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Valparaiso 69, Penn St. 56:

“Seth Colclasure scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures as Valparaiso defeated Penn State 69-56 Tuesday night in the first round of the Arizona State Hoops Classic.

“Jimmie Myles and Dan Oppland each added 13 points and Ron Howard had 12 as the Crusaders (3-6) advanced to Wednesday night’s championship game against either Long Island or host Arizona State.

“Geary Claxton scored 17 points to lead Penn State (5-6). Aaron Johnson scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Travis Parker added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Nittany Lions, who have lost four in a row.

“Valparaiso used a 15-0 run during an eight-minute stretch of the first half to get a 34-15 lead. The Nittany Lions missed nine consecutive shots and at one point in the second half was 6 of 31 from the field. After trailing by as much as 24, Penn State rallied to get within 55-46 with 5:05 left but never got closer. …”

FightOnState.com: Hoop Preview ? Valpo:

“* DeChellis tried like crazy to get out of this tournament (the scheduling commitment was made by previous PSU coach Jerry Dunn) but the ASU folks would not let him off the hook. DeChellis sees holiday tourneys as relics because they force a team to play two games on the road without getting any home games in return.

“* Another reason DeChellis hates this tournament: Forcing the players to travel so close to Christmas. Each Nittany Lion flew from his respective hometown to Phoenix on Christmas day. Despite the travel nightmares facing parts of the nation, all players and coaches arrived when they were supposed to. “

Centre Daily Times | 12/28/2004 | Penn State faces Valpo in holiday tournament:

“Ed DeChellis likes that a two-day holiday tournament some 2,300 miles from home gives his young Penn State men’s basketball team a chance to bond, to spend some time together off the court.

“He doesn’t like that it gives his Nittany Lions the chance to pass a stomach virus around.

“Less-than-healthy Penn State (5-5) will face Valparaiso (2-6) at 6:30 p.m. today in the first round of the ASU/azcentral.com Hoops Classic at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.

“DeChellis said freshman point guard Mike Walker, a starter in Penn State’s last seven games, picked up the virus, which was also contracted by sophomore walk-on Dan Adler, on Christmas Day and has struggled through practices since. DeChellis said Walker would try to go today against the Crusaders, adding that a number of other Nittany Lions were suffering from common cold and flu symptoms.

“Breaking down tape of his team during the past few games is what has made DeChellis’ stomach turn. In their last three games, all losses, the Nittany Lions have surrendered 74.0 points per game while allowing opponents to shoot an average of 50.4 percent from the field.”

Centre Daily Times | 12/26/2004 | Nittany Lions freshman looks to lead team:

“The stroke is at once mechanical and fluid, a natural movement refined by too many years and too many practice shots to count.

“Arrive a few minutes early to any Penn State practice and you’ll see Mike Walker shooting. Sometimes a team manager is there to rebound for him, sometimes not. A layup or two, then foul shots, eventually on to threes. Over and over again, as if there wasn’t anything else in the world to do.

” ‘You’re always so busy here at school, it’s not like you can come back to the gym and shoot 300, 400 shots,’ Walker said, as if 300 shots was an afterthought. ‘So I try and get out here a little early just to get some shots up and stay a little bit later. But it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life.’

“Here’s a guy who is, in the words of his coach, the ‘ultimate gym rat,’ starting for a Big Ten team in his freshman season because of those long hours of shooting. His teammates rally around the 6-foot-2 freshman from Lewisberry, not even knowing why. Want the pulse of this young Penn State team? Look no further than its point guard.”

Mom’s right, nice is priceless: “It’s Christmas.

That means, as you read this, you probably spent the morning listening to music you can’t stand played by your teen-agers who had to have it and are so happy you bought it for them.

“Or maybe you’re winding down from a pre-breakfast of noise toys and compugames, aided only by coffee — black, because someone forgot to get milk. But you didn’t complain about that.

“Then, there was the real breakfast, featuring the waffles made on the new waffle iron you’ll never use again. Eaten by you wrapped in the bathrobe you won’t use past next week because you prefer to walk around every morning in sweats and old T-shirts with the arms cut out.

“But you liked it all fine. You were nice.

“Which is why it’s Christmas. This morning is about being nice without reason. “

GoDuke.com Sat Down With Freshman Basketball Player David McClure:

“GD: Who was your biggest rival in high school?

“DM: Well we probably had three big rivals in high school. We had Stanford High because they were in the City Championship game almost every year and almost every year even though we were ranked higher than them they always gave us a close game, so that was a good one. Warren Harding High School gave us a couple of good battles in our division and I’d say through the whole state I think either Colby Cathedral or Northwest Catholic. We normally saw one of those two teams in the final each year. And then players – there probably wasn’t one player in my division but I think the biggest hype game of the year was when I played Geary Claxton, who was going to Penn State to play. He was the big scorer and I was on the big team and we clashed and they said it was number one versus number two and everything like that and both of us kind of cancelled each other out of the game. I think we both ended up with about 9 points or something like that so, we didn’t get defended well and our team won by thirty points. “

Centre Daily Times 12/24/2004 Nittany Lions will be better — maybe sooner than you think:

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s OK, you can say it.

