Three takeaways from Penn State basketball's win over Wagner

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry offered a warning on Monday when he addressed the media ahead of Wednesday’s game against Wagner.

Bringing back five starters from an NCAA Tournament team a year ago, the Seahawks were a group to be respected, he said. The Nittany Lions weren’t likely to blow them out of the gym.

Well, they did. Penn State defeated Wagner, 74-54, on Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State moves to 5-4 on the season with the win.

Shrewsberry said he felt as though the Nittany Lions respected their opponent with their preparation, and that mindset played out on the court.

“Coach Shrews always says the tougher team sets the rules, and that’s what we did,” guard Sam Sessoms said.

Penn State offense comes to life in big second half

Shrewsberry said Penn State’s second-half offensive showing was the best the Nittany Lions played this season.

Penn State posted 42 second-half points despite taking its foot off the gas to some extent late.

It shot 53.8 percent from the field and 5-12 from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes as well.

“We took really long segments of practice Monday and Tuesday and then a long segment in shootaround today, just strictly focused on our offense, simplifying what we do, getting everybody on the same page, and cutting at a high rate,” Shrewsberry said. “I thought there was a lot of carryover.”

Wagner used a zone look in the first half that flummoxed the Nittany Lions to some extent. Sessoms said Shrewsberry drew up something to combat that zone in the locker room at halftime. Once the solution worked, the Seahawks abandoned it.

Sessoms came off the bench to help lead the way for the Nittany Lions offensively alongside fellow guard Jalen Pickett.

They each posted 16 points in the game, shooting over 50 percent from the floor. Sessoms got to the rim at will in the second half, and Pickett orchestrated the offense well all game long.

Pickett dished out four assists on the night, including the 500th of his collegiate career.

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Turnover bug bites Lions again, but this time they have an answer

Shrewsberry has said previously that his goal is to keep Penn State under 10 turnovers in each game.

That nearly went out the window in the first half.

Penn State turned the ball over 17 times on Wednesday evening, leading to 17 Wagner points.

Penn State came into the game giving the ball away on over 20 percent of its possessions, and did nothing to alleviate those concerns, struggling at times to deal with Wagner’s press.

“I just felt like we were being sloppy,” forward Seth Lundy said. “I feel like nobody turns us over, we turn ourselves over.”

However, on this occasion, it didn’t doom Penn State’s cause. The Nittany Lions did well to keep Wagner off the offensive glass, and forced 15 turnovers of their own.

Penn State entered the game among the bottom 10 teams in the country when it comes to forcing turnovers. It’s not something Shrewsberry is focused on, though. He feels the steals his team got tonight were merely coincidental. The Nittany Lions won’t play aggressive defense in search of takeaways, he said.

“It helped us tonight, because we turned the ball over too many times again,” he said. “Our [takeaways] were us being in position…We were in the right spots.”

Jalanni White rebounds to give Lions solid minutes

Jalanni White didn’t have his best game against Ohio State on Sunday.

He seemed awkward on the offensive end of the floor and he wasn’t especially effective on the defensive end.

That changed Wednesday night.

White picked up eight points in 25 minutes of action, adding five rebounds, a block and two steals.

He was key defensively as well, proving a true obstacle for the Seahawks in the paint.

“Jalanni’s definitely an active player, especially defensively,” Lundy said. “If one of the guards gets blown by, he always makes the guard shoot a contested jump shot.”

Shrewsberry said postgame that he thinks White is becoming more and more comfortable in his role and is finding his niche.

He and Sessoms are starting to build some chemistry, Shrewsberry added. They combined for a pair of alley-oop dunks Wednesday, and Shrewsberry said he’s looking to get them on the floor at the same time.

“Jalanni’s a threat rolling, but he’s also a vertical threat,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s a threat above the rim. Sometimes you can’t guard him.

“He gets in there and he competes. He blocks shots. He’s long. He’s active. He gets offensive rebounds.”