Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 4 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M The top of the statistics page shows a clear pecking order. Among the Penn State players who are producing the most, the experience touted by head coach Micah Shrewsberry has come to fruition. Seniors Jalen Pickett, Seth Lundy, Andrew Funk, Camren Wynter and Myles Dread lead in scoring and minutes played. But, at 6-foot-6 or shorter, they leave a distinct hole in the lineup, and the team knows it. To fill that hole, the Nittany Lions have turned to true freshman Kebba Njie, a 6-10, 237-pound forward. Manning the five spot this season, Njie has had some strong performances, including a 12-point outing against Loyola-Mary- land in November, but he's also experi- enced his share of growing pains. "We're throwing him right into the fire," Funk said. "It's all about the learn- ing curve. They're freshmen. It's going to be a while, and there are going to be a lot of ups and downs. I remember my fresh- man year, I was way more down than up, and that's going to happen. "So, it's [a matter of] keeping his con- fidence up. He works his tail off in prac- tice. He gets his work in off the court. They're keeping his confidence up, and it's big, because he's going to play a big part for us going forward." As Penn State enters the final third of its regular-season schedule, here is a look at how the Nittany Lions' most frequent true freshman contributors have fared: Kebba Njie Starting against Nebraska on Jan. 21, Njie couldn't convert on an early look at the basket, grabbed 1 rebound and played all of five minutes before retreating to the bench. He didn't return to the game, making his afternoon against the Corn- huskers his shortest appearance since playing for just two minutes at Illinois on Dec. 10. Shrewsberry later acknowledged that his handling of Njie has been a balanc- ing act. "You've just got to love them up some- times, and sometimes you've got to crack the whip. It will be a little bit of both. Sometimes it's kid gloves. Sometimes it's Mike Tyson gloves. But some kind of gloves are happening with him," Shrews- berry said. "He'll be fine. We'll bring him back in, we'll watch the film with him, we'll show him where he can get better and where it needs to get better and keep growing. "He's going to have ups and downs. It's going to happen in this league, especially at the position that he's playing. People are giving him problems. He's going to be giving people the same exact problems [after he gains experience]. He's going to be bigger, he's going to be stronger and more athletic. He's going to be comfort- able. So, we'll constantly keep working with him." Starting every game since the re- sumption of Big Ten play on Jan. 1, Njie was averaging 14.5 minutes, 3.7 points and 3.4 rebounds heading into PSU's visit to Rutgers on Jan. 24. Evan Mahaffey Coming off the bench, the 6-6, 200-pound Mahaffey earned an ex- panded role for the Nittany Lions in January. But with the increase in minutes has come an increase in fouls. Mahaffey finished with four fouls apiece in games against Purdue and Indiana, then fouled out in just nine minutes of action against Nebraska. "He's got to get his hands off people. I want him to guard people, and then he's got to get his hands off people so he's not getting hand check calls," Shrewsberry said. "He'll be OK. He'll get a couple of offensive rebounds over the back, but I'll take those because he's being aggressive." Through 19 games, Mahaffey was averaging 11.1 minutes, 3.7 points and 1.9 rebounds. Kanye Clary When Penn State needs a jolt of of- fensive energy, Shrewsberry calls on Clary. Appearing in 14 of the Nittany Li- ons' first 19 games, the 5-11, 192-pound freshman has steadily become a more frequent presence. Against Nebraska, he played a sea- son-high 19 minutes, finishing with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. "Everybody on the team, coaches and players, they've all been helping me and telling me to stay engaged and take what we do in practice into the game. I've been trying to do that," Clary said. "Ar- eas to improve in are just being more vocal, talking to my teammates on the defensive end, just knowing who does what, and being more engaged." Clary has averaged 8.3 minutes and 2.6 points in his first season with the Nittany Lions. ■ Amid Growing Pains, Freshman Class Makes Key Contributions NAT E BAU E R | NAT E . B AU E R @ O N 3 . C O M Forward Kebba Njie started 12 of Penn State's first 19 games, averaging 3.7 points and 3.4 rebounds. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE