The Lions' Pride

-- Someone made the statement on here Sunday afternoon that it speaks to the state of the program when people are happy about a close loss to a top-ranked team.

Patrick Chambers was not one of them.

"I know you want me to say that we hung in with the No. 4 team in the country and I'm not saying that," he said. "Because that's what's been said for the last 20 years. I'm tired of losing. We lost. I don't like losing. ... When is it enough when it's so close? We gotta move on from those phrases and sayings."

Earlier, the coach said his team had played better over the last week, topping 70 points in losses to Iowa and Michigan. "But I will not let these guys accept moral victories. There's no moral victories when you're 0-13."

-- Chambers reiterated that players -- scholarship guys and walk-ons alike -- have to earn playing time, and said he would tell recruits that anyone can earn it. That explains why guys like walk-ons Kevin Montminy and Alan Wisniewski have earned more minutes lately and why, as many here have wondered, freshmen Donovon Jack and Akosa Maduegbunam haven't seen as much game time. Chambers did say that his freshmen haven't hit the usual "freshman wall" that most rookies run into this time of year and likes the way they work to improve.

-- Penn State has received more offensive contributions from Sasa Borovnjak (15.5 points over the last two games) and Ross Travis (7.0 points, 8.8 rebounds over the last four games) recently. I'll have a more in-depth story on Sasa later this week, but Chambers said the key to Travis' turnaround is that he's doing what he's good at -- the mid-range jumpers and floaters in the lane.

-- Someone brought up the annual question of whether Penn State might play a game at Rec Hall in the future.

"I would never say never," Chambers said. "I'm sure we would love to. I'm sure there's a lot of logistics that would go into it. I would love to get a packed house in Rec Hall, but my first job here is to win and get a packed house at the BJC. It would be cool for our alums and our students and obviously our players to do a little throwback."