Why Micah Shrewsberry Hopes You Turned off the Win Over Minnesota

The Lions have won two straight by relying on their theme of "gritty, not pretty."

Penn State routed Minnesota 67-46 in a Thursday matinee at the Bryce Jordan Center, its second game in three days. Yes, the Lions were a little worn but didn't really show it, shooting 53.8 percent from the field and holding the Gophers to 30 fewer points than in their meeting five days ago in Minneapolis.

After the game, head coach Micah Shrewsberry delivered one of the great answers regarding his strategy and expectations. First, Shrewsberry repeated his dry-erase board mantra ("Gritty, not pretty"). Then he doubled down with a provocative statement.

"I hope there were a lot of people watching [on television] and I hope there were a lot of people that turned it off," Shrewsberry said. "Like, man, I can't watch this.' But that's the kind of style we want to play. We know how we defend and we're going to make you earn everything."

(Check out Shrewsberry's full comments above.)

The Nittany Lions (11-12) have internalized Shrewsberry's style, directing their strengths (and attempting to limit their weaknesses) within his deliberately defensive approach. It hasn't always worked, as the Lions lost six of seven before beating Michigan State on Tuesday. "Gritty, not pretty," forward John Harrar, who had 16 points and 16 rebounds against the Spartans, reiterated after that game.

Still, it was a home win over a ranked opponent, the kind of result that could inflate a team's confidence. Shrewsberry wouldn't have that. So before Thursday's game, he "gave them the Nick Saban rat-poison line."

Five days before, Shrewsberry said, Penn State had played its fourth-worst defensive game of the season in a 76-70 loss at Minnesota. Since the Lions are in no position yet to take any moment for granted, Shrewsberry sought to keep his team's focus buried in its grittiness Thursday.

The result? Penn State followed what Shrewberry called its best defensive effort of the year against Michigan State by frustrating Minnesota into shooting 32 percent. Meanwhile, the Lions made 50 percent of their 3-pointers, and Jalen Pickett scored 20 on 9-for-14 shooting.

"After the Michigan State win, I gave them the Nick Saban rat-poison line," Shrewsberry said. "It's like you're walking around class, walking around campus, walking around your apartment, dorm wherever you are, everybody is telling you how great you are. But just last Saturday, we went to Minnesota and played our fourth-worst defensive game of the season [in a 76-70 loss]. And hats off to them. They played great offensively. We were terrible defensively.

"I told [the players], 'Think about how you felt when you left UMass [following an 81-56 loss in November]. Think about how you felt when you left Indiana [a 74-57 loss], how you felt when you left Michigan State [an 80-64 loss].'

"That game in Minnesota defensively was right there with those. We just scored the ball, so it didn't feel as bad because the game was close. But it was the same defensive effort. Yet they came back and we played one of our best defensive games of the year [Tuesday against Michigan State]."

Granted, the Lions still didn't take many free throws against Minnesota (going 4-for-6), which is something Shrewsberry has addressed. But these back-to-back wins, Penn State's first such stretch since early January, offered hope that the team can fight through frustrating moments of shooting, officiating, whatever, and still win games.

The Lions finish February with games against Maryland, Northwestern and Nebraska, teams with a combined Big Ten record of 9-34. Shrewsberry said he doesn't pay attention to his team's overall record but does watch the conference mark (6-9).

If the Lions can continue stacking Big Ten wins, get around .500 and steal a game in the conference tournament, maybe they draw some postseason attention.

In the meantime, they'll remain gritty.

"We’re beating teams in our league, which is really important," Shrewsberry said. "If you beat Michigan State, you beat Minnesota, you feel good about those wins. I felt good about how we played. ... Even when we don’t play our best basketball, we’re in games. I feel good about how we’re progressing as the season has gone on."

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