Penn State guard DJ Newbill had a bit of an edge on Monday.
“What do you mean ‘dodging bullets’?” Newbill said with a stare that was only equaled by how pointed his words were.
For as friendly, cooperative and likable as Newbill usually is, he wasn’t interested in entertaining the notion Penn State had been fortunate to win a few close games this season.
“I wouldn’t say that we dodged bullets, I’d say we earned the right to make the winning plays down the stretch.”
The rest of the exchange was as normal as any with Newbill. There was talk of how Penn State needs to ramp up the energy in Tuesday night’s game against Michigan. The importance of looking at this season’s two-game losing streak as something completely different from the struggles the team had last year.
But through it all, there was an urgency that was difficult to ignore.
Maybe it was Newbill just having a long day. Maybe it was the having to interrupt his afternoon to answer the same questions from the same reporters for the 100th time in his career.
The most likely culprit is being only two days removed from an ugly loss to Rutgers and having to wait still another 24 hours to play the next game. Having to stew. Newbill and his teammates have moved forward. But any good player wants to get back out there and play. Any good team wants to make the most of each opportunity.
And that is a noteworthy moment for a Penn State basketball program where losing has long been the expected outcome. The fact that Penn State’s best player is annoyed about losing, annoyed that he and his team turned in a dud of a performance in one of the most important games of the year. No team likes losing. DJ Newbill seems to hate it.
Fortunately for Newbill and company, they will get a chance to right the ship on Tuesday night facing a Michigan team that has looked elite and horrible all in the same season. It’s a home opener that could help set the season back on a course to bigger and better things. There is a lot of work left to be done if Penn State is going dancing this March, but it all starts with Big Ten win No. 1.
As one might expect, Penn State coach Pat Chambers has a different view of how things have gone this season and how they can go moving forward — hat maybe losing was the best thing that could have happened to a team still learning how to win.
“It was eventually going to come,” Chambers said. “It should have come in the non-conference. It should have. I should have. We should have lost to Cornell, we could have easily lost to Duquesne, we could have lost to Virginia Tech. We dodged some bullets. The best game we played all year was against George Washington, no question, start to finish. But I think this was a ‘wake up, wake up a little bit and let’s get back to who we are. Defending rebounding and playing hard.’ if we do that and the outcome goes the other way we’ve still got to defend rebound and play hard.”
“Maybe it’s exactly what we needed to bring our feet back down to the ground.”
Chambers just needs to hope it’s a soft landing.
