Pat Chambers was pretty happy on Sunday following Penn State basketball’s 75-49 win over Delaware, and he had good reason to be.

The team looked loose, and plenty of players rotated into the game and contributed. The Nittany Lions succeeded in key facets of the game such as sharing the ball (18 assists on 28 made field goals), cleaning the boards (55-28 rebound advantage, 25 offensive rebounds), and locking down the Blue Hens on defense (held Delaware to 31.4 percent from the field).

There were plenty of things that stood out in our first look at the 2019-20 Nittany Lions this weekend, but here are a few observations that were most noteworthy:

Mike Watkins looks better than he ever has.

Big Mike has had a long road of ups and downs in his time at Penn State, but this year it seems that he is healthier and more focused than ever before.

He dominated the game as soon as he entered off the bench, racking up 19 points and 11 rebounds on a 7-for-8 shooting performance, despite seeing just 16 minutes of action. Watkins had several dunks, and completely took over the game between the final media timeout of the first half and halftime.

The most memorable play from that sequence featured Watkins diving to the floor to create a turnover in the backcourt, passing the ball to an open Myles Dread from his backside, then getting up to sprint to the room and hammer home a put-back jam on the missed Dread triple.

That play is evidence that this was not a day where Watkins just filled up the stat sheet – he was busting his ass in an October preseason scrimmage. Chambers and his teammates are starting to take notice of the differences in the 6-foot-9 senior from Philadelphia entering his final collegiate season.

“He probably had one of the best weeks that he’s had since he’s been on this campus all around, but still, (we have to go) day to day,” Chambers said in the postgame press conference. “I told you he had one of the best summers, conditioning-wise, that I’ve seen him have in years. It’s nice to see him out there and really produce.”

Myreon Jones echoed Chambers’s thoughts, saying that Watkins has really turned it up during the lead-up to the season opener next Tuesday.

“Mike’s been working all summer; every practice he’s given us his all,” Jones said on Sunday. “This past week we’ve seen a different Mike. The Mike I’ve seen last year was nothing like this year, this year’s way better. He’s been working his butt off and you saw what he did today.”

If Penn State gets anything close to this version of Watkins on a somewhat consistent basis this year, he will be a problem for every team on their schedule.

Even without Josh Reaves, this team still has the pieces to play great defense.

Delaware only shot 31.4% from the field on Sunday, including a 25% showing from beyond the arc. The Nittany Lions forced 17 turnovers from the Blue Hens and blocked five shots, including a three-steal, two-block performance from St. Bonaventure transfer Izaiah Brockington.

On a few possessions, Chambers switched his team into the 1-2-2 three-quarter court press that he used to run with 2019 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Josh Reaves at the head of formation, wreaking havoc.

In place of Reaves, Brockington and freshman Seth Lundy did a solid job of putting the Delaware ball-handlers under duress when Chambers opted to use the press.

“I wanted to use it intelligently, I didn’t want to open up the floor for their three-point shooters, so I thought Brockington gave us some good energy at the top,” Chambers said. “I’m really proud of him because he didn’t shoot the ball well, but his energy level did not drop at all.”

Pat Chambers wasn’t kidding about how deep this roster is.

Chambers has mentioned the depth of this year’s team plenty of times in the past few weeks, but he put his money where his mouth was against Delaware.

Even with Curtis Jones Jr. out of the lineup, 12 different players saw the court for Penn State, including nine players that tallied 12 or more minutes of playing time.

“For us, I felt like we showed who we could be as far as depth,” Chambers said. “I think we have a lot of talent on the bench and they came out and played hard.”

Chambers started Jamari Wheeler and Jones in the backcourt, Dread on the wing, Lamar Stevens at the “4” spot, and John Harrar at center. All of those players made major contributions in the win, as did Watkins, Brockington (seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks), Lundy (seven points), and Trent Buttrick (six points on two made three-pointers, four rebounds) off of the bench for the Nittany Lions.

Nine reliable options plus the looming insertion of Jones Jr. gives Penn State a true 10-man lineup, something that Pat Chambers has never had.

Lamar Stevens showed maturity and leadership on a day where his shot wasn’t falling.

Stevens was recently named as one of 20 players on the 2020 Karl Malone Power Forward watch list, which isn’t surprising, as he leads all Big Ten returning players in points per game (19.9) and rebounds per game (7.7) during a season in which he received first team all-conference honors.

However, he looked a bit rusty during the first 10-15 minutes of action against the Blue Hens, starting off 1-for-7 from the field as he tried to find a rhythm.

Near the end of the first half, Stevens switched his mentality up from scorer to leader, making way for Jones and Watkins to have impressive offensive performances. He took just three shots after his rough start, and he made all of them. Stevens also tacked on five rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal as his presence took the defense’s attention and opened up his teammates for easy scores.

“When you’re a senior it’s about winning. It’s not about your stats,” Chambers said. “They’re doubling him. When I look at three assists and zero turnovers, that is really productive. I don’t think in years past that would have occurred, he would have forced it.”

“So, I thought he played within himself. He took what the defense gave him and that’s your leader and that’s someone who is growing up and really maturing.”

For Stevens to show that growth in his game is a very telling sign that he’s ready to take on the lofty expectations being placed on him this year as the star of this team. We’ll see if his patience in this exhibition will translate in close games where he’s getting targeted by defenses once the season officially begins.

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Penn State officially tips off the season with its home opener on November 5th against Maryland-Eastern Shore at 7 p.m.