Generating extra looks, Nittany Lions determined to maximize chances
Before the television broadcast begins, while the Nittany Lions warm-up, home or away, Penn State senior forward John Harrar can be found in a familiar spot.
Just as he often is once the clock starts, Harrar positions himself under the basket for a purpose. Rather than putting up shots beyond his range, Harrar collects rebounds with intent.
“As everybody else is out there shooting in warm-up drills, watch what John does,” Penn State interim head coach Jim Ferry said. “John is there and he's working on angles. He works on just getting the guys' misses and putting them back. He's not out there to shoot threes. He’s just running around chasing the ball offensive rebounding, which I think is helping his knack to go chase the ball.”
That knack has been particularly pronounced for Harrar this season.
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Through 16 games of conference competition, Harrar is third in the Big Ten with a 9.0 rebounds per game average. Maybe more important, Harrar has been particularly effective on the offensive end of the floor, collecting 4.1 offensive rebounds per game to lead the league in the category.
Describing Harrar’s proclivity for offensive rebounding as a product of “soul, effort, toughness, and aggressiveness,” Ferry said that the program’s philosophy toward earning extra shots and possessions has been undeniably boosted by the senior’s output this season.
“I think offensive rebounding, a lot of it is effort, but some of it is just some of these guys just have a knack to be offensive rebounders,” Ferry said. “The thing about John is... we needed to offensive rebound better, so like he's done all year, he's taken that on himself.”
On a team without a go-to scorer close to the basket, Ferry explained, that element has been especially important to the Nittany Lions this season.
Along with leading in Big Ten play, Harrar’s 3.85 offensive rebounds for the season as a whole ranks ninth nationally and first among all power conference individuals. The result has helped Penn State take a league-high 62.1 field goal attempts per outing, a necessary component given the program’s 12th-ranked 39.9 percent shooting from the floor this season.
Without a Mike Watkins or Lamar Stevens this season, the bulk of Penn State’s scoring coming farther from the basket from Myreon Jones, Izaiah Brockington, Seth Lundy, Sam Sessoms, and Myles Dread, only Harrar’s 58 of 104 shooting for the season (55.8 percent) tops a 44 percent threshold. A hesitant scoring option for the Nittany Lions, that Harrar’s 104 FGA is the lowest among Penn State’s players getting significant minutes has left Ferry to concentrate on adding looks.
“The one thing that's been concerning for me this year a little bit is, we haven't been turning turnovers into the amount of points that we should be,” Ferry said. “I was working on this over the summer, pace and tempo were important. How do we get to the free-throw line? How do we get layups, because we don't have a post-up guy?
“Offensive rebounding has always been a big philosophy of mine to give yourself second-chance points, and we're one of the best in the league in offensive rebounding and turnovers. So there are your opportunities to get more possessions to score more points.”
Hosting Purdue Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center (7 p.m., FS1), the Nittany Lions will have another opportunity to build on their outstanding turnover production this season. Ranked 92nd nationally in turnovers forced (tops in the Big Ten at 14.55 per game), the Nittany Lions will see a Boilermakers’ club ranked 11th in the league in turnovers per game at 12.7.
Determined to translate those forced turnovers into points, an area that has been lacking in many of Penn State’s league losses this season, Ferry noted just how important that improvement would be to the program’s opportunities at success.
“We keep working on it in drills. We have to turn those into productive points. The goal is to turn at least 70-75 percent of the outnumbered situations have to turn into positive results, and we just haven't been,” he said. “Some of the decisions have been poor, not finishing at the rim. It makes such a huge difference. We just got to keep plugging away and keep working on it, because we're going to turn people over, we're going to get out in transition.
“It's frustrating. For me, it's something that gets me because we work on it all the time. ‘Come on, we got to be better at this.’ We got to just limit our turnovers, and to me, it's just simplified. You gotta be simple. Make this simple play. We don't need to do anything heroic. Just a simple play and a simple extra pass.”
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