Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry press conference highlights

Penn State basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry has a challenging on his hands.

Coming off a third loss in as many tries Saturday at Minnesota, 76-70, the Nittany Lions next welcome Michigan State to the Bryce Jordan Center. At 18-6, the Spartans are once again among the Big Ten’s best teams, while Penn State has struggled of late.

Among those challenges, the Nittany Lions have failed to close out late-game situations with wins possible in each.

What needs to change to get back onto a winning track? Shrewsberry discussed that topic and more in his weekly press conference Monday afternoon.

Below, check out the video and a partial transcript of his comments to reporters.

Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry press conference video

Opening statement:

“The quick turnaround, it’s a part of it. I think everybody kind of goes through these stretches in the Big Ten schedule. For us, having to play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday is something that’s unique when you get to this point. But it’s something here in February, you try and balance keeping your team sharp, but keeping them fresh. And this will be a challenge for us to do, but we need to be both going into this stretch of games. So that’s our opportunity.

“We’re going to get back out on the practice court. We had a little bit of stuff that we could do yesterday, but get back out there today and finish our preparations for Michigan State because they pose a great challenge. They’re a well-coached team. We’ll be ready to play, we’ll be fresh, and we need to execute and stay disciplined on the defensive end to do what we need to do to try and win this game tomorrow.”

On changing offensive approach due to officiating issues:

“I don’t know. I don’t think we can continue to change some things. Some people guard us in certain ways. You have to take what the defense gives you. And we’re going to continue to attack. That’s what we’ve done. That’s where we’ve had success. We gotta continue to play that way. If you don’t attack, then you don’t get any drive and kicks. Guys on the perimeter just standing there looking at each other. So we’ll continue to play our style.

“We got to be better at how we do things. We got to do it for longer stretches. And now, it’s almost like, when we were in the NBA, you talk about fourth quarter defense all the time. Good offensive players, can you cut and move through physicality? During an NBA game, the best scorers, the best players that play off the ball. Because it’s easy to do it for three quarters. Those guys play 48 minutes, so you don’t always see the best defense at the start of the game. But in the fourth quarter, if you’re a dude, if your name is at the top of that scouting report, you got to play through physicality. You got to cut, you gotta move, you gotta do it at a high rate of speed, and you got to get open. And that’s what our guys need to do.

“That’s what we work on, that’s what we’re going to continue to get better at, and we need to do it for 40 minutes. Continue to cut, continue to play at a higher rate and get the angles and the advantages that we need to. So that’s what we’ll keep working on, that’s what we’ll keep getting better at, and that’ll allow us to get the angles we need to score at the rim.”

Reducing the impact of turnovers:

“It’s been an issue for us, our turnovers all year. We’ve been fairly consistent turning the ball over. I get a guy that does analytics for us, it hurts your feelings to look at that every single game because he doesn’t hold back with his adjectives. Your turnover percentage was this game, and that is very poor. Like, I understand. thank you. I know it’s very poor. But it’s just an area where we have to be better. It’s not anything that the defense is doing. We’re hurting ourselves. And Penn State can’t beat Penn State. Penn State’s gotta beat Minnesota, Penn State’s gotta beat Michigan State. Penn State can’t beat Penn State, and right now, that’s what we’re doing to ourselves. We just can’t have them.

“As much as we try to, we focus on the small fundamental details in practice of catching the ball with two hands, passing the ball with the eyes. If you’re not looking at me, I shouldn’t throw it to you. We talked about in the Minnesota game, you can’t outlet the ball without looking because Payton Willis kind of hangs around in the back court. He’s gonna look for steals. We did all those things. We did all those things. But we’ll keep working, we’ll keep getting better, and sometimes you walk in like we’re having camp at the start of practice. But we need to get to the point where Penn State’s not beating Penn State. And if we want to become a good team, we have to eliminate those.”

On expecting officiating issues at Penn State:

“No. And I don’t think anybody has a Penn State bias. I don’t think these referees go in like, I hate blue. I ain’t calling nothing for them. How we play is different than other people. Take Purdue, for example. They have two dominant post players, and then they have another guard that attacks the rim at a high rate. So they’re going to draw fouls based on that and how they play. They’re going to throw the ball in the post a lot. Kofi at Illinois. They’re going to throw the ball in the post a lot. We don’t throw the ball in the post a lot to John. We play a different style than some other people play. So things that might not be important throughout the game for other people, it doesn’t really matter. But it’s really important to us.

“It’s not like Penn State has played a traditional style for 20 years. We’re completely different than how they’ve played in the past. It’s just a matter of maybe people taking time to adjust to what we’re trying to do, or maybe it takes me saying something or talking about it so people see it and understand what really affects us and what doesn’t affect us. That’s the only thing that I see.

“I don’t know. I was pretty frustrated at the moment. Obviously, you could probably tell that. But at the end of the day, also, hat’s off to Minnesota. They beat us. And we have to be better. I don’t want to sit here and be like sour grapes. We got beat about Michigan. We should have won the game and we got beat. Wisconsin, we had opportunities and we got beat. I’m not crying and complaining because we got beat. We have to be better as well. 

“But there’s just an expectation and I think everybody being at their best and knowing what we’re trying to do, knowing how we’re trying to attack and other things like that. I don’t know. I guess I just rambled around what you just said. But I don’t feel any kind of bias from the league. Now, if it happens 10 years from now and I’m still talking about it, then yeah, maybe there is. But I don’t feel that way. I just feel like we’re different in how we play, and what’s important to us might not be important to other teams, but that’s why referees get paid the big bucks.”

On Greg Lee’s injury status:

“Greg’s still kind of day to day. Justin’s been updating me each day on his prognosis. We just list him as day to day based on how he feels and what he’s able to do. You don’t want to put him in a bad spot. If you talk to Greg, Greg was ready to play two weeks ago. Like, I know I’m not hurt yet but I’m ready to play. You gotta do what’s best for him as well.

“I know he is anxious, anxious, anxious to get back. But he’s gotta be back where he’s able to help us. He was starting to play well. He’s a little upset that he got injured while he was playing well.

“I don’t know. I’ll see what he can do today. I have to talk to Justin about it. But hopefully he can do something today, and fingers crossed, I don’t know that. But we’ll wait and see what happens tomorrow. And if he’s not ready to go tomorrow, then I’ll ask him again on Wednesday and see what he says. Fingers crossed, he could be back for us soon, but I don’t know when that is. It’s not a season-ending injury or anything. he’s getting better, he’s moving better, but I don’t have an answer for how long he’s going to be out or when he’ll be available for us.”