Blue White Illustrated

P atrick Chambers calls it "riding the roller coaster." Intimately familiar with the ups, downs, twists and turns of college basketball, the veteran head coach has experienced upheaval throughout his seven-year tenure at Penn State. What has been far less frequent, but has admittedly been on Chambers' mind of late, is what getting off the roller coaster for an extended period of time might mean for his group. Locked in another tumultuous season, one exhibiting signs of progress and at times frustrating stagnation, Chambers said the team could use some positive momentum as the heart of the Big Ten season approaches. "I felt like we were right there," he said, fresh off a 74-70 loss at Indiana on Jan. 9 that dropped the Nittany Lions to 2-3 in conference play. "I always feel like we're right there, and then we just get shot with adversity. You've got to punch right back, you've got to come back, you've got to handle it, you've got to make your tweaks and adjust- ments." The Nittany Lions got off to a fast start this season, taking down Campbell, Fairleigh Dick- inson, Montana, Columbia and Pitt in the first 10 days of the season. But since then, they have been hot and cold. A competitive loss against a sturdy Texas A&M team was followed by a blowout victory over lowly Oral Roberts. An unsuccessful trip to North Carolina State was followed by a rare win at Iowa to start the Big Ten portion of the sched- ule. But then, unable to build on their vic- tory over the Hawkeyes, the Lions fell at home to Wisconsin, 64-63. It wasn't until after the loss to the Badgers that Penn State was able to break out of its up-and-down pattern, reeling off wins against George Washing- ton, George Mason and Binghamton in quick suc- cession. But the momentum from those wins subsided in a stunning loss to visit- ing Rider, and the pattern resurfaced. Penn State beat Coppin State, lost at Maryland, dominated Northwestern, then fell again at Indiana. The obvious takeaway from Penn State's performance in the first half of the season was that it fared much better against nonconference opponents than against its rivals from the Big Ten. The Lions went 10-3 in nonconference play, but were 3-3 against Big Ten opponents following a 76-74 overtime victory against Nebraska on Jan. 12 at the Bryce Jordan Center. But even against its conference oppo- nents, Penn State had been competitive, as its three losses were by a combined 10 points. Heading into its game against Min- nesota on Jan. 15, Penn State had lost six games, and all were in doubt with four minutes to play. The problem was that it couldn't capitalize on its late-game op- portunities. But while that was a disap- pointing trend, it also left Chambers feeling hopeful about the potential to turn things around. "We are this close to being able to han- dle the next obstacle, the next adversity ROLL REVERSAL After an up-and-down stretch, Chambers hopes PSU can build some momentum M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L | DYNAMIC DUO Sophomores Carr (left) and Stevens will play key roles for the Nittany Lions heading into the final weeks of the regular season. Photo by Ryan Snyder

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