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"It was very emotional," he said. "I just wanted to be there for my teammates, for the staff, because it was shocking and very upsetting for everybody on our staff and in our program, because he was very loved and he is still very loved and appre- ciated." Left to try to keep the program together in the aftermath of Chambers' dismissal, interim head coach Jim Ferry acknowl- edged the difficulty of the process as Penn State pushes ahead. Having worked throughout the off-sea- son to overcome the hurdles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout, still stung by the cancellation last March of an NCAA tournament that Penn State was certain to reach, all of it capped by Chambers' departure, Ferry said he was committed to listening to his players' concerns. He said he understood that it was going to take time for players to come to terms with the transition. "We're all human beings. We're all going to have emotions, right? We're all going to have different emotions as we deal with things," Ferry said. "I think as long as the players understand that we're here for them, and we're doing things for them, they know they're going to get the support. So we're not telling them how they can feel and how they can't feel; that's just not natural. "We all have to do this together. I think staying in the present has helped, but guys are going to look back and look forward to different things at different times. So I think it's just [a matter of] being able to be there for each other and us all knowing that we're there for each other." Dread said that players have been working to push past their frustrations and adjust. Several players cited Cham- bers' influence in their approach to the season at hand, which had been set to begin on Nov. 25 against Drexel before that game was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. The result has been a collection of players still emo- tional, still in shock, still upset, and now attempting to play hard for Chambers in his absence. "The day we got the news, it was tough. It's been a long month," guard Myreon Jones said. "But the team, it just made us closer. We've been working harder in practice because we don't want to let Coach down, and the coaching staff, they've been working their butts off too, and we appreciate that." ■ post-up guy like Lamar to go to, or Mike to get going on rolls, but we still have that same system in place. "I think you might see a little bit of a different shot selection, maybe not as many post-ups and more drive and kick to play off of each other. [We're a] very, very unselfish team. We're very quick, we're athletic. We do have the ability to go small, which can cause some prob- lems, as long as on the other end we can compete and defend and rebound the basketball." Those defensive responsibilities will remain in the purview of Keith Urgo, who was Chambers' top lieutenant and is entering his 10th season in the pro- gram. Newcomer Talor Battle begins his first season as an assistant, and Ross Condon is back on the bench to round out the staff. Praising the collective effort of that staff in prioritizing the players through the transition, Ferry has taken a light ap- proach that has translated well to a team that is still searching for answers from Penn State's athletic administration. "The culture is the same. Coach Ferry had a meeting with us right after Coach Chambers' departure and he told us, we're not going to do anything differ- ent," Dread said. "We're going to still play that same style of basketball, we're going to have the same practice plans, we're going to have the same defensive principles, and we're going to try to bring the same intensity every day." Working to hold onto as much of the program's identity as possible, one shaped by Chambers through the past decade, Ferry said he believes it's an el- ement that has served the Nittany Lions well. Players are looking for that sense of continuity to pay dividends as the season goes on. "The culture, we're not changing it. It's established. We're coming off one of the best years in the history of the school. The leadership that the kids have amongst each other, the staff, we're not changing much," Ferry said. "We haven't changed the practice plans, the develop- ment of them. We haven't changed the expectations of the program. We haven't changed the expectations of the players and how we do things, how we act, how we approach things. "The guys have a great attitude. It's been established – what we do every day and how we do it – and we're going to stick with that. I think that would be the wrong thing to do in this situation right now, to come in and say, 'Hey, we're doing this now.' I don't see why we would." STEVENS TO CAVALIERS Former Penn State forward Lamar Stevens agreed in principle to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers in November. Stevens was set to join the Cavaliers on Dec. 1 for train- ing camp in preparation for the NBA's Dec. 22 season opener. "I'm never going to stop working hard or stop chasing my dreams," Stevens said. "I'm excited about what the Cleveland Cavaliers have planned for me and my development as a profes- sional. I am so blessed and privileged to have this opportunity, and I'm going to make the absolute most of it. I am so thankful to my parents, my family, my coaches and everyone who has helped me reach this goal and for their support as I continue this journey." A Philadelphia native, Stevens fin- ished his career as Penn State's No. 2 all-time leading scorer with 2,207 points, and he ranks 12th on the Big Ten's all-time points list. He was seven points shy of the school scoring record when the Big Ten and NCAA tourna- ments were canceled due to the pan- demic. ■

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