Hoops: Penn State's identity comes into focus as Lions take on Miami

Penn State turned in its best defensive performance of the season last time it took the court on Saturday, limiting Oregon State to 45 points on 31.4 percent shooting.

Micah Shrewsberry wanted more from his team.

“No disrespect to Oregon State or anything like that…but they shouldn’t have scored 40,” he said. “That’s where we let up. We thought the game was over with eight minutes left. They shouldn’t have scored 40 points on us.”

After some shaky defensive performances to start the season, Penn State’s showing at the Emerald Coast Classic last weekend produced signs of the defensive excellence Shrewsberry is striving for.

The Nittany Lions kept a high-flying LSU team to 58 points in regulation in an overtime loss Friday. The Tigers came into that matchup averaging over 85 points per game. KenPom currently rates them inside the nation’s top-30 in adjusted offensive efficiency.

“We’re holding people with that, but I’m never going to be satisfied in terms of how we play,” Shrewsberry said, his voice somewhat hoarse. “You hear my voice right now, it’s all from yelling about defense and what we’re not doing and how we need to be better at it.”

Shrewsberry demands a certain mentality from his players, especially on defense.

It’s why he fixated on the minor let-up Penn State endured against Oregon State in the closing stages of that game, with the outcome already determined.

“Once you start to build a mindset of how tough, and nasty, and gritty you need to be, you need to own that for 40 minutes a night,” he said. “I think we’re getting better. I think there’s still areas where it’s not perfect.”

Penn State achieved those defensive results by keeping its opponents out of transition. The Tigers thrive on the break, and the Nittany Lions forced them to play their slowest game of the season to this point, according to Sports Reference’s pace metric.

Oregon State found itself caught in the same quagmire. Penn State forced the Beavers to their lowest tempo of the season, too.

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Penn State ranks 347th out of 358 Division I programs in KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric through six games. Among power conference teams, only Texas and Virginia are playing slower.

Miami, who visits the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday at 9:15 p.m. for a Big Ten/ACC Challenge clash, ranks in the top third in the nation tempo-wise.

Will the Nittany Lions look to slow the Hurricanes down, too?

Penn State preps for the Canes

Miami enters this game sitting at 4-3 for the season, and coming off a 96-64 thrashing at the hands of No. 16 Alabama.

Veteran guard Kameron McGusty leads the Hurricanes with 17.6 points per game this season, followed closely by fellow guard Isaiah Wong with 15.6 points per contest.

Some of the Hurricanes’ early-season struggles can be attributed to a lack of efficiency from beyond the arc.

Miami is shooting just 27.1 percent from three, which ranks in the bottom 20 nationally. Conversely, the Hurricanes struggle to defend their own 3-point line. Miami’s opposition converts at a 42 percent clip.

The Nittany Lion staff will be plenty familiar with this Miami team and its tendencies. Associate head coach Adam Fisher spent eight years with the Hurricanes, including six as an assistant coach. He left to join Penn State’s staff this offseason.

“I think that there’s some benefit to that,” Shrewsberry said. “Adam [was] there for a long time and he knows the feel of what they want to do and how they want to do things.”

Shrewsberry said Fisher certainly has some nerves heading into this one. The head coach is no stranger to it, either.

When he left Butler for Purdue he played the Bulldogs the very next season. He’ll experience something similar when the Boilermakers come to town on January 8.

“They’re not fun games,” Shrewsberry said. “You want to put your best foot forward. [Fisher] knows a little bit about what they want to do and how they want to do things, situations that they’ve been in, how they handle those situations.”

PSU-Miami betting line

Penn State opened as a 5.5-point favorite over the Hurricanes on Tuesday night according to the Vegas Insider consensus.

That line has been bet down to three points as of Wednesday morning.

The point total opened at 138, but that mark has also fallen to 134.5 overnight.