City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
--

Penn State coach Pat Chambers announced Friday on his weekly teleconference that Josh Reaves will miss "multiple games" after being diagnosed with mono this week, according to the team's Twitter account. 

Shortly before the Nittany Lions' tipoff at No. 24 Purdue last Wednesday it was revealed that Reaves would miss his first game of the season after being ruled out of the contest due to illness.

The freshman appeared in the first 17 games, making 14 starts, and averages 6.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 24.5 minutes. He's made his presence felt on the defensive side of the court, tallying a total of 22 steals and 17 blocks, both second-best on the team.

Reaves, a former four-star prospect, was the most exciting player in the touted Penn State (10-8, 1-4 Big Ten) 2015 recruiting class, but with Mike Watkins not being cleared by the NCAA, Chambers' is down to just Davis Zemgulis, who made his first career start in Reaves' absence on Wednesday.

Zemgulis and senior guard Devin Foster are the two likely candidates to see extended playing time. Zemgulis averages 3.5 points in his 15 appearances, while Foster has been the backup point guard, appearing in all 18 games with 3.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and in 18.7 minutes.

The Nittany Lions have opened Big Ten play slow, as has been the case in recent years. After going on the road at pushing No. 3 Maryland to the brink before ultimately losing, Penn State has suffered blowout losses to Michigan, No. 4 Michigan State and Purdue with a 86-77 win versus Minnesota in between.

In the near future lies games at Northwestern (15-3, 3-2), versus Wisconsin (9-9, 1-4) and at Ohio State (12-6, 4-1) preceding a rematch with Michigan at the Madison Square Garden on Jan. 30.