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The solution? "Play relaxed. Play the game. Win the game." Chambers balked at speculation that the Nittany Lions were struggling under the weight of rising expectations. With point guard Tim Frazier returning to action after missing most of last season with a torn Achilles tendon, there were hopes that the Lions would put last year's 2-16 Big Ten finish behind them and perhaps even challenge for a postseason berth. But when the question was put to Penn State's third-year coach, he took issue with its very premise. "Expectations? There are no expectations!" Chambers said. "They picked us twelfth! What expectations are there?" After compiling a 9-4 nonconference record – a performance highlighted by wins over Penn, La Salle and St. John's – the Nittany Lions managed to turn "no expectations" into a rallying cry. Even some of their losses looked good, coming at the hands of RPI monsters like Ole Miss and Pitt, with the latter game taking place at the Petersen Events Center. Then came the Return to Rec. Chambers said some of the team's recent problems can be traced back to its crushing 81-79 overtime loss to Princeton at Rec Hall in December. Penn State was leading by 20 points with just under 15 minutes to play but wasn't able to finish off the Tigers in the most heavily promoted game of the nonconference season. The Lions have since been trying to put that game in perspective and refocus on the future, but it hasn't been easy. "We've had a few [heart-to-heart talks] already, ever since the Princeton game, trying to regain our confidence and get back to the way we played [at the Barclays Center Classic] in New York," Chambers said. "We've just gotta play with great confidence, play a little bit looser, not get so caught up in the outcome but try to win each possession as they come. "If we can just do a better job of that and finish games, then our record could easily be very different right now. But for whatever reason, it's not." The start of the Big Ten slate often brings about a statistical decline as the opposition Bill Zimmerman PATRICK CHAMBERS ON PENN STATE'S BIG TEN STRUGGLES "We've just gotta play with great confidence, play a little bit looser, not get so caught up in the outcome but try to win each possession as they come. If we can just do a better job of that and finish games, then our record could easily be very different right now." gets tougher, but the recent drop-off has been steeper than usual. Through their first five Big Ten games, the Nittany Lions' scoring average had dipped by 16 points per game. They were averaging only 65 points per game in Big Ten play, and after ranking fourth in the conference in scoring at the conclusion of the nonconference season, they had fallen to 10th by mid-January. The good news for the Lions was that their defensive numbers weren't quite so sobering. In fact, they were surrendering fewer points to Big Ten opponents (74.3 per game) than they had allowed their nonconference foes (76.2). But Penn State's inability to produce points against Big Ten opponents had sent the team's scoring margin plunging from plus-8 to minus9.3. Chambers said the team was still figuring out how best to incorporate guard John Johnson and center Jordan Dickerson into its rotation. The two transfers recently became eligible, and while Chambers said their addition has been beneficial, there are also some hurdles that still need to be cleared. "I'm just worried about us right now. I've gotta get us right," he said. "We've

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