Nittany Lions Looking to Build on Off-Week's Benefits
In basketball, Kobe Bryant’s influence was impossible to miss.
Just a day removed from the NBA megastar's untimely death, Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers met with the media for his weekly press conference. And naturally, a Philadelphia product himself, Chambers reflected on Bryant’s life and paid homage to the legacy that is easily found in today’s game.
“I have a quote of Kobe's up in the practice facility about dreams and goals. I first watched him as a high school player, Lower Merion-Marple Newtown, my brother Paul was an assistant at Newtown. And I remember like it was yesterday, what a talented young man, just incredible,” Chambers said. “And he went through some peaks and valleys for sure as a human being and as a player. But it's unfortunate that tragedy puts life in perspective for everybody. What's truly important, obviously faith, family, and friends. Today you wake up with a great reminder. If you didn't go home last night and hug your kids, then you should have, and if you haven't, then you should today because that's what I did. Because at any second, it could be gone.
“So I'll talk to my players about that, about making a positive impact on their teammates, on their community, on this university, in their life when they leave here; I think that's truly important.”
A player who shaped the aspirations of many of today’s players, Bryant’s loss would undoubtedly be of significance to this group of Nittany Lions, Chambers continued.
In fact, for star senior forward Lamar Stevens, Bryant has been a constant reference point dating to the start of the season.
“I’ve been talking about mamba mentality, and I think that's the next level, that Kobe Bryant mentality, of every day you're going to win every drill, whether it's one on two, two on two, three on three. Whatever the breakdown is, you're the hardest worker in that drill,” Chambers said at the program’s preseason media day in October. “That's the way it's got to be, and he's got to lead the team in wins. Whatever team he's on, doesn't matter who is on his team, they need to compete at a very high level and win. There are no possessions off.”
Certainly, that will be true as the Nittany Lions embark on the final 12 games of the Big Ten regular season in the next 38 days, beginning Wednesday when they host Indiana (8:30 p.m., BTN).
Coming off a bye weekend, and a pair of back-to-back wins against Ohio State and at Michigan that propelled the program back into the AP Top 25 on Monday, the No. 24-ranked Nittany Lions are optimistic about progress made during the downtime.
"We were really starting to click and really starting to play well, and having a week off, I was like, Man, I wish we were playing on Saturday or Sunday. Just a little extended period, not so much a week off," Chambers said. "But, you know what, mentally and physically, the way this league is this year, I think we needed it. We had some guys banged up, some guys nicked up, and mentally, it's definitely wearing on you. You got to play your best every single night and if you don't you're gonna lose so I think it was probably therapeutic mentally for sure to get some rest.
“We had a good week last week. We played really well versus Ohio State and Michigan. I thought we got better. (We) had a great scrimmage on Saturday, brought officials in. I wanted to keep our edge as if we were going to play. I thought that was productive. Off yesterday, and now we're back preparing for Indiana.”
Part of that preparation included a self-scout even before the team’s most recent stretch of games.
Giving the offense to assistant Jim Ferry, defense to Keith Urgo and special teams to Kevin Freeman, Chambers and his staff examined the factors that have led to Penn State’s successes (No. 1 in steals and blocks in the Big Ten, second in scoring, third in turnover margin) and shortcomings (last in fouls, 12th in 3-point defense, 10th in rebounding margin).
“There's a lot of strong areas. You can't be great at everything, and when you try, that's when you lose sight,” Chambers said. “I think over the last three to five games, our defense has definitely gotten better. Field-goal percentage has dropped for the opponent, three-point percentage has dropped for the opponent.
“We were probably switching more, we're switching less (now), and I think that was the rebounding issue. Too much switching, too many mismatches, and then we weren't finding bodies or we had Jamari on a 7-footer. That's probably not the best thing that you need at that point. So right now, to me, offensive rebounding needs to get better. We have to do a much better job in that… space because Indiana is one of the best in the country; if not the best in the league, definitely top 10 in the country.”
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