Can Penn State hoops avoid distraction as goals near? Winning formula holds key

The buzz is palpable surrounding the Penn State men’s basketball program as it enters the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. Arriving with five wins in their final six games of the regular season, the Nittany Lions transformed a long shot at the NCAA Tournament into a realistic opportunity to achieve their preseason goals. 

But, set to face 7-seeded Illinois on Thursday evening at the United Center, the congratulatory noise of the past three weeks has taken on a different shape. Aiming to knock off the Illini for a third time in three chances this season, Penn State can assure itself of an at-large bid with a win or head into Sunday wondering what its fate might be.

Meeting with the media on Monday, fresh off the thrilling 65-64 win over No. 21 Maryland that propelled Penn State into the conference tournament maintaining its momentum, head coach Micah Shrewsberry painted the reality of the proposition at hand for his Nittany Lions.

“It’s hard to not hear noise about what’s going on. You can’t,” he said. “As much as you want to shut off the internet or the TV, you still got to go to class or a grocery store, or wherever you’re going, and somebody’s gonna say something about something. You can’t shut everything completely off.”

Penn State finds winning formula

Led by seven seniors, only one of whom has ever reached the NCAA Tournament, Penn State has managed to do precisely that late this season, however. 

Guided by on-court development that prompted Shrewsberry to assert the group is playing its best basketball of the season going into its most critical stretch, the Nittany Lions are aiming to continue those gains. Among them, the defensive freefall in the KenPom that accompanied a four-game losing streak at the start of February leveled out, Penn State holding its last five opponents to 71 or fewer points. 

Further, while the Nittany Lions have remained among the most efficient and prolific 3-point shooting teams in the country, ranked fourth in 3-pointers per game (10.8), 10th in attempts (27.7), and 11th in percentage nationally (38.9 percent), they’ve recently improved subtly at producing points around the basket and getting to the free throw line. 

Leaders setting right tone

Wanting to hold onto the same team persona throughout the season, the late-season stretch of success is something Shrewsberry attributed to a unification of purpose and how to achieve it throughout the roster. 

“I think we’ve cleaned up some things. We’ve tried to become a better defensive team to try and take away some of the deficiencies, some of the things that have hurt us on that end of the court. We tried to simplify what we’re doing on offense, and get everybody on the same page going into every single game,” Shrewsberry said. “It probably starts with the leadership, starting with our captains and their message to everybody else. Everyone is just kind of falling in line with that. 

“That’s the beauty of having your best players being your hardest workers, your best players being guys that kind of do everything right. And when they see that, when they take that to a whole other level, everybody else kind of falls in line with that.”

Next steps

Recognizing that the soon-approaching end of college hoops careers has also played a part, an easy-to-identify component likely contributing to Camren Wynter’s late-game heroics (earning him Big Ten Player of the Week honors), or Myles Dread’s sparking performance against Maryland, the “chance to end this” on favorable terms becomes especially noticeable. 

Concurrent to an embrace of the next task, most immediately being Thursday’s matchup with Illinois, Penn State is determined to find success the same way it has each of the past three weeks.

“I think they’ve done a good job of really just focusing on ‘This is what’s most important, is winning the game.’ That’s it,” Shrewsberry said. “Let’s play our best basketball, let’s focus on what we need to do in our preparation defensively, and how we need to attack the next team. Let’s try and win the game. You win, and everything takes care of itself.”