Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/399784
oss Travis doesn't have to do it all this season. The Nittany Lions' scrappy for- ward has spent the past three sea- sons trying to dominate the boards, con- tribute as a scorer and defend some of the biggest, toughest opponents in the Big Ten. "I remember my freshman year, getting matched up with Jared Sullinger or a Draymond Green from Michigan State just because we were limited on our big men," Travis said. That par- ticular challenge, facing off against the opponent's center due to Penn State's dearth of capable bigs, appears to be over. This coming season, the Nittany Lions are expecting to get serious minutes out of the likes of Jordan Dickerson, Julian Moore and Donovon Jack, each of whom stands 6-foot-9 or taller, so Travis has finally found some relief. "I think they're going to be great this year, and I think they're ready for the challenge," he said. With help having arrived, Travis finds himself facing a different set of expecta- tions in this, his final season with the Nit- tany Lions. He proved himself to be an all-effort, all-the-time kind of player during his true freshman year, but over the course of his first three seasons at Penn State, the energy and enthusiasm that defined his performances didn't always translate into productive statistical minutes. Re- bounding has always been a strong suit – he led the league two seasons ago and finished fourth last year – but he lacked the confidence on offense that natural scorers often possess. "In my first couple of years, the game was a little fast, so I know I missed some opportunities," he said. "But now that the game has slowed down, I think I'm able to see a lot more opportunities that I didn't capitalize on in past years. It's just basically [a matter of] going out there and seeing some gaps that I've missed before and ultimately being more ag- gressive." Playing in all 34 games a year ago, Travis put together an impressive effort on the glass, grabbing 7.0 rebounds while aver- aging 8.4 points per game. But he struggled to become the consistent offensive pres- ence his Nittany Lion teammates so des- perately needed. He wasn't a reliable dou- ble-digit scorer, the kind of player who could be counted on to take some of the burden off of D.J. Newbill and Tim Frazier, ROLE MODEL Ross Travis finds the right fit heading into his final season M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L | RISING SENIOR Travis intends to be a more potent scor- ing threat this com- ing season after av- eraging 8.4 points per game as a jun- ior. Photo by Bill Zimmerman R