City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.  — When Penn State coach Pat Chambers announced his starting lineup on Thursday for the forthcoming season, the appearance of returning starters Shep Garner, Jordan Dickerson and Brandon Taylor were expected. So was the addition of 6-foot-4 freshman Josh Reaves.

But the fifth starter may have raised some eyebrows as redshirt sophomore Payton Banks was named to the third frontcourt position.

Banks, a 6-foot-6 forward and California native, did not see the court in his first season in Happy Valley, but then went on to appear in 29 games the subsequent season. He averaged just 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds while picking up seven steals in 8.7 minutes per game as a redshirt freshman. 

Despite a marginal role on the court, Banks stayed the course and it paid off for not only him but for Chambers, who trusted Banks to perform well in his new role. Banks managed to put up 12 points and six rebounds in the first start of his collegiate career, helping guide Penn State to a 62-50 win over VMI on Saturday in the season opener at the Bryce Jordan Center. 

After a slow start for Penn State, going down as many as eight in the opening five minutes, Banks hauled in an offensive rebound from a Brandon Taylor miss and scored an easy layup for his first basket of the afternoon, which cut the deficit to one. That sequence pretty much summarized much of the Nittany Lions attack, as Taylor and Banks both made their presence felt inside with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while grabbing six rebounds apiece — tied with Julian Moore for team-high. 

"Taylor and Banks were definitely bright sports as far as playing Penn State basketball,” Chambers said of his two starting forwards. “Our goal was to go inside and put pressure on the paint and I felt like we did that. Payton Banks did a tremendous job of driving the ball early in that first half to get us closer to the 1-and-1.”

"His 3-point shooting is not going to blow you away but if you look at his stat line, it’s pretty good."

Banks struggled from deep in the game, going 1-for-6 but went 4-for-10 from the field overall. Banks' greatest contribution, however, doesn’t necessarily show up in that stat line. Banks, alongside Reaves, were two of the key on-ball defenders that helped Penn State hold VMI to 36.7 field goal percentage, and a 31.8 percent mark from distance. 

"He’s our best defender,” Chambers said of Banks. "He’s in year three, he knows exactly what we’re doing. where to be.”

Garner, the starting point guard, lauded the versatility Banks brings to the team and struggled to find the words to describe the “tremendous” change in the Banks’ game since the end of last season. 

"He’s like, way better, and we need him,” Garner said, “He’s a big part of our team; we need that type of game every night form Payton. He can do a little bit of everything: shoot, drive. A big 6’6”, rebound, he can defend really well as you seen tonight.”

Chambers’ has a solid defensive nucleus in the starting lineup with Reaves on the perimeter and Dickerson anchoring the paint, and thanks to a relentless work effort from Banks, he’s got an extra player that can get it done on both sides of the court. 

"I said in the last couple weeks, he did not start one scrimmage,” Chambers added. “He earned it and kept his head up and kept working at kept tapping at that stone and he earned himself a starting position."