“Buffalo?

“They lost to Buffalo?

“A loss to Pittsburgh, a legit top-10 team, is excusable. Georgetown on the road? Sure. Even neutral-site losses to Illinois State and South Carolina State, which, so early in the season, were essentially organized scrimmages, can be forgiven.

“But Buffalo? At home?

“There are rationales, excuses, explanations, if you will. That the Bulls, though a MAC team, were a darned good MAC team. That the game was held immediately following finals week, a time during which the Nittany Lions historically struggle. That it’s hard for any team to come to play after a 10-day layoff, let alone a team as frightfully young as Penn State.

“Honestly, though, if the Nittany Lions had pulled Tuesday’s game out — as they nearly did, erasing a six-point deficit in the final two minutes — it might have been the Bulls who said: Penn State?

“There is little doubt that the future is bright for Penn State basketball, that the program is moving forward. Where it is right now, though, is a place where wins over teams like Buffalo aren’t guarantees, a place where the Nittany Lions can play with and stay with anybody but can also, as they’ve recently showed, can get beat by anybody.”

Post-game quotes:

Head Coach Ed DeChellis Quotes

Can you explain the loss?

‘We didn’t execute our plan and that’s how it went all night. Our young guys made mistakes and Buffalo outplayed us all game. We didn’t do what we needed to do in practice to get ready for tonight.’

Were your players surprised at the quickness of Buffalo?

‘Yeah I think they were a little surprised. It took us ten minutes to get into the quickness of the game. I tried to emphasize that it would be a tough game throughout practice. We didn’t shoot the ball well and it made it hard to generate offense.’

Do you think the team didn’t get good looks from the 3-point line?

‘I don’t think we got great looks from the 3-point line. I think we had other open shots that we didn’t make and easier shots that we didn’t make. We weren’t the aggressors tonight. We had a chance to win and the end of the game but we didn’t take advantage. Buffalo is use to winning close games and they had the confidence to pull out the win tonight.’

Penn State Player Quotes

Travis Parker

What could the team have done differently to stop the buzzer-beater?

‘We just didn’t stop him, that’s it. We could have put more pressure on the ball but like I said we just didn’t stop him.’

What is the focus of the team now over break?

‘It’s a tough loss that we have to deal with over break but we just have to get ready for the tournament next week.’

Do you think the team had enough rest after finals week?

‘We were well prepared and had plenty of rest. I don’t think finals had anything to do with it. We weren’t rusty either we just didn’t come out to play tonight and you have to give Buffalo credit. We were prepared for what they were going to bring tonight but we weren’t emotionally ready.’

Ben Luber

Describe the perimeter pressure from Buffalo tonight.

‘We knew that they were going to put pressure on us coming into the game. We have to be more aggressive, handle the ball better and make some plays.’

There were a few ‘back door’ plays that you guys tried tonight. Do you think Buffalo was ready for that?

‘I think they probably prepared for it in practice. We ran a couple of plays but we didn’t execute.’

Do you think Buffalo is a quicker team than the average Big Ten team?

‘I think they are quicker than the average Big Ten team because they are smaller than the average Big Ten guard. Quickness is their style of play but we have seen it before against Rutgers. They played harder than us and they deserved to win.’

Penn State vs. Buffalo Game Notes

* Junior forward Travis Parker led Penn State in scoring for the first time this season, scoring a career high 17 points, including 14 in the second half. Parker was 7-of-10 from the floor, with one three-pointer, and 2-for-2 from the foul line.

* Aaron Johnson kept his double-figure scoring streak alive with 13 points. The junior has reached double figures in all 10 games this season.

* Mike Walker connected on two three-pointers, raising his team-high total to 18 for the season. His first trey knotted the score at 26-26, and his second three-pointer pulled Penn State to within 59-58 with 4:32 remaining in the second half.

* Penn State shot nearly 40 percent for the game (39.7) despite connecting on only 4 of 20 attempts from three-point range (20 percent, matching a season low). From within the arc, Penn State was 19 of 38 (50 percent).

* All four Nittany Lions who averaging in double figures in scoring reached double digits against Buffalo: Johnson tallied 13 points, Parker 17, Marlon Smith 13 and Geary Claxton 14.

Centre Daily Times | 12/22/2004 | Nittany Lions buffaloed by Bulls:

“Games like this aren’t lost on the final possession. They’re decided by the turnover in the first half, the missed free throws early in the second half or any number of other plays along the way.

“So when someone hits a shot at the buzzer, as Buffalo’s Turner Battle did to give the Bulls a 72-70 win over Penn State Tuesday at the Bryce Jordan Center, those two points shouldn’t mean any more or less than those which preceded it.

“It never quite feels that way, though.

After Marlon Smith’s layup tied the game with six seconds remaining, Battle drove the lane, spun and hit a floater as time expired to give the Bulls (7-2) their first defeat of the Nittany Lions (5-5) in 36 years.”