The Penn State men's basketball team will play Big 10 and national powerhouse Michigan State in a home game at the Palestra this season on Jan. 7, 2017.
The announcement comes after the program announced its non-conference schedule Monday. The Nittany Lions are 22-36 all time at the famous Philadelphia arena, which houses Penn's home court. But Penn State is 12-8 there against teams other than Penn.
The program has strong ties to Philadelphia as the Nittany Lions' roster features six players from the Philadelphia area and four alone who went to Center City's Roman Catholic High School, a local power. Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers is from Newtown Square, Delaware County.
Three of the four Roman Catholic grads are freshmen — Nazeer Bostick, Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens. Jan. 7's game will be their first college game at the Palestra, but they all have played there before as the Philadelphia Catholic League has held numerous playoff games at the Palestra in recent years. Shep Garner, the other Roman grad, is a junior. The other Philadelphia-area natives on the team are junior Julian Moore (Germantown Academy) and redshirt freshman Mike Watkins (Phelps School).
Penn State played at the Palestra last year and came away with a 63-57 win over Drexel. However, Penn State was not the home team in that game.
“We cannot wait to take the Big Ten into Philadelphia this season,” Chambers said in a press release. “It is always an incredible experience to play in the Palestra and we are honored to do it this time as the home team. We have so many ties to the city as a program and we look forward to connecting with the alumni and fans in the area."