Through Penn State’s first four games, the offense was carried in large part by two men.
Either Sam Sessoms and Seth Lundy was Penn State’s leading scorer in every game as the Lions started 3-1. Sessoms averaged 19.2 points a game in this stretch, and Lundy averaged 17.7. Collectively, the two combined for more than half of Penn State’s scoring.
In the team’s recent trip to Florida, things were different.
Jalen Pickett was Penn State’s high scorer against LSU Friday night. In Saturday’s win over Oregon State, Pickett again led the way. He scored 14 points in both games.
Against Oregon State, Penn State won despite only two points on five shots for Sessoms. Lundy scored below his average but still added 13 points.
Sessoms won’t have many two-point nights and is good for more than five shots almost always (he had taken double-digit shots in four of Penn State’s first five games, with his season-low being eight against UMass).
For coach Micah Shrewsberry, Sessoms finding ways to contribute when he wasn’t scoring (four rebounds, four assists) is a testament to how the transfer from Binghamton is growing.
“For Sam to still play when its not his night, I think that’s growth from him,” Shrewsberry said. “There’s games where he scored a lot, and there’s games where he’s tried to set other guys up. I think you saw tonight, Jalen Pickett was going, Dallion (Johnson) came in and gave us a boost, Myles (Dread) hit some big shots.”
Sometimes, when scorers aren’t scoring, they try everything possible to get the shots to start falling. Sometimes it works, but sometimes, the misses keep coming, and it hurts the team as a result. Shrewsberry gave Sessoms credit for “not forcing the issue.”
“He only took five shots,” Shrewsberry said. “There’s games where he’s taken double-figure shots easily. So he’s just playing, growing and maturing as a guard. He’s pushing us to go in the right direction. I think he’s played well– really well– to start the season.”
Sessoms and Lundy each average 15.3 points per game to lead the Lions.
