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Centre Daily Times | 02/02/2005 | Young PSU to meet young Indiana:

“Ed DeChellis brought an impressive array of metaphors to his Monday morning news conference.

“First, the Nittany Lions’ coach waxed poetic on the fermentation process of his young team (‘You’d like to drink the wine right now, it’s just not ready’) then talked about sending his youthful guards off to battle.

“‘It’s the front line, it’s the first wave, it’s young guys defending our first wave,’ DeChellis said, referring to freshmen Danny Morrissey and Mike Walker and sophomore Ben Luber. ‘They’re trying, but they’re just not experienced enough, strong enough right now to really defend that first wave of attack, and that hurts other things.’

“Penn State (7-13, 1-6 Big Ten) has been under siege all season, particularly since the start of conference play. Tonight’s opponent, Indiana, is somehow just as young — except at guard, which could mean another long night for the Nittany Lions’ ‘first wave.’ …”

Lions, Hoosiers set for matchup:

“The Penn State men’s basketball team matches up almost identically with tonight’s opponent, although its record suggests otherwise.

“Youth is not an excuse in the Nittany Lions’ (7-13, 1-6 Big Ten) game against Indiana (9-9, 4-3 Big Ten). Both teams start three underclassmen and two juniors.

“Three players on each team average double figures in scoring. Penn State guard and Freshman of the Year hopeful Geary Claxton will meet his match in Indiana forward D.J. White, who was the preseason favorite to snag the honor. White sits 13 spots above Claxton (12.1 ppg) in the conference in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game.

“The difference-maker, though, could be the Hoosiers’ veteran backcourt of junior guards Bracey Wright and Marshall Strickland.

“‘They’ve got some juniors and seniors and that’s important,’ Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘That’s been a benefit to the other guys on the team, and when it really gets tough they can throw the ball to Bracey Wright and they’ve got a pretty good chance they’re going to score.’ …”

• Penn State has lost 27 straight Big Ten road games. Including conference tournament action, the Nittany Lions have dropped 30 consecutive league outings away from the BJC. Penn State’s last Big Ten road win was at Iowa (78-73) in the next to last game of the 2000-01 regular season.

• Rookie guard Danny Morrissey gives the Lions 6.8 ppg off the bench. The rest of the reserves offer a meager 4.2 ppg combined.

• State has never won in 11 trips to Assembly Hall. The average margin in those games has been 18 points, with none being decided by fewer than seven (61-54, 2002).

Times-Mail Online Supplement – Bedford, IN: Sports:

“After two disappointing performances on the road at Minnesota and Iowa, Indiana returns to action Wednesday night against Penn State at Assembly Hall.

“ESPN-Plus will telecast the game beginning at 6 p.m.

“This is a must-win for the Hoosiers. At 4-3 in the Big Ten and 9-9 overall, Indiana needs to make things happen in a hurry.

” ‘We need to win games,’ Davis said Monday night during his weekly radio broadcast.

“Penn State shouldn’t pose a great danger. The Nittany Lions, 7-13 overall and just 1-6 in the conference, have never beaten IU at Assembly Hall. In fact, the Hoosiers have prevailed in 14 of the past 15 meetings. …”

Collegian: Trying Times:

“You’ve all said it before. When a friend’s relationship abruptly ends, a loved one passes away or when your favorite team loses the big game. You utter the four words that absolutely no one wants to hear, much less believe: Time heals all wounds.

“But if the aforementioned cliché is indeed true, it looks like Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis could use a week (or even a month) to recover from his team’s recent play. A visibly frustrated DeChellis spoke to the media yesterday morning at his weekly press conference and said the team’s problems are nobody’s fault but its own.

“‘We’re the ones that kind of got us into the mess and we’re the ones that kind of have to work to get us out of it,’ he said. ‘And we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.’

“Saturday’s 76-50 blowout loss to Wisconsin (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten) left the Nittany Lions (7-13, 1-6) winless in 11 of their past 13 games. After an admittedly sleepless Saturday night, DeChellis is trying hard to find some solutions.

” ‘I think that’s what’s frustrating for me, when I come home Saturday and don’t sleep, is you search, and you search, and you search and you try to help our team, try to help our kids get an advantage somewhere, or try to help them get better somewhere,’ DeChellis said. ‘And it’s just got to be on the court and it’s just going to take some time.’ …”

Penn State nets a recruit, and frequent-flyer miles:

“Let’s say you’re a college basketball coach. Let’s say you have a whop ping four scholarships left to give in April but only four official visits to your school remaining to hand out for the rest of the school year.

