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MEN'S BASKETBALL SWING AND A MISS Penn State's momentum is thwarted by a daunting Big Ten schedule In the final four games of its nonconference schedule in December, Penn State reeled off some of the season's most impressive offensive performances. And it earned some easy victories along the way. The first four games of the Big Ten season have not been nearly as kind. While the Nittany Lions averaged 78.5 points per game in wins against Army, Delaware State, New Hampshire and Duquesne in December, their shooting performance has been dismal in January. They've scored a high of just 54 points while checking in at a conference-worst 33.5 percent shooting from the floor. The results have been, unsurprisingly, equally dismal. "I wouldn't say disheartening," Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers said. "We've gotta continue to get better. We've got young guys out there, you've got freshmen and sophomores out there. But, disheartening, I wouldn't say it's disheartening. We just have to keep at it and keep working and keep getting better and learn from our mistakes and try to slow ourselves down. "We've gotta make some shots. The game is simple. The game is really simple when you make shots. But right now we're not making shots, so it's a possession game. And it's like squeezing a golf club. We're squeezing a little bit too tight right now. Or [we're like] the baseball batter who is clutching that baseball bat and he's got blisters on his hands because he's just squeezing it. We've gotta just relax, and let the game come to us a little bit." The first two losses – at Wisconsin and to then No. 5 Indiana at home – weren't unexpected, but the third loss – a 70-54 walloping by Northwestern at the Bryce Jordan Center on Jan. 10 – couldn't have been worse. In fact, some fans said the defeat was one the worst defeats of Chambers' young tenure as head coach. In a performance he called "embarrassing," the clearly agitated Chambers blamed himself for not having a team that was prepared to play. Then he vowed to make the necessary changes that would help it rebound from the three-game skid. But the next game – a 60-42 loss at Purdue – wasn't the result he'd been looking for. Chambers noted that he hadn't seen anything to suggest that his players are disengaged or losing interest J A N U A R Y Tim Owen WAVE DEFENSE Sophomore forward John Graham goes up for a rebound against Indiana on Jan. 7. Penn State fell to the Hoosiers, 74-51, in part two of a four-game losing skid to start Big Ten play. in a season that, since the crushing injury of senior point guard Tim Frazier, has been mostly an uphill battle. Heading into its game vs. Michigan State on Jan. 16, Penn State was 8-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten. "They want to win so bad that they're not making shots and they're making mistakes because they want to win so bad," Chambers said. "I keep telling them, 'This is a marathon, this is a journey. Relax. We've got 14 games. This isn't the end all to be 1 6 , 2 0 1 3 7 all. This is the next game on the schedule.' "Trust me, we had fun Sunday morning. … But then the ball gets thrown up, you don't make your first couple of shots and things go the other way for you. We're going to get it back. We are. It's only a matter of time before we start hitting shots again. I really believe that. "We're right there, we're playing hard, but the ball's not going in for us. Sometimes that ball wants to bounce the other way. That's what happens." – NATE BAUER B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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