si»v\. J.w. 27. 2010 want to win some games. If it was Illinois or anybody else, our same goal would be just to go out and get a win." i vou aren't Then To Now igles •eiiU said Mondav something ■i'vause vou don't nivo spirit." adamant he has \ ers who hate to : tin situation. In v»‘.> ;il\ SCOIV of ,i i > instead of i. he is the t hatred of los ' lair m games. ■ ■■■A second-half vo o! their confer ■'v times already were unable to ;e final minute . iiave won the ■e> weren't ourself who has i-us :n the r losses. consola*- start to :eii through apoed what h-;; biggest >m hisnm a'.ore home irena with )!k .itions is l‘onn State iioaeii. he'll 1 Hattie - like last h <hc lllini. tlitre right sro v- "e.-tiers in the conference. pr< >;-;;bly seeing similar situations - ;a obablv the teughe-t eonter •(••• State s I ’aimer had a tew calls .at! have gone his way. the sopho ;. excuses. He said it's up to him to n well and make sure the match u of the referees. . Handling this challenging string of •sd hr'ii attack each match the same t.ponent is ranked No. 1 or No. 50. =-pounder admitted to looking for io nui. lie faces this weekend. oo|ifo-i unity this weekend against No. 1 ■ o o —jj id -it doesn't get any better than S'*”' ' OUPONS <9* 1 A weak nonconference sched ule and two late-season losses after that Illinois game cost the Lions an NCAA tournament spot last year They made the most of their NIT bid. knocking off Florida. Notre Dame and Baylor all tournament-caliber teams this season on their way to the title. But when the tournament ended, so too did the careers of seniors Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle and Danny Morrissey. Along with losing a combined 32.5 points per game, the Lions also lost an immeasurable amount of leadership. Indiana coach Tom Crean said. Perhaps no one in the Big Ten knows about losing experienced players more than Crean. In his fir.-a season coaching Indiana, t'roan was forced to deal with a depleted rosier because of trans iers lollowing an NCAA investiga tion of tormer coach Kelvin Sampson's recruiting. That may explain win; when Crean's Hoosiers came into Penn State and knocked off the Lions on Thursday, the first thing he did was relate the two squads. "I know what we went through a war ago in the sense of what we lost when the program fell apart and you have no experience.” Cretin said, i think it's very important that people remember how much experience they lost.” During last season's Illinois game. DeChellis said, his group of players did not play a great game until the final few minutes. Instead, in a sport where DeChellis says "you make your own luck.” he said the Lions were "fortunate” to win. This year, the Lions have no senior-, and DeChellis. who eporter: rmlsl3B@psu.edu ★ CODE BLUE: FIRST 100 STUDENTS RECEIVE A CODE BLUE T-SHIRT signed a three-year extension in the offseason, said finding a way to win is still something his team is figuring out. In the final five min utes and overtime of conference games, the Lions have been outscored 91-67 The Best 0-7 Team With time winding down in Sunday's overtime loss, DeChellis met Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan at half court of a frenzied Kohl Center. Following a loss that typified the Lions' season, one in which the Lions blew an eight-point lead in the final two minutes, DeChellis received a few words of encour agement from Ryan. “You're the best 0-7 team I’ve seen," DeChellis said Ryan told him. “Oh boy, that's comforting,” the Penn State coach joked a day later at his Monday press conference. Whether Ryan is correct or not, however. DeChellis' Lions still sit at the bottom of the conference they nearly finished second in just a season ago. Battle has been the lone bright spot this season, leading the Lions in points, rebounds, assists and steals. He is the only player on a BCS conference team to lead his team in those four statistical cate gories. Behind Battle, the Lions' No. 2 scoring option is only averaging 8.2 points per game. Two key pieces of last year’s NIT run. Drew Jones and Jeff Brooks, have been reduced to minimal minutes on the bench. Brooks is averaging 7.2 points, and Jones just 5.5 in 23 minutes per game apiece. Since conference play started, neither has had a double-digit scoring performance. The youth DeChellis has put on the floor in place of some strug gling veterans has had problems controlling the ball in big situa tions. That was never more evi- Win From Page 8. Price's prophecy proved to be true as Penn State (5-1. 3-0 EIYA> polished oft EIVA-foe Juniata d-2. 0-1» Tuesday night 3-0 (30-19. 30-27. 30-18' for its third-straight conference win and third-straight sweep. The Lions whose vietoiy over Springfield last weekend was a per formance coach Mark Pavlik called "sloppy” gave a total team effort in Tuesday's win over the Eagles. Three players the veteran trio of Will Price. Max Lipsitz and Joe Sunder finished with double-digit kills, and the squad finished with 11 total team blocks. But the team's success was also found in the performance from some of the lesser-known Lions. