Before the 2019-20 college basketball season began, Penn State head coach Pat Chambers spoke extensively at the team’s media day about trying to instill a “Mamba Mentality” within his team — particularly with star senior Lamar Stevens.

“If [Stevens] goes with that Kobe Bryant ‘Mamba Mentality,’ I think he gets there individually, but then he brings everybody with him,” Chambers said in October. “Now you got everybody with a ‘Mamba Mentality,’ and that is a tough team to beat.”

“It’s an everyday thing, coach wants me to have that killer mentality, that dominant mentality in every drill and every practice, in everything we do,” Stevens added on media day. “I think it’s good for me and for the team, there’s no settling, you can always get better, you can always push yourself to that limit and never settle for less.”

Chambers has spoken numerous times after media day about continuing to send Stevens messages and videos of Bryant to try and help the NBA legend’s work ethic stick with Stevens and his teammates.

About four months later, the Nittany Lions are off to their best start with Chambers at the helm, ranking in the AP Top 25 five times in 12 weeks. Stevens, who was an All-Big Ten first team selection last year, is still the team’s leader both on and off the floor, but it looks like Chambers was onto something when he suggested that the new mentality would trickle down to the rest of the roster.

In the days following Kobe Bryant’s tragic passing, Chambers and Stevens have had the chance to reflect on the legend’s impact on themselves and the program as a whole. For one, the “Mamba Mentality” slogan has been up on the wall in the team’s practice gym — a constant reminder of the grit and determination that’s necessary in order to outwork everyone else.

But the connection is deeper for both Chambers and Stevens, who are both Philly natives, just like Bryant. Both of them sat down for a Big Ten Network interview about that connection. Stevens in particular remembers donning a signed No. 8 Lakers jersey throughout his childhood.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I always admired Kobe,” Stevens said. “In Philly, he’s the guy that everyone wants to be, somebody that I could look up to and be like. Being a little kid, I had a Kobe signed jersey — a No. 8 jersey — I would wear it all the time and when it couldn’t fit I hung it up on my wall.

“His mentality is something that left an impact on me. Just wanting to be great every day, being a leader, and always appreciating and taking advantage of each day.”

Chambers spoke about the first time he watched Bryant play back during the latter’s high school days with the Big Ten Network, as a Kobe-led squad took on a team coached by Chambers’s brother. He also addressed Bryant’s death candidly on Monday at his first press conference after the tragedy.

“As soon as I saw [the news], I immediately went back to Lower Merion-Marple Newtown when Kobe was a teenager,” Chambers said. “I was in the stands as a fan, and my brother Paul was an assistant coach for Marple Newtown. That’s how long I’ve been watching Kobe play basketball.”

Chambers and Stevens both elaborated on the lessons that pulled both of them towards the “Mamba Mentality” mantra. The head coach pointed to Bryant’s choice to make whatever sacrifices needed to become the best, and how it’s rubbed off on so many of Bryant’s teammates, fellow competitors, and even his fans.

“I wanted to pass that down to Lamar and some of our guys as much as I could to have them understand that every time you step on the court, you have to get better,” Chambers said.

The Nittany Lions will play their first game in a week and first since the news of Bryant’s death on Wednesday against Indiana. The game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center, and you can watch it on the Big Ten Network.