Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/472975
This is it. D.J. Newbill will continue to play bas- ketball, no doubt. His scoring prowess alone makes the Nittany Lion senior guard a tremendous asset, to say nothing of his leadership and maturity. For the final time at Penn State, though, Newbill will play in front of a Bryce Jordan Center crowd, as No. 23 Ohio State visits tonight. Reminiscing on what the Philly native has meant to Penn State men's basketball through his four years here – he's started the past three seasons after sitting out a year following his transfer from Southern Mississippi – head coach Patrick Cham- bers was filled with appreciation. "He's meant so much to this program, to us. He's opened doors in Philadelphia for us in ways I could have never imag- ined," Chambers said. "Where he was and where he is today as a man, as a ma- ture adult, as a leader, as an ambassador for this program and this university, is just phenomenal." Averaging 20.4 points per game this season, tops among players in the Power Five con- ferences, Newbill has climbed all the way to fourth in the Nit- tany Lions' all-time career scoring ranks. He needs only six points to reach 2,000 for his career. When he gets them, he will join only nine other active NCAA Division I players in that exclusive club. Said Chambers, "I think it's an amazing accomplishment, to get it in his last home game. Is that the cherry on top for him? And what he's done, changing his shot, his work ethic in the gym, earning the right to make shots, how efficient he's been and how consistent he's been throughout the year and how much you count on him – he knows every defense is geared to him – for him to surpass 2,000 I just think is amazing." Newbill won't be the only Nittany Lion to take his final bow tonight in front of the home crowd. There's also Minnesota native Ross Travis, who ranks third in Penn State his- tory with 783 career rebounds. Although he's had a statistical decline in his final season, averaging fewer minutes than in his sophomore and junior seasons while falling to a 4.7 points per game average, Travis has been active lately. He's grabbed 23 rebounds in the past three games and continues pace the Nittany Lions with a team-best average of 6.2 re- bounds per game. Chambers said Travis has been "play- ing some really good basketball the last couple of weeks here, doing some great things. Obviously, [he's] the third-lead- ing all-time rebounder, which is an in- credible accomplishment. "But his attitude and his energy and his effort the last couple of weeks have been just awesome. He's battled through a lot individually over the last four years and he stayed the course and he's doing a great job with guys like Julian Moore and Payton Banks and helping them along the way in their journey." Of course, for as celebratory as tonight's game will be (6 p.m., BTN) for the departing seniors, the Nittany Lions' struggles through the Big Ten have dampened the joy this year. With their most recent loss, an 81-77 overtime heartbreaker Saturday against visiting Iowa, the Lions dropped to 15-14 overall and just 3-13 in the conference. They've lost all but one of the 11 contests that have been decided by single-digits this season, and Chambers admitted the year has not gone as planned for Newbill or anyone associated with the program. "It's definitely disappointing. We thought we'd be fighting for an NCAA tournament, or at least an NIT [bid]. I'm not going to say that the door is closed on that one," he said. "But for [Newbill] and what he's done for us, I wish we could turn that 1-10 into something a lot better to help his cause and to help our cause. "I think the players really want to finish strong for D.J. and Ross and Kevin [Montminy] and Alan [Wisniewski]. There's still a motivating factor here where we didn't win that 16th game until the CBI [last season], so there is some motivation here the last couple of games and Big Ten tournament. We're all 0-0 come the Big Ten. The ball is going to start bouncing our way sooner or later. It's unfortunate how we've lost some of these games down the stretch." M A R C H 4 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 5 Senior sendoff D.J. Newbill gets set to make his final appearance in the Bryce Jordan Center M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L N A T E B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M HIGH SCORER New- bill is only six points away from reaching the 2,000-point plateau at Penn State. He is averaging 20.4 points per game for the Lions this season. Photo by Patrick Mansell