After losing its sixth straight game to USC on Tuesday, Penn State is now 1-10 over its last 11 games. During a difficult stretch like this — one that could almost certainly eliminate the Nittany Lions from the Big Ten Tournament — Mike Rhoades believes that a narrowed focus is key to making it out on the other side.
“When things aren’t going your way, you can give in to the noise and or you can … try to get a singular focus on basketball,” Rhoades said Thursday.
“And that’s really hard … But what you got to do is you got to focus on your love of the game and your team and just keep grinding that way … You just got to get a singular focus of just ‘All right, I’m going to work today to be the best player I can be today to contribute to my team. I’m going to have a great practice for our team today to push it in the right direction.’
“It’s hard … I think today’s our 83rd practice and it’s a long year. It’s been a long stretch here the last 40 days … That’s the approach. The singular focus of just trying to get better. It’s hard but that’s got to work.”
Penn State is currently at the bottom of the Big Ten standings. With only six games left in the regular season, it will be hard for Rhoades’ squad to make up serious ground. But, if the Nittany Lions can leave the frustrations at the door and take advantage of the fourth-weakest remaining schedule in the conference, it could, at the minimum, extend its season into the beginning of March.
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