Penn State men’s basketball star Lamar Stevens had a massive performance throughout Saturday’s game against Minnesota. The senior finished with a career-high 33 points on the same day that a children’s book he authored was released.

Stevens finished with 33 points, seven rebounds, and three assists while shooting 52% from the field and 50% from three-point range. The Golden Gophers’ defense had no answers for the senior, as he was able to score whenever he wanted from wherever he wanted.

With second-leading scorer Myreon Jones out with an illness, Stevens did all he could to make up for his absence, and it paid off, as he carried the team at times to hold off a Gopher comeback.

“My mindset is just that I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. I was going to get the feel of the game and if I had to score, I had to score,” Stevens said. “If I had to get stops, I was just going to try to get stops. That was my main focus.”

Although Stevens might be humble about his approach to the game, head coach Pat Chambers could tell there was something different about Stevens as he prepared for this challenge.

“Lamar had that look in his eyes that a senior gets when you’re running out of games,” Chambers said. “He knew what he had to do.”

Saturday’s game wasn’t just all about Stevens’ high-caliber performance on the court, but it was also a clear illustration of his maturity. Less than three weeks ago when Penn State played Minnesota in Minneapolis, Stevens and Daniel Oturu needed to be separated after the game because of a brief altercation.

Things couldn’t have been any more different for the two this time around. After the game, Stevens and Oturu embraced and had a clear sense of respect for each other, both of them understanding that they were two of the best players on the court Saturday afternoon.

“We’re just both competitors and that’s what we talked about,” Stevens said. “I mean, we just competed in an extremely high-level game. I think it was just mutual respect at that point. We’re both just big-time competitors and sometimes we let that competitiveness get out of hand a little bit and I think we just talked about it and it was a good game. It was just a respect thing.”

Another huge accomplishment on what was a great day for Stevens was the debut of his children’s book “Lamar’s Climb: A Journey To Happy Valley.” His impact on the community should not be overlooked, as he brought a ton of joy to many people on “Everyone is Awesome Day.” His dedication to the Penn State community and the many Nittany Lions fans was on full display before and after the game.

The senior from Philadelphia is now averaging 17.6 points and seven rebounds a game while shooting 46% from the field on the season. Stevens and the Nittany Lions will be back in action at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10 when they travel to the Mackey Complex to take Purdue. You can catch that game on the Big Ten Network.