Chambers, Penn State putting precedence on immediate over longterm goals

Patrick Chambers isn’t letting the Nittany Lions get ahead of themselves.

Coming off a disappointing 2018-19 campaign that finished without a repeat postseason performance, the Nittany Lions are as experienced and mature as he’s had in his nine-year coaching tenure, Chambers said at Big Ten men’s basketball media day in Chicago Wednesday.

Returning two critical veteran pieces in senior forward Lamar Stevens, a preseason All-Big Ten pick, and fifth-year senior forward Mike Watkins, a former All-Defensive Team pick in the conference, the Nittany Lions have a foundation from which to build. Adding offseason transfer Curtis Jones to a roster that also includes up-and-comers Izaiah Brockington, Myreon Jones, and Myles Dread, plus juniors Jamari Wheeler, John Harrar, and Trent Buttrick, the Nittany Lions are in unfamiliar territory with their roster.

“What you're hearing is depth. What you're hearing is experience. And what you're hearing is solutions,” Chambers said. “And that's what you need in the Big Ten.

“I'll say we have more answers than questions, and for me, that's an absolute luxury. Our schedule is difficult, just like last year, and that's the way we want it. It presents opportunities for us to get better and put us in a position to be the most successful team that we can be by the end of the year.”

Chambers, his staff, his players, and the entirety of the rest of the Penn State men’s hoops program are counting on it.

For as much as the Nittany Lions have returning on the roster, with high expectations to match, they’re not without enduring losses from last season’s roster. Gone is a bedrock veteran in wing Josh Reaves, currently working out in the preseason on a two-way contract with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, as well as rising sophomore point guard Rasir Bolton, who split time with Wheeler directing Chambers’ offense a year ago.

They’ll also take the approach that Stevens won’t be perceived as the only option to carry the load.

Just the opposite as Chambers pointed to Dread, Watkins, Jones and incoming transfer guard Jones as “guys that can produce points” for the Nittany Lions.

“There are four or five guys that really can get us to double figures,” Chambers said. “And that's got to be our offensive identity, right? We have to share the basketball. We have to limit our turnovers. We've got to make timely threes. We've got to get really good possessions, uncontested shots. And if we do that and defend and rebound the way we've been doing for the last four or five years, I think we can get multiple guys, four or five guys, to double figures.”

With so much riding on the season, Penn State having missed NCAA Tournament appearances in each of the past eight seasons, Chambers is cautioning his group from taking anything for granted. Falling victim to the behavior in past seasons similarly approached with lofty expectations and aspirations, Chambers is determined to prevent the same from occurring again this year.

“We can't get ahead of ourselves. And as long as we stay in the present and we're mindful and we're aware and our mantra is just getting better every single day, then you're going to put yourself in that position,” Chambers said. “I don't want this to be a long lens where we're thinking about the end of the season in March and April. That can't be the task here. We've been there, we've done that, we've got to learn from those experiences, learn from those setbacks and focus on moment to moment, practice to practice, drill to drill, and that's the way it's going to be.”

The Nittany Lions open the season with an exhibition against Delaware on Oct. 27 at the Bryce Jordan Center, beginning in earnest a week later when they face the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Nov. 5, also at the BJC.