Goals Inching Closer, Small Improvements Take Heightened Importance for PSU

The box score for Penn State’s game against Northwestern Saturday led with the element with which Patrick Chambers was most concerned.

Penn State 77 - Northwestern 61

A comfortable 16-point advantage in which the Nittany Lions held a lead that fluctuated between 12 and 19 points for the majority of the second half, the win marked Penn State’s eighth-straight and kept it in sole possession of second place in the Big Ten standings.

At 10-4 in conference play and 20-5 for the season, the historic run for the program continued Monday afternoon when the Associated Press Top 25 included a new No. 9 ranking for the Nittany Lions. A boost of another four spots from its perch at 13 a week ago, the Nittany Lions have climbed from unranked, to No. 24, to No. 22, to 13th, and now ninth, in just four weeks.

Matching the program record for its highest ranking, ever, in the AP poll, Chambers wasn’t willing to indulge.

“That's great,” he said. “If we're in the Top 10 in three weeks now, I'll give you a better answer. How's that sound? We still got six games ago here. One day at a time.”

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The approach, at least partially, stemmed from the film review of the Nittany Lions’ most recent win. In his weekly meeting with the media Monday afternoon, Chambers acknowledged a deeper dive into the statistics against the Wildcats revealed areas for “growth and improvement.”

Noting another solid performance offensively, one in which the Nittany Lions kept pace with their third-ranked scoring offense in Big Ten play (74.5 ppg), defense drew some concern.

“Even though we only gave up 61 points, I thought Northwestern got some shots they typically make and they definitely make at home; they made at Rutgers for sure,” Chambers said. “So we got to tighten up some things on the defensive end.

“We can get a lot better. I thought our ball-screen defense could improve, our transition defense can improve. Rebounding can always improve.”

Holding a 42-30 edge on the boards, surrendering just five offensive rebounds to the Wildcats, Chambers’ other concerns included ball movement for an offense that has dramatically shifted away from iso ball this season.

Describing possession as critical in advance of Tuesday night’s first-and-only matchup with Illinois (6:30 p.m., FS1), Chambers pointed out that despite his team’s 16 assists against the Wildcats, that 10 came in the second half demonstrated that lack of ball movement.

“(We need to) continue to share the ball,” Chambers said. “I think we're a much better team when there are more passes than dribbles, and I think we showed that at Purdue. Man, that thing was hopping. It didn't stick. And taking care of the ball, not giving your opponent easy run-outs, that's going to be critical tomorrow night against Illinois.”

In a story that began before Penn State’s 75-70 win at Michigan State on Feb. 4, the Nittany Lions could still be without one of its best assists-to-turnovers guards in Myreon Jones, who continues to battle an unspecified illness.

Having missed each of the past three games since dropping 20 on the Spartans, Chambers insisted the status of the sophomore guard continues to be determined and will continue to be monitored as such.

“(He’s) still day-to-day,” Chambers said. “We want to make sure he's as healthy as possible. I'm not bringing him back early. I just want to make sure he's healthy as possible. So when that day comes, you'll be the first to know.”

In the meantime, Chambers is determined to keep the Nittany Lions dialed into the here-and-now. With the chorus of congratulations growing louder with each passing milestone and accomplishment, the immediate objectives continue to take precedence over potential, however tantalizing it might be.

“I think we can continue this process of getting better. And it's my challenge and my job to make sure that we stay in this moment and that we stay present on that task at hand. We can't look forward,” Chambers said. “If it was heading into Big Ten Tournament right now, we could talk about anything. But right now we're not. And there’s… like two-and-a-half weeks to go of the regular season.

“So there's a lot of basketball left, and this league is just, I've never seen anything like it. I'm watching Illinois on tape and it's just frightening how tough they are, and what they're able to do on both ends of the floor. So a great challenge ahead of us. We got to keep getting better and keep trying to play Penn State basketball.”

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