Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/121281
MEN���S BASKETBALL RIGHT-HAND MAN Chambers said he doesn���t like to think about how Penn State might have fared if Frazier had stayed healthy. ���I don���t want to torture myself,��� he said. FOCUS ON THE FUTURE After finishing strong, can Penn State maintain its pace and rebound next season? Mark Selders/Penn State Athletic Communications P atrick Chambers is ready to talk about the future. That hadn���t been the case the past few months. With Penn State struggling to overcome the loss of star point guard Tim Frazier to an Achilles tendon injury, media members consistently prodded Chambers about how every development during the season would impact the team next year. Stuck in a no-win situation, Chambers repeatedly insisted that he was focused on the here and now. His priority, he said, was to build the best team possible by the end of the season. The process was arduous, but the Nittany Lions delivered, earning a 8478 victory against then-No. 4 Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 27 ��� the program���s first win against a team ranked that high since 2001. They added another victory eight days later at Northwestern, 66-59, and in so doing achieved a milestone. The win at Welsh-Ryan Arena was their first on the road against a Big Ten opponent since Chambers��� took the helm two summers ago. After finishing on a relatively high note ��� the win over Michigan was preceded by 14 consecutive losses ��� Chambers reflected on the season, asserting that the Nittany Lions played their best ball at the end of the year. ���We were battling. We were right there,��� he said, noting that the team also hung tough in a road loss to Michigan and a home loss to Iowa and only trailed the Wolverines by a point, 46-45, with 15 minutes to play in a first-round game at the Big Ten tournament. ���Overall, I felt like we finished the season playing our best basketball, and that���s my goal as a coach.��� The loss of Frazier, which forced the Nittany Lions to play without a true point guard for nearly the entire season, wasn���t the only challenge Penn State