Micah Shrewsberry talks late-game decisions, preparing for Wagner
Penn State and Micah Shrewsberry open up their conference schedule with a loss on Sunday night to Ohio State, but the Nittany Lions once again took it down to the wire against a team that’s now ranked in the top 25.
And, as usual, there’s not much time for the blue and white to dwell on its most recent contest.
Shrewsberry’s team will play a third-straight home game this Wednesday, hosting Wagner at 7 p.m.
The first-year head coach addressed the media Monday to discuss recovering from Ohio State and looking forward.
PREPPING FOR WAGNER
As is the nature of the beast of college basketball, Penn State has just two days to practice before heading back to another game.
It presents one of the hardest challenges for Shrewsberry and his team, as he said his guys need to find the balance between a short memory after losing and a long memory of learning from mistakes.
At the same time, they have to scale back practice on days like Monday because of a grueling Big Ten matchup the day before.
While Wagner may be a much smaller college basketball name, Shrewsberry doesn’t want his team to underestimate the Seahawks.
“People are gonna just look at the name and just automatically assume this should be a 20-point win,” Shrewsberry said. “You're not following college basketball then. You don't know that Wagner was an NCAA tournament team, and they got a whole bunch of those dudes back.”
Wagner is currently 3-1 on the year and was projected to win its conference in the preseason, according to Shrewsberry.
He said his Nittany Lions will be tested on Wednesday by the level of effort Wagner will play with.
“I told our guys last night 'If you think you're playing hard, you're going to see what playing heart looks like on Wednesdays, because these dudes play harder than anybody I've ever seen,’” Shrewsberry said. “So it's going to be a major, major test…
“If we're not ready for it, we'll be sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves again on Thursday.”
LATE DECISIONS AGAINST BUCKEYES
In a bit of a surprise, point guard and second-leading scorer Sam Sessoms wasn’t on the floor during some key stretches in the waning minutes against Ohio State.
Sessoms has shown some in-game heroics this season already and an ability to facilitate Shrewsberry’s offense, but he finished with just five points on Sunday for his third-straight game in single digits.
A group consisting of Jalen Pickett, Jaheam Cornwall, Myles Dread, Seth Lundy and John Harrar took most of the minutes down the stretch.
Shrewsberry said it came down to what he tells his players often: He will play the group that is playing “the right way.”
“We weren't necessarily scoring during those stretches, but we were really guarding, and the ball was moving. So we weren't having success, but we were playing the right way,” Shrewsberry said. “We had good minutes in those stretches in the middle of the second half. So I decided to just go back to that group late and try and win the game.”
Shrewsberry said he wants his players to “celebrate” their teammates when it’s not their night, and he is confident Sessoms will bounce back.
“It wasn't his night. I was trying somebody else, and another group was having more success,” Shrewsberry said. “It could flip on Wednesday. The way Wagner plays, Sam could have a 30 point game again.”
RECOVERING FROM BIG MINUTES
The biggest story for Penn State against the Buckeyes was Jalen Pickett’s 40 minutes and 23 points. Pickett’s role on offense and defense has steadily increased since the start of the season.
Shrewsberry was also typically complimentary of John Harrar, who he would’ve liked to be able to get more minutes against the Buckeyes. Harrar dealt with some early foul trouble, leading him to just 26 minutes on the night.
The head man said it comes down to what his players are feeling, and he complimented his strength and training staffs for their help, but he acknowledged his players need to take advantage of it.
“You can't just have a great training room and great training staff and great weight room and a great weight staff, and you just walk by the glass and like osmosis or something,” Shrewsberry said. “It's not a video game where you just walk over top of something and then it like gives you new life. You have to actually go in there and do some stuff.”
Shrewsberry said Pickett does a good job of taking advantage of it. He used former Boston Celtic Al Horford, who Shrewsberry coached in the past, for being a good example of taking care of your body.
“Your best ability is availability,” Shrewsberry said. “If you're not available, you're not very good.”
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