Penn State seeks, finds winning formula after blowout loss

On3 imageby:Nate Bauer11/18/21

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Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry looked the part. 

Sitting in the Bryce Jordan Center media room following a 74-59 win over St. Francis Brooklyn on Thursday night, Shrewsberry folded his arms, dressed in a camouflage long-sleeve shirt. With an American flag emblazoned on his right arm and the Nittany Lion logo on his chest, Shrewsberry’s message was to the point.

Appreciative of the successful outcome, his frustrations were palpable.

“No matter what you feel like, no matter what it looks like, you learn to celebrate,” he said. “And then you got to learn from it. We’ll look at it. I’ll look at it and see where we can get better, what we can do better.”

To Shrewsberry, those options were plentiful.

Facing a Terriers team following the successful aggressive, fast-paced blueprint set by UMass on Monday night, the Nittany Lions found themselves frequently flustered on both ends of the floor. 

Offensively, a variety of press looks prompted 15 Penn State turnovers leading to 19 points for their guests on the night. Further, though holding the Terriers to just 41 percent shooting, the Nittany Lions’ struggles maintaining possession led to a 61-49 deficit on shot attempts in the game.

At one point early in the second half, the Nittany Lions’ paced by a scoring outburst from Sam Sessoms (26 points on 10-of-13 shooting), SFB’s Wilcox Jr. sent home 3-pointers on three-straight attempts to keep the Nittany Lions’ lead to 10 points. Partially propelled by back-to-back turnovers, Shrewsberry voiced his displeasure by subbing out all but John Harrar from the lineup. 

Intending to send a message, disappointed by what he described as a lack of valuing the basketball, Shrewsberry acknowledged the process at work at this early stage in his tenure. Blending a mix of veteran players with transfers into the program, on top of his first actual games as a head coach, the feeling out process was very much at work, he said.

“I think there’s still a lot of that,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ve played people defensively who have really overplayed a lot of stuff in terms of how they play and what they’ve done. Whether it be the press, whether it be half-court, denying passes, and everything else. 

“So you have to play a little bit differently in that way. And that’s something that we’re still feeling out the process.”

Continuing, Shrewsberry offered insight into an element that has exacerbated the issue for the Nittany Lions this season.

On top of this being the team’s third game, learning lineups, and new experiences together in every outing, Penn State has had to do so without a full arsenal of its personnel. 

“We had two good practices this week, but this is another week we haven’t had everybody on our team at one practice at one time this season,” Shrewsberry said. “Not to make excuses. No one is going to feel sorry for us. St. Francis doesn’t feel sorry, Cornell doesn’t feel sorry, the Big Ten’s not gonna feel sorry, so we need to go with what we got. But we need to get everybody healthy.”

While transfer forward Greg Lee remains in a boot and street clothes, the Nittany Lions were able to play a lineup approximating that of the home-opener against Youngstown State. Bringing Myles Dread off the bench in favor of a start for Jalannie White, Shrewsberry acknowledged the impact of the flu currently making its way around Penn State’s campus. 

“There’s a sickness out there that’s taken ahold of our team and devastating us at times,” he said. “But you still have to win anyway. You have to find a way to win anyway, and this is putting guys in different situations to do that. 

“It is a great learning experience for the next time we step out here. Hopefully each game we’re better.”

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