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN ONLINE ONLY AT psucollegian.com #23 LADY LIONS vs. Purdue BEAT THE BOILERMAKERS! RSDAY, lAN. 28 @ 7:oopm T MEMBERS CAN PURCHASE AN ADULT TICKET FOR $8 Freshman lan Hendries was domi nant in the middle, posting six kills on .750 hitting. "We don’t know if we’re going to start calling you lan ‘Skywalker' Hendries right now." Pavlik told his rookie in the postgame press confer ence. "The last time we saw you up in the air like that was in your recruiting video.” It wasn't just the hitters with high light film-w’orthy performances Tuesday night. The reigning EIVA player of the week, setter Edgardo Goas, shelled out 40 assists, while Dennis Del Valle had 10 digs, including a diving somer sault in the middle of the first set that had the 472 fans at Rec Hall cheering on their feet. Juniata was never really given a chance to find its rhythm. Penn State. •25 I nlimitcd monthly • - thi >: 7 \u\rrr: tanniv. SPRAt TANNING AVAItABI£ rill: HRONZJ? A I ( (>. < i 310 k. Rear Beaver Avenue. State College (814) 238 - 4080 Located behind Cold Stone Creamery and The Gingerbread Man dent than in Wisconsin, when the Lions committed 18 turnovers that resulted in 33 Wisconsin points. “Somehow this is supposed to build character," DeChellis said. “Somehow this is supposed to fig ure out who you are and what you’re all about." Mike DeCourdey, The Sporting News’ national men s basketball writer, agreed with DeChellis. say ing Penn State hasn't built on its success from last season. “[The NIT] was a nice step for ward for a program that hadn’t had much to brag about for a long time," DeCourcey said. "But I don’t think you’re worried about diminishing what happened last year. You're worried about making progress. At this point, I’d have to say you're not." Getting Back In terms of reaching the post season, the Lions have been all but eliminated from an at-large NCAA tournament berth. But the players aren't focusing on that. All Battle wants is a return to the credibility gained last season. "I'm not sure how' to do that." Battle said. "We haven't done it thus far this year, and that's the problem. We're right there most of the time, and we continue to lose. It's just gonna take us one time to get over the hump and see how good it feels to win." DeChellis echoed Battle's senti ment. saying to regain last sea son's confidence, the Lions will have to start winning. The only problem, he said, is that in order to win. his team needs to have that confidence. He called the team's current losing streak a "chicken-or-the egg" situation. DeCourcey pointed to the big ger picture, noting the effect the losses have had on the program. With the Lions on the geograph ical outskirts of the Big Ten. The Daily Collegian DeCourcey said, it is a struggle to compete for talent in a state with traditional powers Pitt, Villanova and Temple. But he wasn't quite ready to give up on the program. "There are lost causes, but I think Ed is too good of a coach to let that happen." DeCourcey said. "They just have to get more good players in there, and I think they have to get better class balance, so they don't wind up where they're in a situation where they’re devoid of senior leader ship." He pointed to incoming recruit Taran Buie. Battle's half-brother, and the Lions' ability to hang with Wisconsin in Madison as reasons behind a possible return to Big Ten relevance next season. Jackson, however, pointed out that the Lions are not too far from relevance this season. "We were right there with them at their place." Jackson said, referring to Penn State's one point loss at Illinois Jan. 12. "Everybody knows Assembly Hall is a tough place to play, but coming in here the crowd will give us that extra energy. We ll make that one play to get the win." But until tipoff tonight, the Lions are stuck in the basement of the conference. With trips to No. 10 Purdue and No. 20 Ohio State looming next week. Jackson and the Lions may be looking at equaling the 2002-03 team's 0-10 start to conference play with a loss tonight to the reel ing lllini. "There aren't easy things in life, and you've got to keep going," DeChellis said. "You've got to keep fighting all the way. and some where along the way athletics is supposed to teach you that. Teach you a little toughness, teach you a little perseverance, test your man hood. test vour character." To e-mail reporter: ajcs23B@psu.edu which owns a perfect 35-0 record all time against the Eagles, started the game on a 9-1 run. .And despite a rela tively sluggish second set where the Eagles fought hard to pull within one near the Lions' set point Penn State was on cruise control for most of the night. It took Juniata just about 45 min utes to drive northeast on Route 26 for Tuesday night's match. And it took just double that one hour. 24 min utes. to be exact for the Lions' total team effort to send the Eagles back on the highway with their second loss of the season. "I thought tonight was a great indi cator of where we've come in the past three or four weeks." Pavlik said. "I think it's something that we build on and keep on moving from here." To e-mail reporter: exkso49@psu.edu ,X . I 4';
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers