When Penn State men’s basketball entered the locker room down 37-23 to Nebraska Wednesday night, it looked as if it’d be yet another early postseason exit for the Nittany Lions.

Jim Ferry’s group never went away, however, and Penn State isn’t done playing among the best conference in college basketball.

There are plenty of exciting performances to choose from in the Nittany Lions’ comeback win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Myreon Jones put up 14 massive second-half points, Myles Dread hit a dagger trey after going 0-6 on the night, but it’s hard not to rank Jamari Wheeler’s night ahead of those.

The senior guard led the Nittany Lions with 19 points, including a couple clutch free throws down the stretch, along with six rebounds and a steal. Wheeler’s newly developed three-point game also shone through in the electric victory, as he was tied for the team-lead with three from deep.

Outside of his standout night on offense and defense, however, Wheeler’s veteran leadership was also key in the win. The guard was awarded with a wrestling belt on the court just after the win, and as fate would have it, it was his idea to bring it in the first place.

“That was something we used in the summer every Friday when we had a 5 a.m. workout, and whoever wins the day gets that belt,” Wheeler said. “It’s called ‘King of The Climb.’ So I just asked the strength coach to bring it to the playoff games just to motivate us to play harder. It worked, so we’re gonna keep it going.”

While it was certainly a slow start, there’s no doubt the Nittany Lions looked motivated out of the gates in the second half. Penn State turned the ball over less, scored nine points off turnovers compared to the Cornhuskers’ two, and shot 44.4% from the field compared to Nebraska’s 33.3%.

As exciting as the comeback was, it was hardly the first time Penn State has been in this situation this year. In fact, Ferry’s team just wrapped up the regular season with a win over Maryland after trailing by 16 points.

For Wheeler, the message will remain the same throughout the postseason whenever his team is trailing.

“We know the reasons we go down are not good effort and not playing the way we want to play,” Wheeler said. “In the huddle we just try to motivate each other like ‘play harder, get stops, rebounds.’ Once we get stops and rebounds we’ll get to play offense at our pace, at the pace we’re comfortable with.”

Another Nittany Lion will have a chance to earn the “King of The Climb” belt in no time. Penn State will now face No. 6 Wisconsin in the second round at 9 p.m. Thursday night.

While the team may be be tired on such short rest, Wheeler’s hustle and do-it-all demeanor will likely inspire the Nittany Lions to leave it all on the court against a tough Badgers squad. Ferry and the rest of the group know plenty well how important this senior guard is as the heart and soul of his group.

“He’s a warrior,” Ferry said. “Jamari just looked like he was going to will us to this win tonight. He was all over the place defensively, he was so vocal with his teammates. He was demanding of his teammates and himself. When Jamari plays like that we’re a heck of a basketball team.

“He’s a senior, man. You don’t want to go away. If he keeps playing like that, I don’t think we’re gonna go away.”