Dec. 31, 2007

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Penn State Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes 12/31/07 vs. Lehigh

Coach Ed DeChellis Quotes

Q- Can you talk about the defense in the first half versus the second half?

A- The first half we were playing against them instead of them playing against us. We talked about that at half time. We need to make them play against us offensively and we need to get out and get after them. I thought the first half we really didn't have any steals. We had two deflections and that's all we did. It's not really guarding them the way we want to guard.

So we talked about it at half time and challenged them and in the second half we came out and played with a lot more energy and emotion. Danny Morrissey made a couple great defensive plays. He took the big charge on a three-on-one and got a steal down in the corner that got us going. I think defensively it's about rebounding, playing with energy, and guarding and rebounding to get your offense going. We tried to talk about that, we just didn't have any juice the first half defensively.

Q- Geary Claxton carried the team in the first half, how fortunate are you to have a guy like that who can take the team on his back?

A- We were very fortunate. I thought he played very well the first half and took good shots. He made some baskets we needed him to make. He's a senior, and hopefully you've got guys that you expect that out of your seniors and expect them to be able to help you when times are tough. I thought our older guys were great tonight. I thought Danny did a nice job and Jamelle Cornley did a good job defensively. Sometimes the younger guys come back from the Christmas thing and they're here by themselves and they're thinking about all these other things other than getting the job done. I think the older guys know the value of what we're trying to do and did some very good things tonight. But we couldn't get any shots to fall the first half either. I thought Geary had some great passes. We didn't get any assists for him because we didn't make any shots. We knew they were going to double, we tried to play off him in the post and reverse the ball to get some open shots. We had some, we just didn't make them early.

A- We had to. You have to play both ends in this league. You have to play every possession in this league. I think it was good for us to be in this kind of game and pull ourselves out of it as crazy as that may sound. It was good for us to do it on a defensive end because our kids responded at half time and I thought did a much better job defensively the second half. I think it's all positive stuff. We can learn from it, young guys can learn from it, older guys did what they needed to do. Hopefully we'll be better Wednesday defensively.

Q- Will it help staying out on the road over the next few games?

A- There's no reason to really come back. We're by ourselves here, so financially it's worthwhile for us. We just charter once out and back. Hopefully it's time for us to bond a little more as a team. We're staying at the hotel, we're going to come back here in 35 minutes and watch Northwestern's tape. Four-o-clock we're meeting and going over Northwestern's scout tape in the film room, we'll talk about Northwestern, we'll practice tomorrow morning and leave. We need to refocus and hopefully our guys will spend three or four days together in a hotel and have time to watch a lot of tape and get together. I think it's positive. We didn't really see any sense in flying back here for a day and turn around and fly all the way back, especially since it's a Sunday game, it's early, and we wanted to practice at Illinois. So we're going to get a chance to practice there Friday and Saturday.

Q- Do you like where you are going into conference play?

A- I think we're starting to put the pieces together somewhat. We play big at times, we played a smaller group tonight. We went with Jamelle in the post, David Jackson, Jeff Brooks, and Geary. We moved some people around. I think consistency is what we're trying to get out of the guys now, especially the younger guys. We want them to be consistent every time out.

Some of the younger guys have played very well at times for us and other times, they kind of lose their focus. In this league we play in, you have to bring it every night and you have to have your focus. Hopefully the older guys are going to help us out with that.

Q- Your team was reeling coming out of the Thanksgiving tournament. Do you think your team has recovered from that and gotten back some of its confidence it may have lost?

A- Yes. We were 3-4 and now we're 8-4 since we've won five in a row. I think that we are a resilient team. It would've been really easy coming back after losing three in a row to lose to Virginia Tech and we won the game. It says a lot about a team. We're down and our confidence was a little shaken. But we rallied; we pulled ourselves together and won the game. Now we've won five in a row. We talked about our goal. We came back, the best we can be is 8-4, let's be 8-4. These guys responded nicely and now we're 8-4 where we want to be. It's the best we could be. We didn't stub our toe at all, so I'm proud of them and I think they've done a good job at that.

Q- You mentioned Danny Morrissey gave you a defensive spark. What about your other upperclassmen help?

A- I think anyone can do it. I think it's important for the upperclassmen to show the way defensively and offensively off-the-floor and in the locker room. We need senior and junior leadership. I think that's important. Danny Morrissey is a good shooter. Tonight, we needed some defensive plays. He stepped up and made a couple defensive plays. I think whatever we need is what our guys have got to be able to do at that point in time. He did make some big defensive plays for us.

Q- After your absence, how good is it to get back coaching?

A- It's good. I think my staff has done a great job. I think the players have done a great job since it hasn't been an easy time for any of us. I think the credit goes to the players and staff working and doing some things while I wasn't here to do. That's part of us being a family and pitching in for whatever we need to do. We're going to help and cover for each other. I think that's an important thing. I've talked to the team about that. Not only is it our internal family, we've always got to pull for each other and help us. Whenever somebody needs some extra help, we have to help them. Credit goes to my staff and players.

