Chambers moving on after ejection, loss to Michigan State

Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said he wants to turn the page after his ejection and the team’s 31-point loss to then-No. 6 Michigan State on Sunday.

When asked about his ejection at the team’s media availability Tuesday, he said he’s focused on getting his team better and preparing for its next game against Northwestern.

Chambers later described the postgame scene in the visitor’s locker room at the Breslin Center.

“There was a lot of tears in that locker room,” Chambers said. “That showed me something. That told me a lot about the culture of this program, where it is today and it’s still not perfect, but it’s definitely on its way.”

Chambers said it shows how invested his players are and how much they care about the program. The team says “chain up” before and after games, and the coach has seen this group embrace that mentality.

“The chain is as tight as its ever been,” Chambers said. “It’s not coaches vs. players, players vs. coaches. We are all one pulling in the same direction, which is great to see.”

The Nittany Lions (15-14, 6-10 Big Ten) have won four of their last six games to rebound from a 2-8 start in Big Ten play. They finish the regular season this week, hosting Northwestern (18-11, 6-10) at 9 p.m. Thursday before taking on Illinois (13-16, 5-11) at noon Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Chambers said his team is still playing good basketball despite the loss to the Spartans.

The setback, he said, shows room for growth.

But Michigan State, now ranked No. 2 in the country, is one of the hottest teams in the country — the Spartans have won eight of their last nine games. Michigan State has won those eight games by an average of 20.1 points.

“I’m trying to forget about the first few minutes of Michigan State, where I felt like we were ready to play,” Chambers said. “Obviously they’re a buzzsaw right now. They’re playing at an extremely high level, a level I haven’t seen in a long time since my days when I was at Villanova. That’s how good they’re playing.”

Chambers was ejected with 4:53 left in the first half after being called for two technical fouls. The technicals came after Chambers argued a foul call on Brandon Taylor.

“I think when you genuinely care about something,” Penn State center Jordan Dickerson said, “you see that passion come out sometimes in games and so that’s what you saw with coach and you saw it with some of the players on the sidelines.”

Chambers saw that emotion from his players after the game, too.

“Regardless of what happens down the stretch here,” Chambers said, “these kids are dialed in and they want to make Penn State basketball the best that it can be, which is exciting for right now and our future.”

A look at the conference standings

Going into Tuesday night, Penn State sat in a three-way tie with Northwestern and Nebraska for ninth place in the Big Ten.

Illinois is one game behind that group at 5-11 in conference play. Minnesota (2-14) and Rutgers (0-16) are guaranteed to be the 13th- and 14th-place finishers in the league. Michigan, at 10-7 in conference play, is in eighth place.

Penn State could avoid playing the first day of the Big Ten tournament by finishing ninth or 10th in the league.

The conference tournament starts March 9, with matchups between the No. 11 and No. 14 seeds and between the No. 12 and No. 13 seeds. The tournament will be held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Chambers moving on after ejection, loss to Michigan State."