Transfers, freshmen and holes to fill: Inside Penn State men’s basketball’s summer workouts
Micah Shrewsberry entered his first year as Penn State’s head coach with a roster full of players he barely knew — but a group that had played plenty of college basketball and didn’t have a single true freshman in it. Heading into year two, that has changed drastically.
Shrewsberry will now lead a team that still has some of that veteran talent, but will mix in five true freshmen set to compete for playing time immediately.
The hope for Penn State is those minutes on the court will lead to positive contributions in the short and long term.
For the time being, the group — which consists of Kanye Clary, Demetrius Lilley, Kebba Njie, Jameel Brown and Evan Mahaffey — is working on getting acclimated to the program.
“It’s hard for freshmen,” Shrewsberry said Tuesday prior to one of the team’s summer workouts. “I’m just throwing a lot of stuff at them. I don’t do a lot of explaining all the time. I still expect you to kind of know it, so their heads are spinning. But they’re doing a great job. The one thing about them, if you see them, they’re probably in a group of five walking around here together. They’re experiencing everything about Penn State, about Penn State basketball, together. So they’re helping each other kind of learn their way through it.”
It helps that the group is being shepherded by a core that has been with Shrewsberry for the past year. That includes seniors Jalen Pickett and Myles Dread, who were the team’s top two leading scorers in the 2021-2022 season.
Pickett and Dread have taken that ability to lead the team on the court and turned it into more off court leadership in order to help the large group of freshmen.
“Jalen Pickett has really taken on a huge role with leading these guys,” Shrewsberry said. “Same with Myles Dread. They’re more vocal in who they are and how they’re talking, how they’re communicating, letting those guys understand ‘this is how you do things.’”
Pickett in particular showed those leadership skills on the court last season. He was the team’s primary ball handler, frequently handling the offense and creating shots for himself and others.
He’s made the transition into off court leadership — partially taking over for departed senior John Harrar — in order to keep the culture in place that was established in Shrewsberry’s first season and make sure the freshmen know what comes with that.
“Losing John last year, just having multiple conversations with him about how I want to continue to keep the program growing and going in the right direction,” Pickett said. “... We’re all just trying to get everybody on the same page and have a good turnaround this summer.”
Inside the program
The Nittany Lions are in the midst of those summer workouts and one source pointed to several players standing out in those sessions. Pickett and Seth Lundy have made strides on the court in the summer to go with the enhanced leadership off the court.
“Pickett and Lundy have done a really good job,” the source told the Centre Daily Times. “Pick has been shooting the ball really well. Lundy has been doing the same and looks improved all the way around.”
The two returners will be important for Penn State this season, but there isn’t a bigger hole on the roster than the one left behind by Harrar at center.
Lilley and Njie could be asked to do something most freshmen centers are ready to do — play early in their careers. According to the source, both have already managed to impress in their short time working out with the team.
“The big guys are a little bit ahead of where we thought they would be,” the source told the CDT. “Kebba looks like a totally different human than he was five months ago. Demetrius just knows how to rebound, his hands are great, he can score, he’s super physical.”
Njie’s transformation in particular was notable during Tuesday’s open practice. He appeared much bigger and stronger than he did when he last visited during the season, with his weight listed at 235 pounds compared to the 205 pounds he was listed at as a recruit.
How new transfers are adjusting
While the five true freshmen make up the largest group coming in, there are also three transfers joining the roster this season. Camren Wynter, Andrew Funk and Mikey Henn have all joined Penn State for their final year of eligibility.
Wynter and Funk are making a major adjustment by becoming Nittany Lions on the floor — along with the normal changes that come with transferring colleges.
The two guards were the focal point of the offense at their previous schools but will now take a step back in that regard. The team tends to share touches rather than run exclusively through one player — which was the same adjustment Pickett made last year in his first season with the program.
“At first I was a little hesitant about it because at Siena I had the ball the majority of the game and I was just able to control everything,” Pickett said. “He was definitely focused on me picking my spots and taking my spots.”
The two newest players to make that transition have already begun the process to make the same change.
Shrewsberry said both are good enough basketball players to make the switch and play at a high level in their lone season with the Nittany Lions.
“It’s kind of the same way that Pickett was last year at this time,” he said. “Where he was so ball dominant at Siena that it took him a little bit of time to adjust to how we play. We move it. A bunch of guys touch it, a bunch of guys are sharing the basketball. I think Cam is adjusting in that way. ... He’s always been on the ball and now I’m asking him to do both. .... Andrew Funk is a basketball player. This dude just knows how to play. He makes other people better.”
Quick hitters
- Shrewsberry said the seating switch in the Bryce Jordan Center — with students being moved behind the teams’ benches — will benefit the program in the long haul and help create a more raucous home environment.
- The Penn State head coach said his team has focused primarily on offense this summer and wants to be able to pick up the pace on that end of the floor this season.
- Myles Dread does not have a definitive timeline for when he’ll return to contact action, but he’s currently participating in some non-contact portions of practice.