Penn State Men's Basketball Player Quotes

Q- Could you talk about the intensity difference between both halves?

A- (Danny Morrissey) Coach emphasizes that to us. We hadn't made any steals. I think we had zero steals. We had two deflections and one turnover in the first half, so that was a key part to them being in the game. Coach wanted us to really get into them on defense, force some turnovers so we could get easy baskets. That's what we looked to do.

Q- Your coach has been out for a few weeks for a personal situation, talk about his absence.

A- (Geary Claxton) Yeah, definitely. He was in my thoughts and everything. I told him I was praying for him and everything. He just wanted us to not really worry about that and just focus on the next game. Our thoughts and prayers are always with him.

Q- Do you feel pretty good to get the win given the situation?

A- (Geary Claxton) Definitely. We've been working hard, practicing and everything. It's always a good feeling to win.

Q- Do you feel like your defense gives you the ability to win?

A- (Geary) Defensive-wise, it's always been our defense. In order to win you have to stop somebody. I think going into the Big Ten, that's going to be our main thing is stopping people. I think we play good defense. We have our spurts and sometimes we collapse. I think if we can play defense for 40 minutes, I think we'll be very good.

Q- How glad are you that the Big Ten schedule is coming up?

A- (Danny Morrissey) It's good to start a new season. That's what coach always emphasizes. We have three seasons: the non-conference, conference, and the post season. We wanted to take care of business tonight and now we can just look forward to the Big Ten. That's why we play for Penn State because you get to play in such a great league as the Big Ten. There are so many good opponents and the teams are going to be very good this year. So we're looking forward to the challenge.

Q- How tough is it to defend Geary?

A- (Danny Morrissey) It's very difficult. When you have someone who is versatile and you try to take one thing away and stop him from driving, they take open jump shots. It's really tough since you have to make a decision.

What do you want to do? Do you want to get up on them and force them to drive or let them shoot. It's really tough to defend. It's a good skill to have to be able to shoot and drive for the score inside.

Q- Do you feel ready to make some noise this year in the Big Ten?

A- (Danny Morrissey) Yeah. We're just going to take it one game at a time this year. We feel we have a really good opportunity to make some noise. Everybody is beatable in our eyes. Any night we can lose and any night we can win, but if we can just focus, like Geary said, and play defense for 40 minutes, we have a good chance at winning some big games this year.

Q- With the Princeton and Denver games, what kind of confidence do you have coming up against Northwestern?

A- (Geary Claxton) Everybody has a good idea. We're grasping defensively what we have to do, so playing Princeton and Denver really helped us out.

Lehigh Coach Brett Reed Quotes

A: On offense we were able to knock down some open shots. That was very beneficial for us and we also valued the basketball. In the first half we had one turnover and the assist that we had put us in a position to be tied going into the half. Ultimately in the second half we were able to stay fairly efficient, shooting 43%, but we had eight second half turnovers which turned out to be costly and we allowed some transition buckets.

Q: What do you think was the cause of those turnovers, was it Penn State's defense?

A: I think it was a combination of both. Give credit to Penn State for extending out and bringing a little more pressure on the ball handlers, for foreseeing passes off of cuts, but at the same time we need to make sure we are strong on catching the basketball and not getting pushed off balanced, putting ourselves in a position where we are more likely to get turnovers.

We need to try to pass the ball fairly efficiently. I know we had at least one or two interior passes that were deflected and we need to go and get the basketball before we worry about scoring as well.

Q: Claxton carried Penn State in the first half. How tough is that match-up for you guys?

A: It was extremely difficult. It was one that we knew we were going to have great difficulty with. Throughout the course of the game his size and his power we essentially played three guards based on our personnel and our roster make up and we were giving up significant inches and also a great deal of weight as well. When he stepped out to shoot his perimeter shots and was as effective as he was, it puts even more pressure on our defense because not only do we have to worry about him especially in the interior and also on the glass but also the other very strong players like Cornley, even Jones and Hassell and some of those other guys. They can be significant rebounders as well. He was an excellent player this evening. We would've liked to shut him down more than we did but we knew he was going to be a difficult match-up going in.

Q: Considering how young your team is, are you fairly satisfied with where you are at right now?

A: Although I do realize that we are extremely young, 10 of our 14 players on our roster are either of a freshman or sophomore class and only having one senior it leaves a tremendous opportunity for growth for our program. At the same point, as a coach, the leader of the program I think satisfied might be a little bit too hallow of a word because I don't want to be satisfied by any means. There are other games, and other opponents where I think our performance could have been improved slightly and that could have been ultimately the difference in the game. Now as far as where we were at the beginning of the year, the number of roles that needed to be filled, the growth of some of our players who didn't have as many scoring opportunities. To see their growth, its been very satisfying.