Adjusting to college is one thing, adjusting to a new climate is something else all together.
But for freshman Payton Banks, the Orange, Ca. native has had to learn all about the cold Pennsylvania climate the hard way. This was particularly true just a few weeks ago when State College woke up to a small coating of snow.
“I had never seen snow in person” Banks said without shame on Monday. “It wasn’t really snowing snowing, so it didn’t stick too much but I got super excited and I filmed it and sent it to my parents like a little kid. If you’ve never seen snow before it’s pretty cool.”
What is also pretty cool is the temperature in State College come winter. Something that Banks’ roommate and DC native Julian Moore knows all about.
“Julian told me that I would need more than a sweatshirt.” Banks said. “And I was like ‘what this isn’t enough?’ and he told me that once it gets to the zeros and the negatives that I might have an issue with just a sweatshirt.”
“I’m just trying to make sure he doesn’t walk outside in 22 degree weather with a sweatshirt on,” Moore said, shaking his head. “I was there when he saw snow for the first time and it was pretty funny because he was there just freaking out.”
Now that Penn State’s roster is fully adjusted to the winter weather the Nittany Lions will continue to focus on adjusting to new rules which limit defensive contact with an offensive player. So far this season Penn State has struggled to stay out of foul trouble. While that may not matter as much in the out of conference slate, if the Nittany Lions send teams to the line early and often in Big Ten play, it could spell another long season for head coach Patrick Chambers.
Penn State will get another chance on Tuesday night against La Salle to work on limiting fouls while continuing to shoot the ball well. The Nittany Lions have scored 80 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
La Salle on the other hand is shooting the ball at just below 40-percent from the field, good enough for 303rd in the nation according to ESPN. While the Explorers may have struggled en route to a 2-1 record, La Salle is led by a duo of talented guards in Tyreek Duren and Tyrone Garland. The Explorers may not be shooting at a high clip, but with lots of returning talent from its 2012 Sweet 16 team nothing about Tuesday night’s contest will be easy for Penn State.
Tip is set for 7:00 PM and the game will be carried online on ESPN3.
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