Penn State offensive attack needs adjusted perspective

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry expressed his frustration over officiating late Saturday night in Minneapolis.

Fresh off a 76-70 loss at Minnesota, Shrewsberry said what transpired in the game’s final minutes wasn’t right. Unable to draw trips to the free-throw line despite drives for Sam Sessoms and an inbounds into the paint for John Harrar, Shrewsberry’s claims were born of admitted frustration.

Monday, in front of reporters for his weekly press conference, he further explained why.

Rejecting the notion that officials are in any way biased against Penn State, Shrewsberry said instead it’s the style of basketball his team plays that creates officiating challenges.

“How we play is different than other people,” Shrewsberry said. “We play a different style than some other people play. So things that might not be important throughout the game for other people, it doesn’t really matter. But it’s really important to us.”

Nailing down the specifics, Shrewsberry contrasted Penn State’s offensive attack against that of Big Ten stalwart Purdue.

The Boilermakers work the ball inside offensively to their two dominant bigs, he said. So too does Illinois with its massive inside presence, Kofi Cockburn. 

Penn State, meanwhile, operates the majority of its offense off high ball screens from John Harrar, or through Harrar at the top of the key. 

So while Penn State’s opponents are playing a style recognized by the regular officials employed by the Big Ten, Shrewsberry said the Nittany Lions’ style needs an adjusted perspective. And, so far, Penn State’s standing at the bottom of the conference in free throws attempted (just 152 through 13 games) suggests the adjustment hasn’t yet been made. 

“It’s just a matter of maybe people taking time to adjust to what we’re trying to do, or maybe it takes me saying something or talking about it so people see it and understand what affects us and what doesn’t affect us,” Shrewsberry said. “That’s the only thing that I see.

“I don’t know. I was pretty frustrated at the moment. Obviously, you could probably tell that. But at the end of the day, also, hat’s off to Minnesota. They beat us. And we have to be better. I don’t want to sit here and be like sour grapes. We got beat about Michigan, we should have won the game and we got beat. Wisconsin, we had opportunities and we got beat. I’m not crying and complaining because we got beat. We have to be better as well.”

Penn State will get that opportunity Tuesday when it welcomes Michigan State to the Bryce Jordan Center. 

A program that regularly finds itself shooting free throws, the Spartans ranking second in the league for free throws attempted per game, Shrewsberry hopes Penn State’s offensive attack is recognized in the same manner.

“There’s just an expectation, and I think everybody being at their best and knowing what we’re trying to do, knowing how we’re trying to attack and other things like that. I don’t know,” Shrewsberry said. “But I don’t feel any kind of bias from the league. Now, if it happens 10 years from now and I’m still talking about it, then yeah, maybe there is. But I don’t feel that way. 

“I just feel like we’re different in how we play, and what’s important to us might not be important to other teams, but that’s why referees get paid the big bucks.”