Micah Shrewsberry heaps praise on Jalen Pickett after near triple-double: 'That's the impact that he makes'

One more assist in a 77-68 home win over Quinnipiac on Dec. 22 and Penn State forward Jalen Pickett would’ve had a triple-double as a nice early Christmas present. Still, 21 points, nine assists and 12 rebounds was enough to have his head coach, Micah Shrewsberry, showering the praise.

Speaking with the Big Ten Network after the win, Shrewsberry talked about Pickett’s versatility and how it makes him so valuable. He quipped that what felt from the bench like a not-so-great performance nearly became a triple-double.

“You love to have him. He can make so many things happen,” Shrewsberry said. “He can, you can look at the game and watch the game and he could be having a game that’s struggling — like we feel like he’s struggling because we see him play so well. And then you look at the box and he almost has a triple-double. That’s the impact that he makes. He’s a winner. I love having him on our team.”

Pickett has been without question the engine driving what has been a highly successful non-conference slate for Penn State so far. Pickett entered Thursday averaging 16.2 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game and 7.6 assists — all of which will tick up after the win.

Behind Pickett — who spent his first three seasons at Siena before transferring to Penn State prior to last season — the Nittany Lions are 9-3 with one more non-conference game before tipping off Big Ten play.

Despite the success, Shrewsberry is going to keep his team hard at work, but only after a bit of well-earned holiday rest.

“First, we’re going to get out of here. We’re going to go home. We’re going to celebrate the holidays with our families,” Shrewsberry said. “And this is a hard time for college basketball teams. And you gotta keep your focus during this time, after finals before you go home. Getting these wins is really important. So, when we come back we gotta work on a few things, figure out how people are trying to guard us, how they’re trying to take away things. Work on that to get better and then continue to be sharp, defensively, going in to our last game after Christmas and then going in to the Big Ten.”