After starting the season with an encouraging 8-1 start and only losing to Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue by an average of 5.5 points, the Penn State men’s basketball team is still searching for their first Big Ten win of the season.
During Thursday’s postgame press conference after the PSU’s 98-71 loss to Wisconsin, Coach Mike Rhoades was asked a similar pattern of questions that surrounded the team’s mindset.
Is the team starting to lose confidence in themselves? Is he worried about the morale of his team moving forward? Is the building of the Penn State basketball program going in the right direction? Is he worried about apathy?
“Here’s what I’m going to say,” Rhoades said. “I’ve coached a long time. I’ve been on both ends of this. This right now, sucks. My staff and I will give every fiber we have to try to right this ship and do this right. I know what I’m doing. But we’re behind the eight ball. We’re not good enough. I get it. It’s on me. I’m not a quitter. I hope our fans and our students support these kids because they’re good kids and are working really hard. But you’re right. You gotta win and put a good product out there to get rolling. We had some of those good days even already this year, but we’re struggling and we gotta fix it and gotta figure it out.”
Rhoades acknowledged that Penn State is “more frustrated than we were before.”
“These guys practice hard,” he said. “They’re coachable. We don’t have any bad dudes. We don’t have guys fighting it, but we are a young and immature team and that shows up when there’s adversity. I’m not saying that as a personal attack on anybody. I’m saying as a team we respond to adversity the wrong way, not consistent enough to get over the hump.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“You just fight like crazy. This sucks and I’ll be up all night trying to figure it out and go right back at it.”
Rhoades maintains belief in the way Penn State is building its program.
“Some of you guys may not, I don’t really care,” he said. “I’ve never cared before, but I’m going to figure it out. It might kill me, but I’m going to figure it out.”
