Penn State basketball has beaten two separate Top 5 teams under head coach Pat Chambers, so it’s not as though David has yet to strike Goliath.
But playing No. 1 ranked Duke will always make it seem like the stone is just a little bit smaller than usual — if nothing else, that the whistle blows fewer times in your favor.
That won’t be an excuse though. Nothing, in fact, will be an excuse on Saturday afternoon when the game is all said and done. There is only one objective, and only one thing that Chambers says will make the game a success.
‘Winning. That would be a success,’ Chambers said dryly. ‘Anything other than that…we’re going out to win.’
It’s a notable, if not unexpected answer. Penn State has at this point reached its destination with the kinds of players it will have to win with under Chambers. That’s not to say the trio of Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins won’t get better, but the moral victories left the moment those players hit campus. It’s a process for sure but not a reason to accept ‘almost’ as being just as good as winning in Chambers’ eyes.
‘We haven’t played 40 minutes yet,’ Chambers said. ‘We want to go from 20 to 25 this weekend. Building on that moving forward.’
That ultimately is all Chambers can realistically ask for at this point. The goal might be to go out and win, but there is an implicit understanding that it’s about the long haul, not a single weekend. The Nittany Lions are the only unranked team in the event so the challenges are going to be plenty and often. Winning, sure, that’s the objective, but like every aspect of Penn State’s difficult non-conference schedule it’s really about getting ready for the Big Ten slate more than a few weeks away.
“There’s so much more basketball to go. And that’s what’s exciting to me. We can get a heck of a lot better,” said Chambers.
More tangibly Penn State and Duke will likely both be without the services of a few players. For the Nittany Lions it’s most noticeably sophomore guard Josh Reaves nursing an injury that has kept him out of the early part of the season. Chambers has his return at ’50-50′ and while Reaves’ return won’t make or break the results this weekend, the talented guard brings a certain amount of refined composure to an otherwise youthful squad, not to mention an eye for the rebound.
“That’s where you miss Josh, because Josh is in there and he’s going to rebound for us. He’s long, he’s athletic, and he’s going to go up and get big boy rebounds, where our younger guys still think they can just go get rebounds when they want to,” said Chambers. “In high school you could do that because most of the time… you’re bigger and stronger than the opponent you’re playing in high school. So they realize now after three games that they can’t just jump with opponents or other teams or other players. They have to go box out, tag and do the little things to secure rebounds.”
Beyond Reaves, Chambers is tentatively hopeful for the return of Isaiah Washington and Davis Zemgulis dealing with hamstring and concession issues, respectively. Washington was described as ‘tender’ while Zemgulis passed concussion protocol testing earlier this week.
If anything is working in Penn State’s favor though it’s the youth of both teams. Sure the Blue Devils are the favorite, but as Chambers pointed out, most of his players have at some point in their careers played against a handful of now current Duke players.
And if the Penn State football and hockey seasons so far are to be the Nittany Lions’ guide, it has been an upset friendly year already.
So why not one more?
