Blue White Illustrated

May 2015

Penn State Sports Magazine

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tive trip to the College Basketball Invi- tational. "I felt like we were :nishing on a high note. I felt like we captured Penn State fans back, and a lot of the national media as well. I felt like they really respected the way we played and how we :nished so strong," Chambers said at his year-end press conference March 23. "It becomes very di=cult for your sta<. The fact that they stayed dialed-in and wanted to be the best team that they could be by the end of the year says a lot about them. "Finishing [by winning] three out of four the way we did, I felt like, You know what, we're the best team we can be. Let's start working on next year and let's start working on getting better and start working on our habits and skill development." The Nittany Lions are losing Newbill's 20.7 points per game, as well as his senior leadership, making those o<-season im- provements a high priority. The team re- turns Brandon Taylor following an up- and-down junior season in which he av- eraged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds and shot 33.1 percent from 3-point range. Also returning is senior-to-be Donovon Jack, who averaged 3.6 points and 2.8 rebounds. But while those two players will supply veteran experience, much of the focus will be on guards Shep Garner and Geno Thorpe, big man Jordan Dickerson, and reserves Payton Banks, Julian Moore and Devin Foster. Their performance during the Lions' late-season surge indicates that the Lions will have a seriously new look by the time the 2015-16 nonconference season begins. Garner started every game as a true freshman, averaging 9.1 points and 2.3 assists as the team's primary ball-handler, while Thorpe li>ed his scoring pro:le dramatically as the season progressed, all the way to 8.8 points per game by the end of the regular season. Those players will be joined next season by the three members of a highly touted recruiting class: Josh Reaves, Mike Watkins and Davis Zemgulis. Of course, none of the Lions' returning players are poised to match Newbill's pro- ductivity. But Chambers is optimistic that a more equitable distribution of minutes and scoring responsibilities could help the team weather the loss of one of its all-time great players. "We're not going to be the same team we were the last few years with Tim [Fra- zier] and then D.J. There's not one guy who is going to hold a torch," he said. "It's going to be the :ve guys who are on the ;oor. It's going to be the 15 guys who are on the team. "We have to play a di

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