11/28/2017 basketball Edit

Barkley's example extending beyond the gridiron

Nate Bauer • Happy Valley Insider

Senior Editor

Is in his 17th year covering Penn State football and men's basketball for Blue White Illustrated.

Voting for the 2017 Heisman Memorial Trophy Award started Monday and will run until 5 p.m., Monday, December 4.

What’s unknown at this point is whether or not Penn State running back Saquon Barkley will earn enough nods from voters to earn even an invitation to the ceremony to be held in New York City the evening of December 9, let alone win it.

And yet, with or without that public recognition of Barkley’s talents, the junior’s influence seemingly knows no bounds within the Penn State athletics community.

Look no further than the Nittany Lion men’s basketball program as an example.

Carr was injured and missed one game earlier this season due to a sprained left ankle.

Meeting with the media this week as his 6-1 team gears up for a Wednesday evening date at N.C. State (5-2), head coach Patrick Chambers was asked about his approach to dealing with star point guard Tony Carr this season. Carr, the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer and No. 2 scorer in the Big Ten averaging 20.0 points per game, already garnered attention as a selection to last year’s Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

With Carr elevating his play to an “elite” level at this early stage in the season, Chambers has zeroed in on Barkley’s example as a standard for Carr to try to emulate.

“I try to meet with him often, just talking to him about the optics, talking to him about the distractions on the outside and how to handle those distractions,” said Chambers. “He's a very mature kid, very grounded young man.

“I saw Saquon's quote about him being a Heisman candidate and then not a Heisman candidate. So I saw that and I think Tony is a lot like that. There's going to be highs, there's going to be lows. If I can just be as consistent as possible, help my team to success, find ways to win, I think he's that type of guy. Just like Saquon who is going to be a great teammate first and foremost.”

Contributing with better production in fewer minutes per game this season on his averages from his debut, Carr’s start can certainly be considered an early high. Chipping in with 4.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game, all while reducing his turnovers from 2.6 to 1.7 per game through his six games played this season, it has also been one critical to the team’s overall success.

And with the Wolfpack on deck, it’s a standard Chambers is hoping to see continue.