Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1454229
M A R C H 2 0 2 2 5 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M D A V I D E C K E R T DAV I D E C K E R T 9 8 @ G M A I L . C O M T he list of players who have been locked down by Penn State's Seth Lundy during the 2021-22 season looks a lot like a Big Ten all-star team. Wisconsin's Johnny Davis. Michigan's Caleb Houstan. Michigan State's Gabe Brown. Ohio State's EJ Liddell. Purdue's Jaden Ivey. Rutgers' Ron Harper Jr. The name on the back of the jersey matters little. Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry can glue Lundy to the op- position's top-scoring wing on any given night and feel confident that the junior forward will limit their production. "He's been really good," Shrewsberry said. "He's been at his best against the best players. Some people shy away from those challenges. He's really embraced it." No performance exemplified the type of defensive standout Lundy has become more than his showing against Davis, a contender for national player-of-the- year honors. Through 23 contests, Davis was averag- ing 20.7 points per game for Wisconsin on 44 percent shooting. Lundy held him to just four points, marking the only time Davis has failed to reach double figures all season. He went 2 of 13 from the floor. Davis didn't shoot any free throws, either, in what was undoubtedly his worst show- ing of the year. There are other performances to point to as well. Lundy limited Harper to seven points — less than half his season average — in Penn State's 66-49 victory over Rut- gers on Jan. 11. Houstan, a double-digit scorer for Michigan and a five-star recruit in last year's cycle, was held to six points. This is not a role Shrewsberry and the Penn State staff asked Lundy to embrace specifically, but it's a mindset that has grown as the season has gone on. "We didn't go into this season like, 'Hey Seth, you need to be this dominant stop- per for us,'" Shrewsberry said. "He's kind of grown into it. He believes in himself. He believes in his ability, and he believes in following the game plan, and things are working out for him." For Lundy, this is the way forward. He's always been a lightning rod offensively, capable of lighting up the scoreboard to help the Nittany Lions win a game they otherwise might not. Last season, he scored 20-plus points four times and added two 30-point games to lead Penn State to wins at Maryland and against Vir- ginia Commonwealth. But there are plenty of capable scor- ers across college basketball. In becom- MEN'S BASKETBALL Fast Forward Seth Lundy takes his career to the next level by excelling on both ends of the court Lundy has developed into a tenacious defender, and he also was leading the Nittany Lions with a 13.1-point scoring aver- age through 22 games. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL