How John Harrar led Penn State basketball to an upset of Michigan State: 'He's a warrior'

John Harrar bobbed his head and slapped hands as he sauntered through a line of congratulatory Penn State students Tuesday night, some of them bowing to salute the man they call the King of Delco.

Reaching a group of fans around midcourt, Harrar started throwing chest bumps and dishing out bearhugs like he’d just scored the game-winning touchdown inside Beaver Stadium on a Saturday afternoon.

This is who John Harrar is — unabashedly enthusiastic. And this was John Harrar’s win.

The fifth-year Penn State big man led the Nittany Lions to a 62-58 upset win over No. 19 Michigan State at the Bryce Jordan Center, scoring 16 points and collecting a career-high 16 rebounds.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I was talking to the guys and I was saying every year I’ve been here we’ve beat a ranked team at home. I was telling them let’s go get one tonight, I can’t leave this program until I get one this year.”

This was a win that embodied the Harrar ethos — a personality Penn State’s team as a whole has bought into as it looks to stay competitive in year one under head coach Micah Shrewsberry.

The Nittany Lions were tough. They were physical. They might not have been the most talented group on the floor but they were going to do enough work in the margins to ensure that didn’t much matter at the end of the night.

That’s the John Harrar formula. And with the face of the program leading the charge, Penn State came back from a 14-point deficit in the second half to secure only its 10th win over the Spartans ever.

“John’s a warrior,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s a warrior. He gives you everything he has.”

And the Spartans wanted no part of it.

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Harrar plucked away in the painted area on every single offensive possession in the 30 minutes he played Tuesday night. On the other end, to Tom Izzo’s chagrin, Michigan State’s bigs often opted for a comfortable place on the perimeter.

“We did such a poor job of handling it and he did a great job of rolling,” Izzo said. “My guys are popping, his guys are rolling. That was a difference in the game, I thought. There’s no question John Harrar was the difference in the game.

“He’s a Big Ten player. He’s the kind of guy you want to represent our league. He just keeps doing his job.”

Part of Harrar’s job on Tuesday was to win battles on the offensive glass, where he was hopelessly outnumbered as Penn State sent four players back to defend against a Spartan attack that loves to run.

Harrar pulled down six offensive rebounds anyway — because that’s what Harrar does.

Despite a considerable size disadvantage, the Nittany Lions outmuscled the Spartans on the offensive glass, grabbing 10 offensive boards to MSU’s eight. That led to 15 vital second-chance points that the Nittany Lions used to secure the win.

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“He was in there battling by himself,” Shrewsberry said. “We sent four guys back in transition. And John fought. We could do that because there wasn’t a fear of John not sprinting back on defense every single time. He was gonna go as hard as possible on the glass and run back as hard as he needs to.”

Barring a miraculous turnaround in the season’s final stretch, Penn State won’t be playing in the NCAA Tournament this season. Harrar, who entered the transfer portal this offseason, easily could have elected to spend his final year in a place where that outcome was far more likely.

He didn’t. He chose to come back and build with Shrewsberry, who says he’ll be airing clips of Harrar’s hustle for years to come, showing future Penn State players what it means to play as hard as possible.

Leading by one with 35 seconds remaining, Harrar gave Shrewsberry one final example for future lessons.

On the left block, Harrar tossed up a contested layup that rimmed out. He fought to grab his own rebound, then rose up again through contact for a three-point play.

Ballgame.

“We’re all following Coach Shrews,” Harrar said. “We’re following him, we’re showing up every day and just trying to fight with him.

“It means the world.”