11/9/2021 basketball Edit

Penn State Hoops HC Shrewsberry details what it takes to win in the B1G

Max Ralph • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

When Penn State hired Micah Shrewsberry in March, he inherited one of the most unique situations possible as a head coach.

He succeeded interim head coach Jim Ferry after former Nittany Lion head coach Pat Chambers resigned prior to the 2020-21 season.

Penn State lost a large portion of its players between the end of the season and Shrewsberry’s hiring, too, with numerous key contributors departing via the transfer portal.

The first-year head coach had his work cut out for him, but he built his roster back up, starting with John Harrar and Seth Lundy — Penn State staples who had entered the transfer portal before deciding to return to Happy Valley.

With Harrar and Lundy as his centerpieces, Shrewsberry started to bring in a number of veteran transfers to fill out his roster.

His 2021-22 roster is now set, but it doesn’t mean things have gone perfectly since nailing it down.

He admitted his team’s offensive prowess is currently well behind that of its defense, but with a group of guys still getting to know each other, he isn’t expecting perfection right away.

“We don't need to be perfect or peaking on Nov. 10. We're gonna have ups and downs as we go throughout the season because we're still continuing to learn each other,” Shrewsberry said. “We're still continuing to become a better, more cohesive team.”

Penn State opens its season at home on Nov. 10 against Youngstown State, and the starting lineup is far from set with so many new players on the roster this season.

Having variability in experience can undoubtedly pose a challenge for a head coach, but the players he’s brought in have made his job a bit easier thus far.

Shrewsberry commended players like Greg Lee and Sam Sessoms, for whom competing is “what they do.” He noted players like Jalen Pickett and Jaheam Cornwall don’t get “too high” or “too low,” and the pair of transfers have been important to keeping the team steady.

When you add a glue guy like Harrar to a group of transfers and veteran players motivated to win now, things can click sooner than expected for a group that’s been thrown together quickly.

“You get one opportunity with this group,” Shrewsberry said. “Nobody knows what the future holds with any team. But you get one opportunity each year., and let's take advantage of that. And I think they've done that.”

Shrewsberry expressed how much he wanted to help the veterans on the team achieve their goals of having success now. By adding more seniors and juniors via the transfer portal, Penn State has an experienced roster that’s pushing each other each day in practice.

The competitive nature around the Nittany Lion program has extended to the bonds they’re growing on and off the court, too.

Shrewsberry said he and his coaching staff have helped their team’s chemistry along, but a lot of that development has come from the players taking it upon themselves.

Now, the group has really started to build some “good” chemistry amid their daily competition in practice.

“Whether they're playing checkers, chess, horse — whatever it may be — they get after each other,” Shrewsberry said. “But then when practice is over, they love each other, too. And that's good to see.”

Succeeding in his first year as Penn State’s head coach won’t be an easy task for Shrewsberry, though, no matter how tight-knit his group has become so early on.

The Big Ten sent the most teams of any conference to the 2021 NCAA tournament with nine, and Shrewsberry and his players haven’t been shy about holding a tournament berth as a goal in 2021-22.

The conference is stacked top to bottom, but Shrewsberry knows as well as anyone what it takes to win after serving as an assistant at Purdue for four years in two separate stints.

“For me, I think coaching in this league kind of gives you perspective of what it takes to win this league,” Shrewsberry said.

Shrewsberry has plenty of experience with Big Ten basketball even outside of his coaching career, as he grew up in Indiana — what he labeled as the “heart of Big Ten country.”

He said he’s been watching Big Ten teams compete since he was in fifth or sixth grade, and the formula for success has been well imprinted in his mind.

“That blueprint’s kind of out there. People just do it each and every year, and who wins this league, they stick to that blueprint,” Shrewsberry said. “If i didn’t come in and try and do that, I’d be a fool.”

He mentioned programs like Michigan State, Wisconsin and Purdue as places where that blueprint has been on display for a long time.

The blue-collar, gritty brand of basketball those teams are accustomed to are exactly what Shrewsberry wants to see out of his group moving forward.

“It’s almost like having the answers to the test,” Shrewsberry said. “You already know what it takes to win, you know how you should play [and] you know what you should do.”

The excitement is building for this year’s Nittany Lions, as Shrewsberry said he’s had plenty of fans approach him around State College to say they’ve bought season tickets.

With a veteran roster coming together, a clear blueprint for success and the return of fans to the Bryce Jordan Center, Shrewsberry is raring to get his group going this season.

“I think we'll put out a product that they're going to be proud of [and] that they're going to be proud to root for,” Shrewsberry said. “We're going to play an exciting and tough brand of basketball."