Penn State basketball’s late-season push has been much better to watch than the earlier stages of its season. While Penn State still has been far from good or even average, it now has two wins in the Big Ten, perhaps putting itself in a position to make the Big Ten Tournament if it can go out and do what’s needed throughout the remainder of the season.
Speaking about the Nittany Lions’ postseason outlook and their pursuit of a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, head coach Mike Rhoades emphasized the way his roster has navigated a difficult stretch, even if the win column hasn’t always reflected it.
“I really feel that our guys have handled the adversity of the last month, month and two weeks the right way. But you want to see results. I get it,” Rhoades said, per Onward State.
Penn State’s early slide put even more pressure on the final weeks of conference play, turning every remaining game into a chance to get in. If Penn State had won some of its close losses to start Big Ten play, it’d be in a much better spot.
Despite the losses, Rhoades believes the team is starting to buy in and he sounds pretty excited about it.
“That would be awesome, without a doubt,” Rhoades said of making the conference tournament. “I’m not saying these guys deserve it, but they’re doing it the right way. I would love to see that to happen. You got to go earn it, though, you got to go get it.”
The Big Ten is one of the best conferences, if not the best, in the country. However, there are three teams with two wins, including Penn State, and Oregon has one win. All in all, Penn State will need help in the standings, but Rhoades is focused on what his dudes can control.
“Some things you can control. There’s other things out of your control. You just got to keep pushing forward all the time,” Rhoades said.
Beyond the immediate tournament hopes, Rhoades also addressed the rebuild underway as the youngest team in the Big Ten.
“I got four years on my contract. I’m in here for the long haul. If you look at all that stuff, when I came to work for Pat Kraft, I committed to doing this, and I knew it was going to be really hard. Then it got really harder very quickly when the landscape of college basketball changed, and especially how they’re doing business in the Big Ten.”