Penn State turns focus inward ahead of crucial Big Ten test

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry set the stage intentionally. Addressing reporters Monday ahead of his Nittany Lions’ meeting with Michigan State on Wednesday (6:30 p.m., BTN), his plea for fan support put context to the obvious.

This one is important. 

Off to a 6-2 start this season with quality wins against Butler, Furman, and Colorado State, Penn State’s two losses to Virginia Tech and Clemson have left the program without a win against a higher-tier opponent. Now set to face the Spartans, followed by a Saturday trip to Illinois, Big Ten play is beginning, Michigan State is coming off back-to-back losses, and Shrewsberry is determined to make life as difficult as possible on the Spartans during their visit to the BJC.

“I’ve gone to some of these places. I’ve been in some of these buzzsaws. I can’t look ahead, but where we’re gonna go Saturday, Illinois is gonna be sold out. It’s gonna be like an absolute nightmare to play in,” Shrewsberry said. “People shouldn’t come here and it is a break. They shouldn’t come here and be like, ‘Man, this is great. I’m glad we’re going to Penn State, because it’s not the same atmosphere, it’s not the same environment.’ Make it as loud and as rowdy as possible.”

Urging Penn State fans on behalf of his players, Shrewsberry’s rally for support has an end game. Seeing an opportunity out of the Nittany Lions 2022-23 season, the head coach considers a strong home environment among the factors that can get the group over the top.

“Help these guys. Let’s accomplish something together. Let’s get to the NCAA Tournament together,” Shrewsberry said. “But let’s not wait until February to try and rally our team to the Tournament. Why can’t we do it in December?”

Challenge at hand

Wednesday evening, the Nittany Lions will find out just how close, or far away, they are to those aims. In the meantime, there are elements for improvement that Shrewsberry and the Nittany Lions have been working to implement since dropping the 101-94 double-overtime decision at Clemson last Tuesday. 

Granted a reprieve by the schedule-makers, Penn State focused on itself after taking a day off after the Clemson game. Pointing toward a natural “slippage” of foundational tenets to the Nittany Lions play, Shrewsberry said the areas needed to be solidified with an intentional focus directed their way.

“There are things that you emphasize early in the year that go by the wayside because you don’t have as much time to practice those things,” Shrewsberry said. “But we had time to practice them, so I’m expecting us to be sharp on Wednesday when we play.

“We spent a lot of time on ourselves, and if we’re sharp where we need to be, if we’re taking things from practice to the game, hopefully, we’re in a good place.”

Next steps

Specifically, Shrewsberry said his concerns were related to Penn State’s offense. Effectively acknowledging a dulling of the operation, thanks in part to the opponent’s approach, the Nittany Lions spent the past week working to resume their sharpness.

“People guard you in different ways, so you have to prepare for that. But the basics of what we do have to be better. We lost track of that,” Shrewsberry said. “We should be better for it. Not giving each other space to play, not giving each other the chance to play, not cutting at the same speed that we should be cutting at. We got to get back to that.”

Meanwhile, the core elements of Michigan State’s attack remain in place.

Shifting attention from internal to external, the Spartans are a program with a core identity Shrewsberry is committed to being prepared to play.

“If you don’t handle transition defense and offensive rebounding, you have no shot at beating Michigan State. Forever. I told our guys that, number one, you gotta handle these things, you gotta do these things,” Shrewsberry said. “Playing Virginia Tech, playing Clemson, those games were physical. We needed this break to get back healthy where we needed to be and to get rested.”