The Nittany Lions scored 79 or more points for the fifth straight game en route to the team’s fifth victory this season as Penn State knocked off Monmouth 84-52 on Tuesday night. The victory marks the fourth straight win since a 90-80 loss to Bucknell earlier this season.
“We’ve made our adjustments, there’s no question, after Bucknell. We learned our lesson.” Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers said after the game. “Our defense is a lot better, we’re rebounding the ball better, we’re not fouling as much. We had 19 fouls tonight, I’d like to be under 20 every game. We’re doing some good things.”
“We’re understanding that Tim (Frazier) and D.J. (Newbill) can’t do it by themselves. They need everybody. Donovon Jack against LaSalle, Brandon Taylor against Longwood, Allen Roberts today and Graham (Woodward) played well. We have some depth, we have some skill, we have some players. We just have to continue building that trust with one another.”
That scoring distribution has been key all season. The Nittany Lions, on average have four players in double figures. Rather than relying on a single player to carry the load, each game has seen a different Nittany Lion shine. So much so that senior guard and de facto leader Tim Frazier leads Penn State in scoring by less than a point while his assist averages continue to rise.
On Tuesday, it was graduate transfer guard Allen Roberts’ turn to contribute big numbers. The guard had a career high 17 points, going 3-of-5 from behind the arc and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
“Out there on the court I’m used to dribbling the ball a lot coming off ball screens,” Roberts said following the game. “Now I’m trying to be a more complete player where I’m actually moving without the ball, offensive rebounding, crashing the glass and doing other things other than just dribbling the basketball. I would rather be on this team than be a leading scorer anywhere else.”
Frazier did lead the way with 19 points and juniors DJ Newbill and Ross Travis chipped in 15 and 11 points respectively. The entire Nittany Lion squad shot 53-percent from the field on the night and continued to show an impressive display of balance on the offensive end while improving defensive habits that will always be a staple of a Chambers’ led squad.
Moving forward, Penn State will head to Brooklyn, New York for a Friday and Saturday game at the Barclays Center. The first game will take place Friday night at 7:00 PM against a Steve Lavin coached St. John’s team. The Red Storm are 4-1 on the year losing to No. 25 Wisconsin in their season opener 86-75.
While winning is always the objective, Chambers is looking to use a rigorous non-conference schedule — the next week in particular — to prepare the team for Big Ten play.
After St. John’s, he Nittany Lions will face either Georgia Tech or Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon. Penn State will continue the road tour with a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game against Pittsburgh on Tuesday. There may be little time to catch your breath over the next six days, but Chambers is confident that this stretch will make his team that much better.
“We just need to continue the process of getting better, being great teammates, and knowing that it’s still November and we have to continue on the right direction here,” Chambers said on Wednesday.
“We hope that we can continue to get to our guys on the bench so that we can have fresh legs going into the weekend. We do this kind of stuff now because that’s how it’s going to be in the Big Ten tournament. You have to play back-to-back, so it’s great preparation for our team, this is going to help our guys, help our mental toughness heading into the Big Ten in December.”
With only seven out of conference games left on the schedule, Penn State is quickly approaching the real test of Chambers’ third season in Happy Valley.
“We need to come out and we need to play Penn State basketball. If we can do that, we’re going to be really good.”
