In general, Pat Chambers doesn’t entertain the “biggest game ever” hyperbole.
For a program that is happy picking up wins there isn’t much point in overemphasizing the obvious goal in every game. Each contest is a chance to win and in turn every game is a big one.
So as Penn State enters this weekend preparing for a Sunday meeting with a 6-2, and A10 conference favorite George Washington, Chambers is sticking to his guns — that it’s just another game.
“No.” Chambers said when asked if he has addressed the value of a win on Sunday with the team. “It’s just the next game on we just keep working. We need to continue to get better and we have. We won the other night with Ross Travis dealing with a sprained ankle, DJ (Newbill) not playing well and (Brandon Taylor) not scoring. And we still found a way, that’s progress in my world, that’s encouraging.
“We’ve got to continue to get better. Again, GW is a great opportunity for us to get better with the next game on our schedule. Our goal is to be the best team we can be by the time we play Wisconsin and prepare us for the Big Ten. We are getting there, we are getting battle tested, there is no doubt about it.
“A great opportunity to play a great team at home.”
But Chambers knows, even if he doesn’t say it, that a win over George Washington would likely be the most valuable of any of the nine victories Penn State already has this season. Starting the year with a 9-1 record, the Nittany Lions have seen their fair share of close games and tough battles.
On paper George Washington is the best team Penn State will face in the non conference schedule and with it comes the best chance for a marquee win for a potential NCAA tournament resume.
Despite the obvious benefits, Chambers stresses that the Nittany Lions’ season doesn’t hinge on the result of Sunday’s contest. Nearly every game in conference is a chance to pick up a big win. Nearly every opponent is a chance to put a gold star on a postseason resume. On the flip side a 10-1 start could prove to be a red herring. There is no guarantee that early success will translate to wins in conference. Penn State will have to win in the Big Ten if the Nittany Lions are going to turn a cautiously optimistic season into a memorable one.
Undoubtedly, Penn State faces an opportunity on Sunday to beat a good team and continue to validate a start that has been one of the best for the program in nearly two decades.
Even if this particular opportunity doesn’t define the course of the season, it’s the kind of opportunity that doesn’t appear in the Bryce Jordan Center very often.
The crowd will almost certainly be light for a noon tip, but that might be best for a Nittany Lion squad that for all its attempts to build a following often plays its best basketball when nobody is watching.
A win on Sunday though, and somebody might need to start finding the blueprints to a bandwagon that filled the BJC in 2009 when Penn State won 27 games.
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