Demetrius Lilley thrives doing the little things.

Lilley spent the vast majority of his freshman campaign on the bench, cheering on his teammates en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance. Lilley only appeared in five games while averaging less than three minutes per game a year ago.

It’s been well-documented that Mike Rhoades put an ultimatum on Lilley last spring to get in shape if he wished to see the court ahead of the 2023-24 season. Rhoades asked his only returning forward to lose 40 pounds over the summer, and that’s exactly what the Lower Merion product did.

Standing only 6’10” and weighing 245 pounds, Lilley is far from the tallest or biggest post player in the country, especially in the Big Ten, which features big men like Zach Edey and Steven Crowl.

In his second season wearing the blue and white, Lilley figured out how to be the most impactful player he could be, despite not being the most physically gifted player on the court. A lot of the ways he can put his mark on the game don’t always show up in the stat sheet.

“He is starring in his role. When he goes in the game, [he has] great post defense, great ball screen defense… [On] the offensive end, he keeps that ball hot, rolls really hard to try to get a layup out of it, crashes the offensive glass,” Rhoades said.

Lilley has seen his minutes jump to 9.3 per game in his second season in Happy Valley. His stat line doesn’t jump off the page during most postgames, as he averages only 2.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, but that doesn’t tell the full story.

“I wasn’t playing that much in the beginning of the season, but I just stayed the course, and once I got the minutes that I earned and worked for, I knew that my role was to be that junkyard dog — rebound and screen,” Lilley said.

The little stuff is where the Philadelphia native shines. Rhoades and his staff never have to question the effort or dedication of Lilley. If the Nittany Lions need a rebound — Lilley goes to get it. A loose ball? He’s on the floor. A hard screen to get one of their dynamic point guards in Kanye Clary and Ace Baldwin Jr. open? He’s there.

“When you’re undersized and not as athletic as other bigs that you’re playing against, you got to be different,” Rhoades said. “You got to be a junkyard dog, and you got to be able to move that ball and make plays that don’t always show up on the stat sheet.”

Every coach wants and needs a guy like Lilley on their team. Although some of his style of play can be attributed to himself, Lilley knows how much he’s learned over the past few years from teammates like Seth Lundy, Myles Dread, and Jalen Pickett. This year, his mentor has been Qudus Wahab, who’s been around the block in college basketball.

“It started last year actually, I was around a lot of older guys, and I saw the leadership that you need to have in order to play college basketball,” Lilley said. “Just watching [Wahab] play just helped me out, you know, post moves, how to treat your body.”

The lessons Lilley learned over his first two years in college will be instrumental in his development as a player. A development that could take a long course in becoming a great basketball player. Each day in the gym, Lilley is getting better and better, and that should be concerning for opposing teams for years to come.

Rhoades sees the potential, too. He knows what steps will need to be taken next, and as long as Lilley stays dedicated to the hard work as he was this past summer, he will only continue to improve and help his team.

“To build his body to a point where he doesn’t get tired, where there isn’t much fatigue when he’s out there. It’s harder. But that’s that’s the next step for him,” Rhoades said.