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Sliding Into Shot-Selection Funk, Nittany Lions Look to Regroup at Indiana

The film was more kind than Patrick Chambers anticipated.

Watching in the aftermath of his Nittany Lions’ 62-56 loss to Illinois Tuesday evening at the Bryce Jordan Center, the Penn State head coach pointed to one particular issue as most responsible.

“I think it came down to shot selection,” Chambers said. “I just think we took too many contested shots, and we hadn't really been doing that much… during the last month.”

Knocking down just 21 of 58 shots from the floor, Penn State’s 36.2 percent its lowest since a 32.7 outing in a 58-49 loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 11, the Nittany Lions’ struggles were not isolated.

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Senior forward Lamar Stevens led the team with 13 points on 3 of 11 shooting while Penn State’s shooters went a combined 4 of 19 from beyond-the-arc in the loss. Out-rebounded 39-32 for the game and held to just five second-chance points, the combination proved to be too much for the Nittany Lions to overcome against an Illinois team largely paced by its star, Ayo Dosunmu.

Garnering just 14 combined points from bigs Mike Watkins and John Harrar, Chambers added that Penn State’s infrequent looks inside weren’t helped by an offense that grew stagnant on the perimeter.

“We really need to put it inside the John and Mike and give them their opportunities to take good twos or high-percentage twos. And then after we give them the ball, even Lamar for that matter, we need a little bit more action,” Chambers said. “We were doing a great job on our rip action, the ball was going inside, but I didn't think that game, that would be the one glaring thing, our rip action needs to get better when we get the ball in the post.

“When we got the ball to Mike Watkins, there was too much standing around on the perimeter where we need to set and cut, and we need to screen away and we need to just have activity because the defense is loaded up. The defense is digging down. The defense is just sitting there in the paint where there's no space. So we just need to do a better job off the ball of not standing still and having constant movement.”

The continued absence of sophomore guard Myreon Jones no doubt played into Tuesday’s step back.

With the Nittany Lions set to return to action Sunday at noon in Bloomington, Ind., Jones’ status isn’t any more clear. Said by Chambers to be joining the team for the road trip to face the Hoosiers, Jones is still considered day-to-day.

“He's day-to-day but we're still evaluating. I'm hopeful, for sure,” Chambers said. “He will make the trip. I can confirm that.”

Regardless of Jones’ return, Chambers said his team - which won’t travel to Indiana until Saturday in advance of Sunday’s tip - will study its Jan. 29, 64-49 win against the Hoosiers in preparation. Nearly a month removed from that game, the Hoosiers most recently notching a 68-56 pounding over Minnesota in Minneapolis Wednesday night, the Nittany Lions will look to regroup and recalibrate against their familiar opponent.

“We gotta make sure we're ready to compete. We gotta make sure that we rely on one another out there and we're great teammates,” Chambers said. “So we're going to look at that Indiana game but we're going to look at the last few games for sure because they've definitely put some new wrinkles in and made adjustments to their defense.”

The No. 9-ranked Nittany Lions (20-6 overall, 10-5 Big Ten) and Hoosiers (17-9, 7-8) will tip at noon. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

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