Penn State forward Lamar Stevens sat at his Madison Square Garden locker dejected, head in his phone scrolling through texts and Twitter, trying to briefly take his mind off what happened on the court minutes before.
When the buzzer sounded at “The Mecca,” Penn State’s NCAA tournament hopes all but vanished. A 78-70 loss in the Big Ten semifinals to No. 8 Purdue turned the Nittany Lions from a party crasher to someone waiting at home, hoping and praying for an invite.
Stevens, like his teammates, thinks Penn State is a tourney team this year. “I think we proved that,” the 6-foot-8 sophomore said pointedly, sitting up straight and proud.