Patrick Chambers Rails Referees Following Penn State's Loss To Maryland

On Saturday night, Maryland traveled to State College to face off against Penn State.  Though most viewed the Terps as the favorites in the game, the first matchup had been very competitive and the Nittany Lions almost pulled off the upset on the road.  Nationally, there would not be a ton of attention on this game, but it was an important one for Maryland to secure a road win and a chance for Penn State to get a huge win at home.

The final score of the game was 76-73.  Melo Trimble led the scoring with 20 points for the Terps and DJ Newbill had 25 points for the Nittany Lions.  However, following the game, there were fireworks off the court from Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers regarding the officiating.

Chambers stated the following according to Fight On State:

"That was the worst call I've ever seen in my entire life. They're pulling Jordan Dickerson down."

"First of all, time and score. He's too young. He doesn't have a feel for the game. He shouldn't call that foul. That's one.

"Two is, (Thorpe) back cut it, he went down the middle. He didn't even use the screen. And (Dickerson) got pulled down, and they call a foul on him?"

"It's a joke. It's a joke the way we're officiated. It's disappointing."

"And there was an elbow that they didn't want to call, that they should have called, that normally gets called against us. Frustrating, disappointing. But we had to take the refs out of the game, and we didn't."

"It was a huge call. A huge play. Huge."

Clearly, some very blatant and tough comments on Big Ten officiating and a call that Chambers viewed as having a big impact on the outcome of the game.

The specific call in question was an offensive foul called on Jordan Dickerson with 1:50 left in the game when Maryland had a slim 2 point lead over Penn State.

You can view the play at issue here:

Despite the call, one theme that seems to be emerging when Maryland and Penn State face off is a lot of hostility, competitive games, and drama.  We will have to wait and see, but it does appear that we might have the makings of a new Big Ten rivalry.  Could this be one of the key moments to start it?