Micah Shrewsberry puts basketball into perspective following Michigan State tragedy

Micah Shrewsberry knows there’s a lot more to life than college basketball. And the shooting at Michigan State on Monday that left three dead and five more wounded was a tragic dose of that perspective.

Speaking to the media postgame, Shrewsberry reminded that as seriously as he and his assistants and players might take basketball, it’s a game at the end of the day. It matters, and they badly want to win and succeed, but there will always be bigger things.

“It’s one thing you worry about, as a dad, so just thinking about them, everybody in the whole East Lansing community and what they’re going through,” Shrewsberry said. “Like our guys, I told our guys, we get the benefit of — we get the benefit of playing a kids game, man. It’s fun. It’s really fun. It’s fun to compete. Like this league sucks to compete in, but it’s fun, what we’re doing. Yeah, adversity hit our team, we lost four games in a row. I told them that if losing four games in a row is the worst thing that happens to you, you have lived a blessed life.”

Along with reflecting on their fortunes of getting to play and coach a game each day, Shrewsberry also applauded his players and coaches for hanging with things through it all. Despite a four-game losing streak recently and a narrowing path to get to the NCAA Tournament, Penn State players are engaged and playing hard, Shrewsberry said.

Above all else, they’re present in the moment.

“But, this is basketball, this is what they care about. And this team, we’re living in the moment. And I thought that they did a great job responding every single time. Same thing with the staff, our staff has been great,” Shrewsberry said. “I probably haven’t been the easiest guy to kind of be around, the last couple weeks, but they keep coming back. They keep motivating our guys. They keep getting ready for the next game. They keep asking if I need something. Those guys have been special. So I just wanted to make sure I said something about those guys, as well, and what they’re doing. And I’m proud of our guys and proud of their effort.”