Blue White Illustrated

ons' class – Hampton – may not play for Roman Catholic, but he has a cham- pionship-level pedigree of his own. In addition, the 6-8, 275-pound big man also has a link to Penn State that predates his signing. That link is Reaves, who just started his freshman season with the Lions. The two standouts played alongside each other last season at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. Hampton, a three-star prospect, was the >rst player to join Penn State's Class of 2016. AAer wavering in March, he reaf- >rmed his commitment in May and was solid from that point on. Hampton has what Chambers called a "Big Ten-ready body," and that attribute, coupled with his hoops IQ and passing skills, will likely enable him to play a major role for the Nittany Lions as the program moves forward. Some patience will, of course, be re- quired, as the class is still a year away from making its debut. But this isn't the first time Nittany Lion fans have been asked for their forbearance, and there is ample reason to believe that it will be rewarded. When he discussed the class with reporters on signing day, Chambers lauded administrators, fans, students and alumni for allowing the program "to try to do things the right way." "It's been a long >ve years," he said. "It has taken a long time, and there have been a ton of no's. A ton. "And we finally have gotten some kids, the right kids, and I firmly believe for the right reasons, who are into getting their degree, who want to change the perception of Penn State basketball and make this thing built to last with some consistency." ■ LAMAR STEVENS RIVALS ★★★★ POS F HT 6-6 WT 215 HOME Philadelphia, Pa. SCHOOL Roman Catholic WHAT HE DID Stevens is playing his first (and only) season at Roman Catholic after transferring from Haverford (Pa.), where he earned of- fers from most of the Big 5 schools, along with Indiana, Maryland, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, SMU, Mar- quette and Penn State. WHAT HE WON Was rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and the 80th- best overall player nationally. CHAMBERS SAYS "Lamar is going to thrive in the Big Ten with his talent and physical abilities. He creates a mismatch no matter who is guarding him and has the skill set to do a little bit of every- thing." One up, one down. For Penn State, a season-opening victory against visiting Virginia Military Institute was the pri- mary objective. In earning a 62-50 win against the Keydets in front of 5,959 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center on Nov. 14, the Nittany Lions got the result they were looking for. "I thought it was a great win for us. Coming out the first game, we wanted to get a win under our belt, play hard. That's what we did tonight," point guard Shep Garner said. "I felt like it was a great team win for us. VMI is a great team, they went out and played hard like we knew they would, and they gave us a fight. It was good." Not that the Nittany Lions are without obvious areas for improvement. Aside from a big play by Josh Reaves, a true freshman guard who jumped out with a steal and dunk to score the first points of the season for Penn State, things did not come easy right out of the gates. The Lions struggled to find much rhythm and trailed the Keydets, 16-13, at the 10-minute mark. But they battled back behind a layup from Reaves, a dunk by Donovon Jack, a 3-point play by Brandon Taylor and a Devin Foster layup, taking a 24-18 lead with 6:13 re- maining in the first half. Early in the second half, the Nittany Lions went on an 11-2 run behind six points from redshirt sophomore Payton Banks. Taylor capped the run with a 3- point play at the 11:56 mark to give Penn State a 44-28 lead that it would not re- linquish. ■ Watkins' status unclear, may take redshirt season Maybe even bigger news than anything the Nittany Lions did during their game against VMI came afterward, when head coach Patrick Chambers announced that true freshman forward Mike Watkins had not yet been cleared for the season by the NCAA. "We're working with the NCAA very closely," Chambers said. "I think the most important thing here for Mike is his adjustment to college, us surround- ing him with love and care and helping him with his journey. "We want to make sure that he's going to thrive on and off the floor, and we feel really good about it. Mike's doing a great job to date." Chambers was unclear as to what Watkins' immediate future is with the team, saying that this could be consid- ered a "redshirt situation." "At this point, it's up to the NCAA, so we'll work closely with them," he said. "It's up to the NCAA [when he's able to practice]. We're going to continue to look into that." ■ Lions pull away from VMI in opener |

• Cover