Progressive Legends Classic Penn State 85 - Pitt 54

Progressive Legends Classic Penn State 85 - Pitt 54 Penn State Head Coach Patrick Chambers On the game “I’m proud of my team. We were really dialed in and focused. Our approach was win every possession. Every possession matters and I’m really happy for those players, because I’m sure they remember last year we competed in the second half, not the first half. I’m happy for the program and the staff; they’ve worked really hard to get to this point where we are 5-0.” On the hot start “We live and die on our defense. When our defense is good and we’re rebounding it really leads to breakouts and better offense and I think that’s what you were seeing. It’s really the defense that got us going and we were really sharing the basketball, specifically in the first half. We were getting some good looks.” On his team’s hustle throughout the entire game “That’s the foundation that we’ve built. We won the second half, which is important to me, because elite teams, great teams, that’s what they do. They win the second half after being up big, and the fact that they’re gaining the habits of ‘this is the way we play regardless of the score whether you are up or down,’ it’s a foundation that we have to continue to build on.” Tony Carr What was the main reason you started the game shooting so well? “I think it was just our focus coming into the game. We were pretty amped up to play today. We had a great walk-thru earlier, we had great focus, we got shots up as you guys can see. I just think it was our approach, and we were just nicely prepared for this game and that showed the first four minutes.” On making all four of his three-point attempts “I just had open shots and I took them. That’s what my team needs me to do. That’s what coach wants me to do so when I get open looks I just want to shoot it with confidence and hopefully they drop like they did tonight.”

Do you feel the game has slowed down for you this year? “The game slowed down a lot. Just to be able to control the tempo of the game, move at my pace and not rush things. Things have definitely slowed down for me and I can see about two frames ahead of the game and it helps me make the right pass or take the right shot.” On Defense “Our defense is getting better and better each day. We have great defenders in Michael Watkins and Josh Reaves. They kind of anchor our defense and we feed off them. Guys like me and Shep (Garner) we just try to do our best on the defensive end. Our defense is what’s definitely helping us win games right now.”