Penn State set for Sunday showdown with No. 1 Purdue

Micah Shrewsberry acknowledged the closed window for communication. Long holding that head coach Matt Painter, with whom Shrewsberry worked before landing the Penn State job, had been a trusted resource, Sunday’s matchup with the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers has temporarily paused their collegiality. 

Instead, facing off at 6 p.m. at the Palestra in Philadelphia (BTN), Shrewsberry and Painter will catch up in the moments leading into tip-off.

“I haven’t spoken with him. We’ve both been playing, and then we play twice, so it’ll be interesting,” Shrewsberry said this week. “We usually do communicate a lot. I enjoy just talking to him and getting a laugh out of him. So I’ll make sure I get out of the locker room pretty early, and when our guys come back to warm up, so I can spend some time chatting with him on the sideline before. 

“But also seeing the other guys. Elliott (Bloom) and Brandon Brantley, Terry Johnson. We all go back a long way. So, we haven’t communicated as much in the last couple of weeks over the phone, but it’ll be good to see those guys and say hi.”

The first meeting between Penn State and Purdue this season, the event also marks the third opportunity for Shrewsberry to notch a win against his former colleagues. 

in his debut with the Nittany Lions in 2021-22, Shrewsberry dropped a 74-67 decision at the Bryce Jordan Center. Then, returning to face Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, they also lost a tight battle, 69-61. 

Both teams are significantly reshaped since their March 2022 meeting. Led in scoring by Jaden Ivey, and Trevion Williams last January, Zach Edey has been the central presence this year. 

Now averaging 21.3 points and 13.2 rebounds, Edey has emerged as one of the most dominant players in college basketball. The trajectory for the 7-foot-4, 305-pound center hasn’t come as a surprise to Shrewsberry. Having worked directly with Edey previously, he noted habits and characteristics that differentiated the then-freshman from others. 

“He’s big, but he’s nasty; he doesn’t mind contact,” Shrewsberry said. “He actually likes contact, where you find some big guys that shy away from it a little bit.”

Also noting an insatiable work ethic from Edey, Shrewsberry said that he’s a big fan. But, he added, Penn State very much intends to limit his impact on the game. And, the Lions are likely to send the 74.1 percent free throw shooter to the line with relative frequency. 

“We’re gonna go after him,” said Shrewsberry. “I’m gonna yell at him from the sideline. We’re gonna foul him, we’re gonna get physical, we’re gonna play, and then after the game, we’ll be cool again. I just have that much respect for him.”

Penn State’s respect isn’t singularly focused on Edey coming into the game, though. 

Meeting with reporters on Thursday, transfer wing Andrew Funk insisted that the attention directed toward Edey helps to create opportunities for teammates who are also quite capable of impacting the game significantly. With guard Fletcher Loyer averaging 12.1 points, plus Braden Smith (9.4 ppg), Brandon Newman (7.7), and Caleb Furst (7.4) all routinely contributing to one of the nation’s most consistently dominant efforts on both ends of the floor (T-15 in scoring margin at +14.5 ppg), the Nittany Lions are not deluding themselves into believing containment of Edey will correlate directly to the game’s outcome.

“Going into Sunday with Zach Edey and Purdue, we’re going to have to take a lot of those things (from Michigan and Hunter Dickinson) and carry it over,” said Funk. “But, I think the one bigger thing is that they got a lot of good players around him as well that we’re going to have to focus on.”

Penn State is 2-0 in previous Big Ten games played at the Palestra. The program has never beaten a No. 1-ranked program in 12 previous tries.