Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/763662
THE EYE TEST Di#cult nonleague slate gives PSU a 20-20 glimpse at where it stands et to guide a collection of young players, five of whom were seeing their first action at Penn State this season, head coach Patrick Chambers had a choice when cobbling together a non- conference schedule: Should he load up on bubblegum mid- majors and spend the majority of Novem- ber and December at the Bryce Jordan Center? Or would it be better to face a challenging slate of Top 25-caliber pro- grams, as well as a host of talented, vet- eran-laden teams, at home, on the road, and in neutral-site environs? Hoping to closely emulate the Big Ten experience before reaching conference play, Chambers chose the latter. He opted to test the Nittany Lions at seemingly every turn, and the results have been mixed, both in process and outcomes. After watching the Lions go 6-5 heading into their next-to-last nonconference game against St. John's at the Hoops Hol- iday Festival in New York, Chambers as- sessed what had transpired and how it matched up with his original intentions. The team's record, he said, is "not where we want to be. But [with] the growth of this team, we're slowly but surely getting there. This nonconference [schedule] has really challenged us, and that's what we wanted. We wanted chal- lenges early and often to prepare us for Northwestern and the Big Ten slate start- ing on Dec. 27. "We have to keep challenging ourselves S | M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L FLOOR GENERAL Chambers directs his team during its 82- 74 victory over Duqu- esne earlier this season. Photo by Patrick Mansell