UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa (WTAJ) — Penn State basketball fans see a 5-point loss (without leading scorer Seth Lundy) to no. 16 Ohio State as a win. The sentiment is never shared by players and coaches.
“Our quote all last week was ‘good is the enemy of great,’ and I don’t think we handled the little bit of success we’ve had very well. I don’t think our discipline was very good yesterday,” said coach Micah Shrewsberry Monday.
Shrewsberry was critical of the Nittany Lions for sending Ohio State to the free throw line 36-times. The Buckeyes’ +13 differential played a role in the loss which dropped Penn State to 3-4 in Big Ten play. That’s the bad news.
The good news those losses come against really good teams: no. 16 Ohio State (2x) no. 14 Michigan State, and no. 4 Purdue. And wins over Indiana, Northwestern and Rutgers pushed Penn State to 51st in RPI (ratings power index.)
Penn State is allowing just 65 points-per-game, second in the Big Ten. Penn State has come a long way since that 25-point road loss to UMASS in November. Shrewsberry said he always knew it would take time for Penn State to come together, and believes this team is still a work in progress.
“I expect us to play in the NCAA Tournament, win games, stacks wins on top of each other, go on winning streaks. Don’t be happy with being close to somebody else and now ‘we’ve arrived.’ We haven’t arrived. We haven’t done anything. We’re below .500 in this league and until we get where we want to be, I’ll never be satisfied.”
Penn State plays twice this week, first hosting Minnesota Wednesday, before traveling to Iowa Saturday.
Shrewsberry didn’t shed much light on whether Lundy would be available, labeling him as day-to-day.