Blue White Illustrated

September 2021

Penn State Sports Magazine

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4 6 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I n his first full media availability since being announced as Penn State's new men's basketball head coach in April, Micah Shrewsberry had a clarification to make. De sc r i b i n g h i s " b l u n t h o n e s ty " as both a strength and a weakness, Shrewsberry spent roughly half an hour on Aug. 2 assessing the state of the pro- gram. He said he was encouraged by the progress he had seen from the group, which is led by returning seniors John Harrar (forward), Myles Dread and Sam Sessoms (guards), and junior forward Seth Lundy, and has been boosted by key additions through the transfer por- tal. Shrewsberry said the eight-week summer developmental period was use- ful but also acknowledged that there's more to learn, more to clean up and more to complete. "We're getting there, and I feel good about the progress that we made this summer and where we're going as a pro- gram," he said. "I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm fired up. … We're inching closer and closer." The question, of course, is just what the Nittany Lions are inching toward. Coming off a season in which they lost their head coach five weeks before the opener, then went on to produce an 11-14 overall record with a 7-12 mark against Big Ten competition, the Nit- tany Lions are something of an un- known, even to Shrewsberry. Not that he's complaining. "That's the fun part of it for me," he said. "I would love to see us play some- body else right now to see how it trans- lates. We'll get a chance [soon] to play a lot more, to really see how they're pick- ing up what we're teaching, and maybe I'll have a better answer for you later this fall." Arriving at Penn State this spring for his first head coaching gig after spend- ing the past two seasons as associate head coach on Matt Painter's staff at Purdue, Shrewsberry did have some familiarity with the personnel he was inheriting. He had twice seen the Nit- tany Lions in person last season, and he also saw them repeatedly on film as he scouted other Big Ten games. But Shrewsberry said he didn't want to bring a lot of preconceptions to the CHEMISTRY LESSONS Micah Shrewsberry uses summer developmental sessions to shape an overhauled roster N AT E B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M MEN'S BASKETBALL Shrewsberry said he's been pleased with the progress he's seen since arriving at Penn State from Purdue, where he spent the pre- vious two seasons as associate head coach. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS

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