Rebuilding a team is a step-by-step process. The first set of steps in that process is designed to make the team competitive again. The second, to get them to start winning games.
The Penn State men's basketball team has made the first step in its rebuilding process in its last five games. After beginning the season with a disastrous loss at home against Yale, and later suffering another embarrassing defeat at the hands of James Madison at The Bryce Jordan Center, the Lions came back with wins over Bucknell and Coppin State, and near misses against California, Michigan, and Indiana.
The Lions (0-2 Big Ten, 4-9 overall) can't afford to run in place for long and they will hope to begin taking the next step against Wisconsin tonight at The Jordan Center at 8 p.m.
"I would like to think that we've gotten past the point of trying to make them competitive," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "Hopefully we're getting to the point where we're getting over the hump and winning some of these games. Certainly, in the last three we've put ourselves in position to win."
In the Badgers, the Lions face a team that recently did get over the hump in a big way. After a 1-4 start, the Badgers (1-1, 8-7) won their last three conference games, including matchups against Tennessee and Marquette. They lost their Big Ten opener on the road to Iowa, but pulled a huge 72-66 upset over then No. 7 Illinois at Madison.
The Badgers lost four starters from last year's team that was ousted in the first round of the tournament. They brought in a new coach in Bo Ryan, who led Wisconsin-Platteville to four Div. III National Championships and spent the last two years at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Their one returning starter, junior guard Kirk Penney, has been the team's go-to guy thus far, averaging 14.7 points per game. He scored 33 in the Badgers' win over Marquette. They've also gotten solid guard play from the rest of their backcourt. Freshman Devin Harris is second on the team with 13.6 points per game, and senior Travon Davis is averaging 4.47 assists per game.
The Lions will have to contain the Badgers' swing offense. Dunn said he has spent less time trying to figure out the intricacies of Ryan's scheme than getting his defenders to focus on the Wisconsin players.
"I think you defend players more than offense," Dunn said. "You can run a lot of different things, but it's the execution and players have to make plays. We have to focus on personnel and also what people are doing."
Sophomore guard Sharif Chambliss will hope to continue his recent scoring outburst against his hometown team. The Racine, Wisc., native is averaging 14.2 points per game this season, and put up 20 against Indiana Saturday.
"Sharif plays pumped up for every game," said sophomore guard Jamaal Tate, Chambliss' roommate. "He's got more energy than anyone I've ever seen. He'll come out ready to play like he usually does."
The Lions will have to wait a bit longer to get junior forward B. J. Vossekuil back in action after knee surgery in November. Though he dressed for the Indiana game, doctors told Dunn that Vossekuil would still need a few more weeks to be able to play again.
Dunn knows what it will take to convert the Lions' solid performance to victories, and it certainly doesn't take a nuclear physicist, or even a college basketball coach to understand.
"I think the old adage that players make plays holds true," Dunn said. "No matter how you slice it that has to happen. If we're going to get over the hump we have to have some guys step up and make plays when they count."
