Myles Dread explains season-changing loss as ‘our poop’ following March Madness win vs. Texas A&M

Penn State is dancing into the second round of the NCAA Tournament after getting a win against Texas A&M on Thursday. A big performance from Andrew Funk will send the Nittany Lions into a matchup against Texas, with a spot on the Sweet Sixteen on the line. Things are moving smoothly but just before the calendar turned to March, a blip in the road occurred.

The regular season ended with five wins in the final six, with a home loss to Rutgers being the only blemish. A three-point loss was not the end of the world but as Myles Dread put it, Penn State needed a reality check heading into the postseason. They were able to “flush” the loss away and got back to winning ways.

“Whenever you take a poop, you never leave it in the toilet,” Dread said via the Daily Collegiate. “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.”

Since then, Penn State has been on an absolute tear. Northwestern and Maryland were the final two regular season games of the year, being close contests that resulted in a win. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry definitely has his team prepared to play in tight games at this point of the season.

Moving into the Big Ten Tournament as a 10-seed, Penn State made a run all the way to the championship game. While they came up just short against Purdue, all but one result was a one-possession game. And that was a four-point win against Indiana.

Things changed after the Rutgers game, with team accountability being the main point of focus. A famous players-only meeting seems to have the ship sailing in the right direction and is still at the front of their minds just over two weeks later.

“After that Rutgers loss, the practice leading to Northwestern, we were just clicking on all cylinders,” Dread said via the Daily Collegiate. “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.”

It’s an often-used cliche but for Penn State, the sentiment is true. Nobody wants to see the Nittany Lions right now as they are one of the hottest teams in college basketball. Shrewsberry has done of the best coaching jobs of the season, even if his team is a 10-seed.

A Sweet Sixteen would be the first since 2001 and only sixth ever in program history. With everything flushed out and going through the sewage pipes, Penn State is rolling at the right time.