Penn State men’s basketball problems and solutions
Since the cancellation of the 2019–20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Penn State men’s basketball team has a combined record of 20–23 the past two seasons.
This season, the team sits at 9–9 after a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, 90–86, on Monday, Jan. 31. After Las Vegas Sportsbook projections of finishing 12th, the team is 10th in the Big Ten.
Even with the struggling season, Penn State Sports Analytics club member and basketball fan Trevor Carney(freshman-finance) says the team is in a good position.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Carney said. “It’s the coach’s first year and his roster is completely decimated to the point where his bench is not close to Big Ten caliber. They’re doing very well for being overmatched and mostly have avoided any blowouts.”
Head coach Micah Shrewsberry is in his first year with the team. Before coming to Penn State, Shrewsberry was an assistant for Purdue from 2019–2021.
Shrewsberry runs a dribble handoff offense. A dribble handoff is when the ball handler(the person with the ball) dribbles towards a teammate and hands the ball to them.
According to ESPN team rankings, the offense has scored 66.4 points per game, ranking them at 265 out of 358 Division-I schools. However, the team defense has only allowed 66.6 points a game, ranking them at #95.
“The defense has been amazing,” Sports Analytic club member and basketball fan Keenan Dipasquale(sophomore-undergraduate studies) said. “We just don’t have the type of centers to run the DHO style offense Shrewsberry wants. Just gotta get his guys in.”
Before the season started, Shrewsberry signed the 16th-ranked recruiting class in the nation.
Kebba Nije, center from Centerville, OH, is the first ESPN top-100 recruit signing the men’s basketball team has had since Tony Carr in 2016. Nije was ranked #99 on the list.
Despite the strong recruiting class, Sports Analytics club member and basketball fan Ryan Liebscher says that the 2022–23 season will still be a rebuilding year.
“Honestly, next year is somewhat of a rebuilding year as well. The departures of Pickett, Dread, Harrar, Jalanni, Lee, Cornwall and Sessoms will hurt,” Liebscher said. “But I think with another competitive recruiting class in 2023, the 2023 season should be the measuring stick for progress.”
Positive COVID-19 tests in the program forced the team to cancel a three-game stretch between Dec. 18–29. The team went 22 days between Dec. 11-Jan. 2 without playing a game.
Positive COVID-19 tests from the Minnesota men’s basketball program forced a Jan. 19 match to be postponed to February 12.
“It gave them more time to gel as a team,” Sports Analytics club member and basketball fan Jake Powell(sophomore-data sciences) said about the cancellations/postponements. “The team didn’t have much playing time together, so I think it helped.”
This season, with the Big Ten COVID-19 restrictions lifted that allows fans to be in attendance, attendance has picked up to as high as 9,128 for a December 5 game against Ohio State according to ESPN.
During the 2019–20 basketball season, according to ESPN, the highest attendance for a game was 15,261 on February 8, 2020, against Minnesota.
Even with the dip in attendance, the fan support has been consistent this season according to Sports analytics club member and basketball fan Kyle Kroboth(junior-statistics).
“The peak of fan support was higher during the 2019–20 season, but the fan support this season has been much more consistent.” Kroboth said.
