How Penn State men’s basketball played its best all-around game against Minnesota
Micah Shrewsberry saw one of the worst performances his team had all season on defense Saturday night. The Penn State men’s basketball team gave up 76 points to a team that had only won two conference games all season prior to the matchup in the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Five days later, he and his team flipped the script on their opponents.
The Nittany Lions put together one of their best performances all season in a 67-46 blowout victory over the Gophers at the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday afternoon.
“Yeah I definitely think this was our best game of the year,” senior guard Jalen Pickett said. “Just with the way we guarded, because it was like 20 points under from the last game (against Minnesota). So I think we did a great job on the defensive end.”
“I think it was, if not the most complete, it was definitely one of them, for sure,” senior Myles Dread added.
The two teams were both primed for a letdown. They had played five days prior, then had matchups with other opponents Tuesday before meeting again Thursday.
The lack of time made it difficult to make adjustments for either head coach. There was only one day between this game and their last and little time to install a different game plan if they wanted their players to have time to recover.
Shrewsberry, who spent five seasons in the NBA, compared it to the many playoff matchups he had as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics.
“I was a part of 10 playoff series in five years,” he said following the win. “I told our guys this is similar to a playoff series. ... Between game one and two, you don’t have much time to tweak things. So as a coach you spend that time preparing for a team, before you start the series, and then if you lose that first game you think about your game plan. I told our guys our game plan was good. Now we need to do it harder and we need to do it better.”
The time between games benefited Penn State, with a veteran team that knew what it wanted to do and how it wanted to do it.
More than anyone, it seemed to benefit Pickett who was in complete control of his team and its offense from the opening tip. He carved up the Gophers defense, picking and choosing his matchups by calling for screens from teammates guarded by defenders he wanted to attack, forcing them to switch on to him.
He cruised from there, backing them down when they were smaller, beating them off the dribble if they were less nimble and knocking down shots from in close and afar. The senior guard made 9 of his 14 attempts from the field, including 2 or 4 3-pointers. More importantly, he only played 31:15, a far cry from what he’d been doing.
Pickett was averaging over 40 minutes per game, thanks to an overtime game in the middle, over his last five games. Shrewsberry said the break is something he thinks will benefit his offensive catalyst.
“I got him 30 seconds of rest last game against Michigan State. I think he felt that, that’s probably why he played great,” Shrewsberry said with a smile. “... It was really important, I thought. Get him a little bit of a break. ... We kind of utilized everybody and allowed guys to get a little bit more rest that we need.”
The break should help the veteran, which is important for the Nittany Lions, because he’s going to be vital to their success the rest of the season. Pickett isn’t just the best creator Penn State has, he’s also one of very few currently on the roster.
He and fellow senior guard Sam Sessoms are the two primary options the team has to create offense for themselves and others. Thursday night they were able to do so and help create the easy victory. Pickett got where he wanted to be and finished, while Sessoms continually made tight-window passes and gave easy buckets to senior big men Jalanni White and John Harrar.
Sessoms’ success led to six assists and a lighter workload for Pickett. The entire court seemed to be open for both players, but it was Pickett’s performance that could carry more weight in the long run. While he’s played well this season, he hadn’t of late, and this could be the game that allows him to take another step back to being the creator that helped the Lions get on a roll in early January.
“He got to his spots,” Shrewsberry said. “He got to his spots and scored. He got to his spots and he hit the big rolling. ... He kind of did everything. He was really good. He’d been struggling a little bit so for him to break out and have this game was key for us.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 7:53 PM.
