Penn State seeks lessons learned from limited Seth Lundy showing

The numbers were glaring for Penn State junior forward Seth Lundy Monday night.

Maybe more accurately, the lack of numbers was glaring in the Nittany Lions’ 67-61 loss at Maryland. For Penn State’s second-leading scorer, Lundy’s 6 points on a pair of 3-point makes left the visitors with a crucial missing ingredient.

In a season-long struggle, particularly on the road, points were again lacking. 

“(Maryland) switched a lot of stuff, but then they’re normally a team that helps. They overdo their help,” Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry told Steve Jones and Dick Jerardi after the game. “They stayed at home, they didn’t help off our guys, they stayed at home, tried to play two-on-two with the pick and roll, which forced our guards to try and drive and make plays with the basketball. And they didn’t help at all.”

Penn State’s shooter conundrum

The impact wasn’t limited to Lundy.

Equally flummoxed by Maryland’s defensive approach were two of Penn State’s other shooters, Myles Dread and Dallion Johnson. Dread connected on just 2 of 4 shots, also 3-pointers, while Johnson connected on one of his two shots from beyond-the-arc.

The subsequent fallout for Penn State in the loss was a forced change in approach. While Jalen Pickett and Sam Sessoms are Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in shots attempted for the Nittany Lions this season, theirs were particularly high volume nights against the Terrapins. Pickett’s 18 attempts generated just 13 points, while Sessoms connected on 7 of 14 shots to lead with 17 points. The final piece, big man John Harrar, filled out the equation with a mismatch-seeking 14 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor.

“Usually with the pick and roll, there are three other guys not involved in that and those guys are usually helping at some point in time,” Shrewsberry said. “That’s a lot of the shots that Seth gets and a lot of the shots that Myles gets, Dallion gets. They didn’t get those because of how they played defensively, so we had to take what the defense was giving us and trying to attack it that right way. 

“But kudos to them in terms of how they did it. We got to finish better. Those guys took a boatload of the shots just because of how they played.”

With four regular-season games remaining for Penn State, the reality of Lundy’s performance wasn’t limited to Maryland.

Connecting on just 1 of 4 shots from the floor in a blowout win over Minnesota last Thursday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center, Lundy’s 9 combined points marked his lowest two-game scoring output at any point this season. According to Shrewsberry, while the outcomes were the same, the cause behind them was for distinctly different reasons. 

Minnesota differentiator

Citing injury concerns for Lundy in the win over the Gophers, Shrewsberry said he took advantage of the opportunity to get his key performer rest. 

“I think each game is different. In the Minnesota game, he was a little banged up. He didn’t play as much, so I took him out a lot in those stretches,” Shrewsberry said. “I just didn’t want him to be out, get tight, and then have to come back in. I’m putting him in harm’s way if I do that. So he sat for longer stretches. The game was in hand, so I wasn’t concerned about it.”

More concerned with the blueprint Maryland set for other teams in taking away Lundy’s off-the-ball shooting, Shrewsberry said his attention has been directed toward rectifying the issue. 

Set to host Northwestern Friday at the BJC (7 p.m., FS1), Penn State will look to get Lundy more involved. 

“Maryland played us differently than people have been playing throughout the season. So they showed us something different. We weren’t able to adjust or adapt to it, to be able to get him more shots,” Shrewsberry said. “I think that’s something that I’ve thought about here in the last couple of days. (I’ve thought) about different ways, if somebody does that again, what can I go to to get him more touches? (How can I) get him more shots, get him more opportunities? But hats off to Maryland for playing in a different way.”

Penn State (11-13 overall, 6-10 B1G) currently holds the ninth spot in the conference standings.