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Penn State Men’s Basketball Beats Youngstown State 75-59 in Season Opener

There is a massive graphic of Micah Shrewsberry above the concession stands on the concourse of the Bryce Jordan Center.

Where the ones of Jerry Dunn, Ed DeChellis and Pat Chambers have ended up is anyone’s guess, perhaps next to a statue somewhere.

Wednesday night was many things – functionally it was the first game of Shrewsberry’s tenure – a methodical 75-59 thumping of Youngstown State in a game that was never really a game. Fittingly it comes almost 10 years to day since Chambers’ debut at the Bryce Jordan Center, a 70-55 win over Hartford en route to a 12-20 season. Beyond that, a decade-long climb to where Penn State is today.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Shrewsberry said, almost certainly headed towards a better night of rest this evening.

Not many things illustrate the difference in starting points for each era quite like the roster Shrewsberry fielded, the Nittany Lions starting four Big Ten seasoned players and Jalen Pickett, one of the better players available in the transfer portal this offseason. The rest of a hodgepodge of experienced transfers with years of basketball under their collective belt.

Above the starting five was another graphic on the scoreboard, this one not of Shrewsberry but rather advertising Penn State’s newly signed recruiting class which grades out as the best in the program’s history. Some of this is a product of volume – five players is larger than most hauls. Nevertheless, whatever momentum Shrewsberry builds in 2021, it appears set to be carried into 2022.

On the court Penn State was the better team from the tip of the ball, a fact that made the game feel like more of a formality even has Youngstown State hung around in the first half. Sam Sessoms was smooth with 17 points and eight assists. Seth Lundy was effective from range scoring 23 while hauling down six rebounds.

Big man John Harrar was his usual self, a 16 point, 14 rebound effort that furthered an ever growing resume as one of the program’s hardest working big men.

By the half Penn State found itself ahead by nine, and even as Youngstown State looked to push to make things a close game in the second half, that was never to be. Penn State made 11 of its last 12 baskets while Youngstown State made just two of its last 12 over the final 6:29 of regulation.

The Nittany Lions will be tested in the coming weeks and months – for all of the new around the Jordan Center the unavoidable truth remains – the Big Ten is no easier under Shrewsberry than it was for any of his predecessors.

In many ways it’s what made a Wednesday night in State College so familiar. The Nittany Lions are new, flashy, hopeful and full of optimism, but life will get no easier from here. Nothing about this program’s journey has changed, just the names trying to make it. For all the new, things are the same way they have always been.

And yet with better players, perhaps better coaches and just a little bit of the momentum that comes from change, maybe things won’t always been the way they’ve always been.

So check back in a few years to see what graphics adorn the wall above the chicken finger baskets. And what additions to the rafters have been made high above the court.

“I’m proud of what we did and I’m happy for our guys,” said Shrewsberry. “I want to really thank the students, all the students that came out, and all the fans. There were times where we needed to dig in and gets stops, and I think that they helped us in that way. They propelled us in that way, and that’s something that we need each and every night. I said it the other night – gritty not pretty, and that’s who we want to be and I thought we were that tonight. I’m excited about the first one and I’m ready to get back to work for the next one.”