Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry turns to Nick Saban for lesson in success

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry had two core messages to convey Wednesday.

Joining host Steve Jones for his weekly radio show, the Nittany Lions’ leader was happy to celebrate his team’s 62-58 upset over No. 19 Michigan State Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Recovering from a 14-point second-half deficit, the win marked the program’s first win against a ranked opponent under his direction.

For that, Shrewsberry said, he was pleased and proud.

“I’m excited for our guys and proud of our guys for what they did, how they played, how they responded,” Shrewsberry said. “Now we need to build off of it because we got a quick turnaround to play again tomorrow afternoon.”

And like that, Penn State’s reality came into focus.

Though limited in scope, acknowledging the roller-coaster nature of Penn State’s season, Shrewsberry had no trouble turning to a legend in coaching for direction when addressing his team. 

Micah Shrewsberry’s lesson in success

“I talked to them about Nick Saban a little bit. I just asked them, ‘Hey, do you guys know what Nick Saban’s term is when his team is playing well?’ They didn’t know, but I was like, ‘It’s rat poison.’ That’s who we don’t want to be,” Shrewsberry said. “We had a great win. I told them, celebrate this win and then tomorrow we need to get back to work, I said that last night. 

“But, everywhere you go, everybody’s talking about it. They go to class, they go to the grocery store, they come wherever it is, and they’re talking about that. It was great, it happened. And we have to move on and remember the things that helped us win.”

Needing to make up a game against Minnesota originally set for Jan. 19 postponed due to a COVID-19 pause in the Gopher program, the time for celebration was limited. Just 40-odd hours after leaving the BJC with a winning feeling, the Nittany Lions will face an opponent they’d lost to five days prior in Minneapolis, 76-70. 

Worse, that loss was the Lions’ sixth in seven games and featured a performance counter to Penn State’s calling card this season. 

“I gave them pure stats. Minnesota was our fourth-worst defensive effort of the season,” Shrewsberry said. “It didn’t feel that way because the score was close, but… it was real close to the other three. And I know how I felt when we left Indiana. I know how I felt when we left UMass, when we left Michigan State the first time. Minnesota was right there with them. 

“We were just scoring the ball. We were playing horse with them. If we don’t score, then the same thing happened. So just a little humble pie, because we weren’t very good last Saturday. So let’s forget about Michigan State. Let’s move on and let’s get ready to play this game tomorrow.”

Penn State’s next steps

Improving to 5-9 in Big Ten with the win, 10-12 overall for the 2021-22 season, Penn State now stands at 86th in the NCAA NET Rankings. 

And in Minnesota, Maryland (Feb. 21), Northwestern (Feb. 25), and Nebraska (Feb. 27), Penn State closes the month playing four of five games at home. Maybe more important, all are against opponents fighting in the same bottom tier as Penn State in the Big Ten standings. 

With an opportunity to win games in the final six of the regular season before heading into the conference tournament, Shrewsberry insisted the high of a one-off upset shouldn’t be, and isn’t, the standard the Nittany Lions are looking to meet. 

“We got a bunch of home games here in a row, and we want to keep going,” Shrewsberry said. “Do what we’ve been doing. Don’t forget what got us here in terms of what helped us win, but we want to get going, keep getting better. 

“There are games left to play. There are home games left to play. We got some games where they’re important to us. We need to win these games.”

Penn State and Minnesota will tip at 4 p.m. Thursday. The game is set to be broadcast by the BTN.