Myles Dread colorfully explains turning point for Penn State

The Penn State Nittany Lions have come a long way since they blew a 19-point second-half lead and fell to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 59-56 on Feb. 26. 

"Whenever you take a poop, you never leave it in the toilet," Penn State guard Myles Dread said about that defeat, according to Seth Engle of the Daily Collegian. "You always flush it. So, like, that was our poop. We flushed it and moved on to the next game and played as hard as we could."

Before the No. 10-seeded Nittany Lions smashed the No. 7-seeded Texas A&M Aggies 76-59 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, Penn State had to rally from that Rutgers result to even qualify for the Big Dance. Rally the Nits did, as they recorded five straight wins and completed a journey to the Big Ten title game, where they lost to the Purdue Boilermakers, 67-65. 

"After that Rutgers loss, the practice leading to Northwestern, we were just clicking on all cylinders," Dread added. "Just playing together, holding each other accountable. Meeting with players, visiting with coaches, and just deciding that we’re going to draw the line in the sand and go to the NCAA Tournament." 

As shared by Brad Crawford of 247Sports and other outlets, Penn State earned the program's first NCAA Tournament victory on Thursday night since 2001. The Nittany Lions next face the No. 2-seeded Texas Longhorns on Saturday evening. 

"I've been an underdog my whole life," Dread noted. "A lot of these guys in this locker room have been underdogs their entire lives. Under-recruited, almost disrespected at times. We're used to it and we're just gonna go out there and prove it every night." 

If nothing else, the Penn State players seemingly won't be hurting for confidence this weekend: