NN TV: Penn State HC Micah Shrewsberry talks Rutgers postgame
Penn State Basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry met with the media following his team's ugly loss to Rutgers on Tuesday afternoon.
Opening Statements
“First off, Congrats to Rutgers. They played great and they have been playing like this all year. You can’t play softly in this league if you want to win basketball games. It’s a 100% fact, we played softly and lost today”.
On facing Rutgers potent defense
“Yeah, they’re great defensively. They’re really good and knew what they wanted to do. They took us out of some things we wanted to do, we didn’t respond well, we missed open shots, I’m mainly disappointed in how we played defensively. We played soft and I thought they got whatever they wanted”.
On why he felt team played soft
“I don’t even know what else to say. They played grown-man basketball. No matter who was on our team, they took them to the post and they scored. At some point in time you have to stand up. At some point in time you've got to have some pride, and we don't have any pride. I told them that, exactly what I told you I told them at halftime exactly this in the locker room: We need some pride. We need some prideful defenders, and that’s on me. I don’t know how I let them become this soft defensively as a team. Right now we’re (ranked) in the low-80s defensively and dropping quickly. You want to win in this league, you can’t play soft. We played soft and we got our asses whooped.”
On entering game 1-3 on the road
“I don’t think any of those three games had a factor on this one. We didn’t play Illinois or Michigan or any of those other teams on the road today. We played Rutgers. Rutgers played better than us tonight. Michigan played better than us when they beat us. There’s no factor in those other games on how we played tonight”.
On Jalen Pickett’s performance
“I thought he was fine. He’s been better. Caleb McConnell is a good defender, he was giving him problems. He’s doing his best, right now [Pickett] is carrying us for long stretches. People are doing a good job at taking Funk out, but [Pickett] is carrying us for long stretches. He’s been one of the best players in the league, and we need him to get to the free throw line”.
Coach on the impact that Rutgers defense had on the 4 for 26 from 3 point tonight
“Yeah we played a little soft. Some of those wide open shots we have to make them. This is a make or miss league. Maybe we were a little tight because the crowd was on top of us and yelling. And maybe because those guys are flying around defensively that when you finally have an open shot you just can’t make it. They have a huge factor in it. But some of it has to be us man. We have dudes that played a lot of basketball. A lot of basketball. You have to make an open shot on the road. I need more than 3 people to show up every game. I am going to tell you that right now. You look at the box score Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk are giving us production and then its goose eggs down the rest of them. You can’t play 3 on 5 and win. I need someone to step up. I need someone to be a man and step us and give us something on the road.”
Coach on last year’s statement that Rutgers is a program that he wants to model his program after and if there is anyone lessons he can bring to his team
“Nope. Rutgers consistently plays hard. We don’t. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t play as hard as they do. And that is something that we can build upon. That is something we can build upon. They have an identity. Their defense is their identity right now. We are playing through our offense way too much. We need to get back to being a defensive team. We can score the ball when we do it. But when we get our heads down when we miss a shot or something is happening now we don’t want to guard. Now we don’t want to be tough and that isn’t who I am. That isn’t who I want to be and that isn’t what I want my program to be.”
Coach on the lack of fouls called on his team
“I can’t fix that. I’m done sending in clips. I have to coach my team. I just want Jalen Pickett to shoot more than 2 free throws a game. He is one of the best players in this league and doesn’t get fouled.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel