Micah Shrewsberry reacts to 41-point performance by Jalen Pickett

On Tuesday, Penn State picked up a much-needed victory at home against Illinois. The final score of the contest was 93-81, with the Nittany Lions leading from wire to wire. A large part of Penn states offensive success was courtesy of the performance by senior guard Jalen Pickett. Pickett scored a game-high 41 jaw-dropping points on the night. And after the game, his head coach Micah Shrewsberry reacted to his 41-point performance.

“I wasn’t aware at all,” said Shrewsberry. “And you know he’s going, right? I never look at that scoreboard up top, and I never look at the box scores when they bring them at timeouts. I got the box score halftime — they handed me the stat sheet — and I’m like, ‘he’s got 24 points, Wow.’

“Then I don’t know what the crowds are cheering for at the end of the game; I have no clue. I look up, and I’m like, he’s got 40. That’s special, man. Sometimes when you’re going through it, you just need somebody special to have a special performance, and I think that’s what he did.”

Pickett was a flamethrower on the court against Illinois. The six-foot-four guard from Rochester, NY, shot an impressive 15-20 from the field, 5-9 from three, and was 6-6 from the charity stripe. Pickett also led the Nittany Lions in assist, tacking on eight dimes for good measure.

Illinois win helps improve Penn States tourney chances

With the victory, Penn State climbs to 15-11 and 6-9 in Big Ten conference play. Unfortunately, the Nittany Lions are not mentioned in most bracketologists’ field of 68 teams to take part in this year’s men’s NCAA tournament. But there is still time for them to make a solid push to end the season. Penn State has five more games remaining on their regular season docket and all of which could be considered winnable.

If the Nittany Lions can win out to end the season and have an impressive showing in the Big Ten tournament, they could punch their ticket to go dancing in March. And it will be even easier for Penn State to achieve if Pickett continues to put together impressive performances like his recent one against Illinois.