon Taylor has filled that void and emerged as the team’s top player. Taylor is the team’s leading scorer with 16.6 points per game and leading rebounder with 6.5 per game, numbers that rank in the top 10 in the Big Ten in both categories.

Taylor turned in strong efforts in Penn State’s last two wins, scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds against Iowa and finishing with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against Rutgers.

“Now we’re through a positive stretch and you don’t do it without a great leader in Brandon Taylor,” Chambers said. “You don’t do it without young guys willing to show that they’re dialed in, they want to get better and they want to help.”

The Nittany Lions have received contributions from nearly everyone in the rotation in the two-plus weeks.

In the last two games, senior forward Donovon Jack scored in double figures and redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Washington played 20-plus minutes. Sophomore guard Shep Garner knocked down nine of 16 3-point attempts, and freshman guard Josh Reaves has been a steady distributor. In the win over Indiana, senior guard Devin Foster scored 13 points off the bench.

“I feel confident about whoever I have out there now,” Chambers said.

The coach credited his players for the the recent run of success.

He said he’s enjoyed coaching and pushing this team at practice.

And the players have responded.

“Our coaches bring the energy,” Garner said. “Our seniors bring the energy. It just trickles down to us. We focus on getting better every day, and we are.”

Foster working to get back in rotation

Foster had played at least 20 minutes in nine straight games before missing the matchup with Iowa to be in Ohio for the birth of his daughter.

Foster then played just one minute against Rutgers on Saturday. Chambers said Foster was off for four or five days and the guard needs to work his way back into the rotation.

“Devin will get his minutes back but he’s got to continue to work, get back in the gym, get back in shape,” Chambers said.

During that nine-game stretch, Foster earned three starts and scored in double figures three times.

PSU commits lead Roman Catholic to title

Penn State commits Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick led Roman Catholic to a 72-65 win over Neumann-Goretti in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game at the Palestra on Monday night.

Chambers was in attendance to see Roman Catholic win its second straight league title.

“Tony, Lamar and Naz really stepped up to the plate,” Chambers said. “Packed house, I was sweating. We were all sweating. That’s how intense it was. It reminded me when I was at Villanova when we used to play Temple or St. Joe there, it was that crowded, that packed.”

Garner, a Roman Catholic graduate, followed the game, too.

“It was a great game. The typical Roman-Neumann rivalry,” Garner said. “It goes back far. It was everything that I expected. It was a tough, hard-fought game, and Roman won. It was a great day to be a Cahillite.”

Chambers said he was nervous as he watched the game.

But his future players came out on top.

“I was a proud papa, though, leaving there,” Chambers said.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Nittany Lions dialed in heading into final stretch."