Star point guards Taylor and Frazier to face off

MADISON, Wis. Ask coaches to dissect the actual value of a particular player on a team, and you're likely to discover their answers do not come in easily quantifiable measures. Does a player's value hinge on the number of wins he creates for his team? Is it in his ability to lead? Is it altogether incalculable? Penn State basketball coach Patrick Chambers doesn't have a formulaic set of criteria to provide a specific answer. Because of this, he can't say for certain exactly how valuable Nittany Lions point guard Tim Frazier is to his team. What he does know is that Penn State wouldn't be nearly as good without him this season. "He's probably 80 percent of everything we do -- maybe more," Chambers said. "What's great about Frazier is he comes in every day to practice and he does it in practice. He's not looking for days off. "You take Tim Frazier off this team, I don't know where we'd be right now. I can tell you we wouldn't be 10-12. He's that valuable to our team." When Penn State (10-12, 2-7 Big Ten) plays host to No. 19 Wisconsin (17-5, 6-3) at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday, the game will feature an intriguing matchup of star point guards in Frazier and Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor. While Taylor earned preseason All-America accolades, Frazier is perhaps even more valuable to his team -- however unquantifiable that may be. Frazier leads Penn State in points per game (17.9), assists (6.3), rebounds (4.9) and steals (2.2). He has played more minutes than any other teammate, taken more shots and even ranks fourth on the team in blocked shots with six. If Penn State asked him to sell concessions at halftime, he'd likely pull off that feat with aplomb, too. "He's probably counted on even more to provide offense for them than we are (with Taylor)," Wisconsin assistant coach Lamont Paris said. "We've had other games where we've had four guys in double figures. They haven't had as many times where they've had that situation. "He's one of the most dynamic scorers that we've played and will play all year. He's got a lot of different ways to finish. Floaters, attacking the glass and the rim, step-backs and 3s." Taylor, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior, does lead Wisconsin in points (13.9) and assists (4.3), but the overall talent level on the Badgers has allowed him to defer to others at times. As a team, Wisconsin shoots 43.4 percent from the field and leads the country in scoring defense, surrendering just 49.6 points per game while scoring 65.2. "You can always count on him for a big shot," Chambers said. "He's a big shot taker. He's a big shot maker. Jordan probably shoots his 3 a little bit better than Tim, but they're very similar in the way they play, the way they distribute, their leadership and the way they run a team." The similarities between the two players stop when it comes to surrounding talent because Frazier does not have the luxury of playing with such a balanced unit. Penn State shoots just 38.3 percent from the field and gives up two more points than it scores. In other words, who knows how much worse off the Nittany Lions would be without Frazier? "I know Frazier's a heck of a player," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "He's quick. He sees the floor. He finds open guys. He can get to the rim in a blink. As they used to say down south, he's quicker than a hiccup." Frazier, a 6-1, 170-pound junior from Houston, Texas, has increased his offensive production exponentially after spending his first two seasons at Penn State playing the role of facilitator. In fact, his scoring increase is the largest improvement in the Big Ten this season and the second largest of any conference player over the last 15 seasons. Last year, he played a bit part in the Taylor Battle show. Battle, a senior who has since graduated, averaged 20.2 points and fired 15.6 shots per game. Frazier averaged just 6.3 points and tacked on 5.1 assists, although he emerged as a double-digit scorer over Penn State's final 11 games, which included the Big Ten Tournament and an NCAA Tournament appearance. With Battle gone, along with other departed seniors Jeff Brooks (13.1 points), David Jackson (9.9 points) and Andrew Jones (6.0 points), Frazier is the only returning player among the Nittany Lions' top five scorers from a year ago. "The one thing that I'm most proud of is his growth and his maturity and his leadership," Chambers said. "When you have a youthful team and you don't have someone they can follow, then you're really in big trouble. "He's taken the torch from Taylor and the other seniors from last year. He's embraced it. We've had a lot of ups and downs, but with his attitude and his work ethic, the future of Penn State basketball is going in the right direction." Perhaps that says more about Frazier's value to Penn State than anything else. Follow Jesse Temple on Twitter @jessetemple.