Tag: Jalanni White

Big first half powers Penn State past St. Francis Brooklyn in Emerald Coast Classic

Sam Sessoms and John Harrar had a big night as Penn State rebounded against St. Francis Brooklyn in the Emerald Coast Classic

Penn State men’s basketball returned to the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday night, and it resulted in a rebound win for the Nittany Lions. Penn State got off to a good start against visiting St. Francis Brooklyn and used that effort to improve to 2-1 with a 74-59 victory over the Terriers in the first game of the Emerald Coast Classic.

Sam Sessoms scored a game-high 26 points and big man John Harrar recorded a double-double, his second of the season. Penn State trailed 6-2 early on in the game, but then they went on a run to take a 14-11 lead at the under-12 media timeout. Penn State never trailed for the rest of the game. Sessoms closed out the first half scoring the final six points of the half to boost Penn state’s halftime lead to 40-27, giving Penn state momentum entering halftime.

Sessoms and Harrar also connected on one of the plays of the game, an alley-oop to a wide-open Harrar for the slam.

Head coach Micah Shrewsberry threw out a slightly new look to the starting lineup on Thursday night. Senior Jalanni White made his way into the starting lineup for his first career start. White added eight points and seven rebounds. That included this sequence that showed the determination of White to finish the play.

Penn State is now 2-0 at home early on in the season, and it was good to see the program bounce back after a rough outing earlier in the week at UMass. Shrewsberry said the blowout loss to the Minutemen was a good learning experience for a roster that is blending a handful of returning vets with transfers in Shrewsberry’s first season as a head coach. It’s still very early in the season and it may be too much to ask to draw any real conclusions following a home win against a team that has yet to win a game, but it’s OK to take any grain of optimism whenever possible

The Nittany Lions have some good tests upcoming in the coming weeks that should tell more about where this team is early in the Shrewsberry era.

Penn State will host one more game in the Emerald Coast Classic when they host Cornell on Monday evening. Penn State and Cornell are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. ET tip in the Bryce Jordan Center. Then, on Black Friday (Nov. 26), the Nittany Lions will be in Florida to take on the LSU Tigers in the third game of the Emerald Coast Classic. Penn State will play either Oregon State or Wake Forest the following day as the Emerald Coast Classic comes to a close.

You can view the full Penn State men’s basketball schedule HERE.

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Penn State Nittany Lions 2021-22 Men’s Basketball Roster

Full rundown of the Penn State men’s basketball roster for the 2021-22 season

Penn State’s men’s basketball team offers a blend of veteran Nittany Lions who have gone through three different head coaches in the past two years and a blend of incoming transfer players to help fill the roster after an eventful offseason in Happy Valley. Head coach Micah Shrewsberry wasted little time forming his first coaching staff and roster for his debut season as a head coach, and his Nittany Lions face a challenging big Ten slate and some interesting non-conference matchups.

Below is the full roster and some quick info about each player appearing on it for the Nittany Lions for the 2021-22 season. This roster page will be updated moving forward through the season with links to highlights, features, photo galleries, and more.

For Penn State’s men’s basketball schedule for the 2021-22 season, click HERE.

Penn State continues building basketball roster through transfer portal

Micah Shrewsberry continues to build his first roster in Happy Valley through college basketball’s transfer portal.

As we know, the transfer portal has been the big storyline for both football and basketball as players can choose to go to another school to finish their education and keep their playing career going.

On Friday, Penn State men’s basketball would add to their roster as they picked up grad transfer Jalanni White from Canisius through the transfer portal.

“We are excited that Jalanni decided to join our family,” Penn State men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry said in a released statement. “He is an experienced player who will fit in nicely with our current group. His toughness, skill, length and athleticism will help us become a better team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.”

Jalanni White played in 98 games and made 50 starts. In his time at Canisius, White averaged 5.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Penn State now has 11 players on scholarship, with two spots left to fill if possible before the start of the first basketball season under Shrewsberry. Shrewsberry has been busy tapping into the transfer portal to fill spots on his first roster in Happy Valley, so do not be surprised if he pulls another player or two out of the portal before the first tipoff of the 2021-22 season.

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