“And all you have left to choose from is a shrinking pool of recruits, many with academic issues, others in high demand with only elite schools on their lists.

“And let’s say you’re a coach at Penn State, last-place finisher in the Big Ten for three successive seasons and on track to make it four. How can you possibly compete?

“You work harder. You fly farther. Maybe you find a kid or two relatively few college recruiters have seen.

“That was the plan of PSU coach Ed DeChellis and lead assistant Kurt Kanaskie when they began digging into the mines of European talent.

“And they brought back two commitments in the last month. One is Joonas Suotamo, a 6-9, 225-pound forward from Finland.

“The other is Milos Bogetic, a 6-10, 242-pound forward from Podgorica, the major city in the former Yugoslavian republic of Serbia and Montenegro. …”

Overmatched Lions fall to Badgers:

“Saturday night’s men’s basketball matchup at the Bryce Jordan Center had David and Goliath written all over it.

“In one corner was the powerful Wisconsin Badgers, featuring a veteran-laden lineup ranked 18th in the country.

“In the other corner was youthful Penn State, a struggling underdog if there ever was one, having lost 10 of its last 12 games.

“Only this time, there was one problem — David forgot to bring his slingshot.

“In what Penn State coach Ed DeChellis called one of his team’s worst performances on the court, the Badgers (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten) crushed the Nittany Lions (7-12, 1-6), 76-50.

“‘I told the team I think we picked a really, really bad night to play our worst game I think we’ve played in a long time,’ DeChellis said. ‘But that’s what we just did. … We really had no answers tonight. They beat us in every fashion.’ …”

Beaver County Times Allegheny Times – Sports – 01/30/2005 – DeChellis hopes to build a winner:

“STATE COLLEGE – In many ways, this is the ideal setting to be a collegiate coach.

“Penn State sits in the dead center of the state in a serene place called ‘Happy Valley,’ which is in the shadow of Mount Nittany. While the Penn State campus is big enough to be considered a small city, State College is the quintessential college town, tucked away three hours from the big cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

“And Penn State is far enough away from the cities to be the only game in town in these parts. Take a drive across Interstate 80 in the middle part of the state when Penn State’s football or basketball teams are playing and you are likely to come across a broadcast of the game on 75 percent of the radio stations.

“It is why Joe Paterno has spent a lifetime coaching football at Penn State. And it is what lured Ed DeChellis back to his alma mater in attempt to build a winning program in the ultra-tough Big Ten Conference at a school that has had limited success on the hardwood.

“Talk to enough people around State College and many will break out the old clich? that DeChellis bleeds blue and white if you cut him. It’s a line that has been used a million times, but it actually fits in DeChellis’ case.

“DeChellis is Penn State man, through and through. …”

PSU exits with whimper:

“Though it’s tempting, you can’t exactly call what happened to the Penn State Nittany Lions last night a crossroads game. Too many more just like it are all too possible before this year’s out.

“On second thought, maybe you could refer to it that way. The Lions crossed the road. And the Wisconsin Badgers were a broadsiding semi.

“No. 18 Wisconsin applied a wire-to-wire beating to the young Nits reminiscent of the mid-’80s Bruce Parkhill era, a destruction so thorough and relentless that it immediately reminded of just how far this program must come to approach the Big Ten’s elite.

And the Badgers’ 76-50 knockout made plain they are just that. …”

Centre Daily Times | 01/30/2005 | Wisconsin cruises past Penn State:

“When Saturday’s game began, a good number of Penn State fans booed former Nittany Lion Sharif Chambliss.

“By the time it ended, the current Nittany Lions were receiving the same treatment.

“No. 18 Wisconsin gave Chambliss the last laugh in his return to State College and picked up its first win in the Bryce Jordan Center in six years with a systematic 76-50 pounding of Penn State.

“Playing without leading scorer Alando Tucker, the Badgers (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten), got 20 points from freshman guard Kammron Taylor and held the Nittany Lions (7-13, 1-6) to their lowest point total in more than two months.

“‘We picked a really bad night to play our worst game I think we’ve played in a long time,’ Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘It’s tough catching a team like them after they lose a game at home, and they came in with a little attitude that they were going to play well, and they did. We had no answers. They beat us in every fashion.’

“Aaron Johnson recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds while freshman Geary Claxton scored 12 despite early foul trouble, but Penn State was rarely if ever in the game against a team it had defeated in six of seven home games. …”