Penn State Men's Basketball
Coaches' Postgame Press Conference
Vs. North Florida – November 9, 2018
Penn State Head Coach Patrick Chambers
Opening Statement: "First things first, what a crowd. Legion of Blue and PJ [Mullen] just did an amazing job of getting the students fired up about basketball. It feels like we just kept it going from last year. Last year we had a couple 11-5's. The NIT had a really good showing and the Big Ten Tournament had a really good showing for our alumni and students. I feel like we are just keeping it going. So, I cannot thank them enough. Obviously 87 points is fantastic, but we still have a lot of work to do. It is November 9th and we have to get a heck of a lot better. It's the second time, actually three weeks in a row, that we have not really defended the way I would like to defend in the second half. You give up 28 points and last week somewhere in the thirties for West Virginia, and now we give up 51 last week, and 44 today. So, we have some work to do. We have to work on that "rebounding" thing, but like I said, it is Friday and we will get a little bit better tomorrow, a little bit better Sunday, and be ready to go for Monday night.
Q: "You talked about your defense. They started off 0-19 from three. What were you guys doing? Was it just scrambling to get out there on the line? What was the key there for you?"
A: "We were playing a switching defense. First of all, he is a great coach. They compete. They competed the other night against Dayton and they are all juniors. They are going to be very good in their league. They want to shoot 36, 37 threes a game and we wanted to play the line. We wanted to have high hands and we did some switching. We switched all five guys sometimes. We just kind of mixed it up a little bit to keep them off balance. The guy that ends up making the threes is the guy we had on the scout that was not supposed to make the threes, number 4. Then, 22 made one and he did not even take one the other night. So, it happens but I thought for the most part we did a really good job for about 34 minutes defending the three.
Q: "I know Lamar is here, but it looked like he could have scored 45 but only took five shots in the second half. Were you guys consciously trying to get some other things going? Can you also talk about his unselfishness in a game where he seems to have a mismatch?
A: "I would say they were doubling him. So, it is not like we were not trying to go to him because we were trying to go to him. He has to get used to getting doubled and playing out of the double and making the right decision. I agree with you, he is very unselfish and did not really force anything or push anything to where he needed the ball. I think he is at an age now where you have to do a little bit of everything, which he did. To get another double-double, he had one at West Virginia, and he got another one today. He needs to stay on that path.
Q: "Lamar seemed to be seeking out some contact earlier in the first half and was seeking out some post-ups, was that the plan going in to look against the matchups you thought he could use his physicality?
Answer: "Yeah, I did. I thought Lamar would be a tough match up for them. We wanted to go to him early and often which we did. He made great plays and got to the basket. He shot great free throws. He got to his sweet spots. We did a lot of good things in order for him to get going early which is great. He knows though, that we all have to play a little better defense in the second half.
Q: "It was kind of a classic Josh Reeves line tonight. Especially at the end of the first half when you guys started to go on a run. What did his defense bring to the team energy wise and turning it into offense?"
Answer: "He is so crazy. Did he have three steals in twenty-five seconds or something? Did anyone clock that? He is crazy, right? But that is what Josh does. Josh has great instincts and he gets deflections. He is one of the best defenders in the Big Ten for a reason. He really helped us especially when it got to nine, 10, 11 points. They were hanging and when one of those threes go, you never know. But, he was there for a couple of steals and a couple of rebounds. He shot free throws really well and he made big plays for us. He almost had 20, but he had 19 tonight.
Q: "How would you assess the flow of the offense?"
A: "I would say a little bit choppy. Certain spurts were really good. 17 assists would tell me it is really good until I watch the film. I will give you more information next week. There are certain plays where we really shared the ball and have really good ball movement. These guys are really unselfish and are really good passing team. But when we get a little bit stagnant and a little bit stale, we are really easy to guard. November 9th is where we are and we just need to keep getting better at it.
Q: "Do you think you are most productive at a higher pace rather than slowing it down and taking your time?"
Answer: "We just scored 87 points. So, it is tough to say. That is a lot of points so we push sometimes and pull back at times, but I do want to go. I do want to run. We have some guys that can really make shots. We have some guys that can make threes. We made 13 at Temple, we had 13 at West Virginia and we made eight today so I think we are headed in a good direction there.
Q: Myles and Rasir were both in double figures tonight. How would you evaluate as freshman how those guys were?
A: They're very confident, very confident kids. I think we give them the confidence - the staff, the vets - they give them the confidence to look for their shot and go make plays. We can't hold those two back, and I think that is going to make it even harder as we progress to double Lamar. We are going to get that thing moving, Lamar is going to make a good decision, and we're going to have open threes. With those two on the floor it really spaces it out well for Lamar and for John and for Josh to get to the basket.
Q: Did you expect them to look as loose as they did? If you didn't know that Myles was a freshman - I'm sure there are things on both ends you would have liked to improve - but he looks like a kid who has played a lot of basketball for you already.
A: After Temple and West Virginia, I'd like to think we kept him very confident. I expected it. They played on EYBL, he played on DC Catholic League. [Rasir] played in the Adidas [league] in Vegas, he played in a lot of big-time tournaments, in a big-time prep school. He's a little bit older. He's 19. I expected those guys to play well because they played well the last couple games.
Q: Without Mike [Watkins] and Satchel [Pierce] available right now you were the smaller team on the floor for extended periods of time. How does that change your strategy as a coach and the team in general when you have to play against a bigger team?
A: One of my favorite teams is Lamar at the five. They can't catch up to that, it's really hard. Lamar is okay with playing the five. He doesn't care where he plays actually. When we have Jamari out there, Rasir out there, Josh out there and Lamar, we are putting teams on their heels a little bit. I'm saying that Lamar is tough enough. Myles is tough enough. Josh is tough enough. We know Jamari is tough enough, and [Rasir] is going to get there. We play Trent at the five as well. I thought Trent gave us good minutes. Trent's a tough kid, and he made a three. Again, on the other end, on the offensive end, now you've got to cover five guys that can make threes. We're presenting a big challenge to opponents. As long as these guys do what they're supposed to do and defend and rebound, I think we have a real chance with some of those groups.
Q: Did you get a moment tonight to look at the athleticism that you had? There was a moment in the second half watching these guys run, and you could have taken any one of those guys and he could have been the best athlete on your team several years ago - just the progress now versus what you had before.
A: You're right. It was really tough in the early years to find that speed, that athleticism and now skill. We lost out on those recruits. It wasn't like we didn't try to get them. We did, but now with the success we've had over the last couple years, our player development over the last couple years, kids look at us as a viable option. We're no longer plan C. We're becoming plan A or B, which is fantastic. We've got the right kids for how we want to play, and [Rasir] and Myles. [Myreon Jones] didn't shoot the ball well, but that kid only played 14 minutes, and he got eight shots up. That's his job. That ball is going to go in, and when it goes in you better look out because you've got another guy that can put up some numbers.
Q: Lamar talked on Wednesday about those guys being under-recruited and under-appreciated through the recruitment process. Do you think that put a chip on their shoulder?
A: I think he's right. I think Rasir is a big-time guard. He could have gone anywhere, and I think guys really missed out on him, and I think Myles committed early, fortunately for us. Truth be told, a lot of people came after him even on a verbal. You know how it works in football, right now basketball is not as bad as football, but we had to fight hard to keep that relationship going. We were very fortunate.