‘Gritty, not pretty’ the culture inside Penn State men’s basketball ahead of 2022-23 season
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - “Gritty, not pretty.”
The mantra started last year when coach Micah Shrewsberry took over for his first campaign, and it has been instilled in the program’s bloodline.
A huge part of the culture was set by former forward John Harrar, who graduated last season.
“We got a bunch of guys that were here, and I wanted that to carry over in terms of how hard John worked,” Shrewsberry said. “The kind of standards he set for what we do in practice, how we prepare what we do off the court.”
The Wallingford, Pennsylvania, native spent five years with the Nittany Lions and finished as one of the top players in program history. He logged the most games played in blue and white history with 146, finished second with a 59.6 field goal percentage and is one of six players with 800 career points and rebounds.
In his final year with the Nittany Lions, Harrar averaged 10.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game and was one of two players in the Big Ten to average a double-double.
Harrar was not the quickest, tallest or most athletic, but it was the work he put in that made him so impactful.
“I think John's established that with what he did, and I think other people saw the success and you can have,” Shrewsberry said. “He wasn't the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, but you maximize his abilities to make himself a good player.”
The void left behind by Harrar is irreplaceable, but assistant coach Aki Collins has seen a group, rather than a singular player, step up in his absence.
“Last year, we had John [Harrar] as the unquestioned leader of the team. This year, we have a bunch of guys that can lead,” Collins said. “It doesn't matter what classification you are, speak up and make sure we are doing things the right way, whether it be on the court or off the court.”
While Harrar is gone, his same values of hard work have transcended onto veteran players and have passed to the newcomers within the program.
“We're doing treatment after single practice,” Shrewsberry said. “When we finished practice, every guy stays out there on the court, and gets shots up and works on this game. It's a culture of hard work.”
Putting in the maximum effort was a point of emphasis in the offseason, and it was something the team lacked in 2021.
The extra focus on the little things is what could elevate the blue and white’s play in the second year of Shrewsberry’s tenure.
Despite Harrar graduating, the Nittany Lions retained a key leader in Myles Dread, who decided to run it back for another season in Happy Valley.
Dread mentioned he’s focused on the little details that might be overlooked by most.
“Coach [Shrewsberry] gave us a quote a long time ago,” Dread said. “When you consider the consequences of not doing the little things, you realize that there are no little things.”
Football is known as a “game of inches,” and it holds the value for basketball. The Nittany Lions lost 11 games by 10 points or less, three of which were by one possession.
“It really reigns true for a lot of games that we lost last year,” Dread said. “We kind of slept and didn’t really pay attention to the little things the way we needed to.”
This past year, Penn State was not the flashiest team and did not have the same amount of athletes as other teams, but it didn’t stop until the buzzer sounded and made life tough for its opponents.
While there is more talent on this year’s team, junior forward Caleb Dorsey does not see that gritty mentality leaving.
“I feel like this year, everyone is just trying to make a commitment to playing as hard as they can,” Dorsey said. “Getting on the floor for loose balls, going after rebounds, boxing out, and I think everyone is buying into that.”
While the effort was there in 2021, it didn’t always translate into success.
Last season, Penn State struggled offensively, averaging 64.6 points per game, which was 318th in the country but prided itself on its defense, holding its opponent to 65 per game, good for 49th overall.
Turning to 2022, the expectation is for the offense to be better, and Shrewsberry noted, “the offense is ahead of the defense” throughout the offseason.
However, the gritty tenacity is forever ingrained in the blue and white’s blood and was noticed by the newcomers.
For Bucknell transfer Andrew Funk, it was the culture around the team that has made it an enjoyable and seamless transition to come in and work every day, despite how monotonous practice can be in the offseason.
“The way we compete, and the way we play hard, and how unselfish we are,” Funk said. “It’s really just a fun group to be around, and I think that makes it a lot easier culture-wise.”
The Warrington, Pennsylvania native averaged 17.6 points per game for the Bison and switched courses to Happy Valley because of his connection with the coaches and team.
With a new group of players, including eight new faces, five freshmen and three transfers, the gritty, not pretty mentality has allowed the team to gel and gear up for the campaign.
“We all get along, we all like each other, we all trust each other,” Funk said. “That stuff translates onto the court, and it makes it really exciting to come in every day, so I think that’s one of the things that motivates us every day, is to continue to get better.”
Matt Scalzo is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email matt.scalzo8@gmail.com.