Blue White Illustrated

playing hard and fouling? That kind of negates you playing hard. So we're try- ing to get away from that," he said. "I see us getting better. "It's a work in progress. But it's some- thing that we're working on, playing hard without fouling." For the season, the Lions were called for 711 fouls compared to opponents' 660. D.J. Who-bill? A5er 3nishing second in the confer- ence in scoring last season with an aver- age of 17.8 points per game, D.J. Newbill was named to the second-team All-Big Ten squad. For his e4orts, Newbill somehow went largely ignored by the national media. Not mentioned among the various top-50 or top-100 lists that are meant to pass the time before the season begins, the Philadelphia native and his head coach took notice. "D.J. de3nitely is underrated," Cham- bers said. "I think it's a good thing be- cause that's going to continue to make him hungry and really get a5er it. "I think it's easy for national sports- writers just to talk about the blue- bloods because I guess that's driving their website or their Twitter accounts and whatever, so why would you put up a guy from Penn State? It's disappoint- ing obviously for us because he deserves to at least be mentioned in some of these top-100 or preseason All-Big Ten [lists], but again, I think D.J. is OK with it. He's secure with who he is and he's just going to go out and do what he did last year." Shots, shots, shots For all of the discussion that Newbill's move to point guard has generated this year, his contributions are unlikely to be the determining factor in the team's success or failure. Instead, it will be up to the entire team to improve on its poor shooting numbers from last season. A5er 3nishing 10th in the conference in 3eld goal percentage against Big Ten opponents (40.6), the Nittany Lions are looking to make signi3cant strides. Chambers said he's con3dent that his players put in the work this past summer to make that happen. "Obviously, we've worked on our shooting all spring, all summer, all fall. It's de3nitely been something that's put in the practice plan immediately," he said, pointing to Brandon Taylor, Payton Banks, John Johnson, Newbill and true freshman Shep Garner. "It presents a problem for our opponents." It would be helpful, Chambers added, "if we can get o4 to a good start and our guys could have pretty good percentages from three." Explaining that closer attention to passing is a key to taking better shots, Chambers said the bene3ts should be team-wide. "We've worked on our passing leading up to the shot, and we've worked on our prep work, our footwork leading up to the shot," he said. "Little things like that I think will be bene3cial for our guys." – N.B. . NO NAME POS ELIG HT HOMETOWN HIGH SCHOOL 0 Payton Banks F R-Fr. 6-6 220 Orange, Calif. Lutheran 1 John Johnson G Sr. 6-1 185 Philadelphia, Pa. Life Center Academy (N.J.) 2 D.J. Newbill G Sr. 6-4 210 Philadelphia, Pa. Strawberry Mansion 3 Devin Foster G Jr. 6-2 205 Dayton, Ohio Jefferson Township 5 Donovon Jack F Jr. 6-9 210 Reading, Pa. Berks Catholic 10 Brandon Taylor F Jr. 6-6 225 Tabernacle, N.J. Trenton Catholic 13 Geno Thorpe G So. 6-3 180 Pittsburgh, Pa. Shaler 14 Kevin Montminy G Sr. 6-3 185 Centre Hall, Pa. Penns Valley Area 21 Isaiah Washington G Fr. 6-3 160 Williamsport, Pa. Williamsport 32 Jordan Dickerson C Jr. 7-1 245 Brooklyn, N.Y. IMG Academy/Abraham Lincoln 33 Shep Garner G Fr. 6-1 185 Chester, Pa. Roman Catholic 34 Alan Wisniewski F Sr. 6-10 235 Sterling Heights, Mich. Bishop Foley Catholic 43 Ross Travis F Sr. 6-7 235 Chaska, Minn. Chaska 44 Julian Moore F R-Fr. 6-10 235 Philadelphia, Pa. Germantown Academy 2 0 1 4 - 1 5 R O S T E R

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