Many times last season, Penn State was lucky to get nine players into a game, let alone have nine register points, but Monday night against Radford, the Nittany Lions' continued their balanced early-season scoring attack as nine players scored in the team's 62-46 win against Radford.
Junior guard Tim Frazier stole the show with 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, but unlike last year's featured scorer, Talor Battle, Frazier didn't have to do it all himself. Freshman Trey Lewis added nine points and Billy Oliver and Jonathan Graham added seven and eight points respectively. Sasa Borovnjak, Billy Oliver, Matt Glover, Jermaine Marshall and Ross Travis all got in on the scoring as well.
Coach Patrick Chambers kept all nine players rotating throughout the evening, a stark departure from last season when former coach Ed DeChellis relied primarily on his starters for most of the game.
After the game, however, Radford coach Mike Jones still had a lot of praise for Frazier.
"He's fast as lighting," Jones said. "We wanted to get back in transition and wall him off. He did a good job of taking advantage of our post guys. He just went by those guys left and right."
Chambers said he wants to see even more from Frazier, especially in the leadership department. He joked that as an old point guard, he'll probably always expect more of Frazier.
Monday night also marked the return of sophomore guard Marshall to the Lions' lineup. He was suspended in the preseason by Chambers for violating team rules, and was forced to miss both Penn State's exhibition win against Slippery Rock and its season opener against Hartford on Saturday afternoon.
In limited minutes, Marshall scored four points.Chambers said Marshall had a good week of practice and has been doing better in the classroom, which led him to bring the Etters native back. Frazier was thrilled to have him out on the floor, too.
"It's great to have Jermaine back," Frazier said. "He came in right away and it felt like he didn't miss a step. He did everything that we wanted him to do."
The win was Penn State's second on the season and first in the Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament which will bring Long Island to the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday night and take the Lions to Connecticut this weekend, where they'll take on No. 2 ranked Kentucky and either Old Dominion or South Florida at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.