Stevens' Career Day Lifts Lions to Win Over Minnesota Before Sell-Out Crowd
Lamar Stevens pounded his puffed-out chest, looking right into a sea of white shirts and waving arms, where months before there might have been blue seatbacks.
A long-dormant fanbase gave a full-throated yell as Stevens fought through contact to earn a three-point play, responding to a furious Minnesota rally that had cut a 19-point lead to three with 4:48 to go on Saturday.
Stevens helped ensure the Gophers (12-11, 6-7) never got that close again, as Penn State (18-5, 8-4) survived for a 83-77 win. Stevens scored a career-best 33 points, and steadied the Nittany Lions when disaster seemed inevitable.
“Lamar had that look in his eye that a senior gets when he knows, not that you’re running out of time, but you’re running out of games,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said.
Penn State seemed primed to ride Stevens to a blowout win, holding a 19-point lead with 13:03 left in the second half. But the Nittany Lions’ defense faltered in the wake of a barrage from Minnesota guard Marcus Carr and forward Daniel Oturu.
“Marcus put the team on his back in the second half,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said.
The duo combined for 36 second-half points, and turned a Penn State victory lap in front of its first sold-out crowd in nearly a decade into a game soaked in tension. But Stevens didn’t panic, because the senior who has started every game of his Penn State career has been here before.
“Years before, when I was younger playing in a game like that, your mind would start racing, kind of like a panic attack,” Stevens said. “We were only up three and we were just up almost 20 at one point in time. But now, I just try to keep everybody composed, because I know what we’re capable of.”
Feeding off Stevens, Penn State did not fold. The letdown that 15,261 fans braced for did not come.
With Myreon Jones — the Nittany Lions’ second leading scorer — out with an illness, Penn State’s supporting cast did just enough to earn a sixth-straight Big Ten win and pull into a tie for second in the conference standings.
Myles Dread followed Stevens’ big moment with a 3-pointer in traffic on Penn State’s very next offensive possession.
Just like that, the panic within the BJC subsided. Penn State, up nine, was in control again, thanks to a huge shot from Dread. No one needed this breakout moment more than him, not long after a seven game stretch that saw the 3-point sharpshooter make just 14 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.
“He’s got to play with confidence,” Chambers said. “I’ve seen a different pep in his step, so to speak. I think his confidence is there, and that’s why I put him in the starting lineup.”
John Harrar gave the Nittany Lions eight points, playing 33 physical minutes in the post. Seth Lundy added eight points of his own, and Izaiah Brockington scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, getting to the rim in the midst of the Minnesota push to give Penn State some scoring when it really needed it.
“We got really really stretched out, and instead of playing good team defense, they were able to drive into the paint a little bit — a lotta bit,” Pitino said, correcting himself.
For the game, Penn State shot 50 percent from the field, even without Jones’ contributions, and held the Gophers to 43 percent. The Nittany Lions got 21 points from their bench compared to only seven points scored by Minnesota’s reserves.
An announced sellout, there were some empty seats scattered throughout the arena. But the atmosphere was striking enough that Pitino highlighted it during his postgame news conference, when he was asked about the differences in this Penn State team compared to past ones.
“When you get buy-in from the community, that team can beat anybody, but you can’t do it in front of an empty arena,” Pitino said. “It’s so hard. Obviously credit to that team to be able to fight through all of that and then kind of have their moment.”
Added Stevens, “Back and forth games like that, they’re special, especially with the crowd that we had tonight.”
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