Penn State Nittany Lions basketball
| Penn State Nittany Lions basketball | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| University | Pennsylvania State University | ||||||||
| First season | 1896–97; 130 years ago | ||||||||
| Athletic director | Pat Kraft | ||||||||
| Head coach | Mike Rhoades 3rd season, 44–52 (.458) | ||||||||
| Location | University Park, Pennsylvania | ||||||||
| Arena | Bryce Jordan Center (capacity: 15,261) | ||||||||
| NCAA division | Division I | ||||||||
| Conference | Big Ten | ||||||||
| Nickname | Nittany Lions | ||||||||
| Colors | Blue and white | ||||||||
| Student section | Legion of Blue | ||||||||
| All-time record | 1,589–1,294 (.551) | ||||||||
| NCAA tournament record | 10–12 (.455) | ||||||||
| NCAA Division I tournament Final Four | |||||||||
| 1954 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| NIT champions | |||||||||
| 2009, 2018 | |||||||||
| Conference tournament champions | |||||||||
| A-10: 1991 | |||||||||
| Conference division champions | |||||||||
| ECBL West: 1977 | |||||||||
| Uniforms | |||||||||
| |||||||||
The Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from Rec Hall during the 1995–96 season. Their student cheering section is known as the Legion of Blue.
The team played its first season of basketball in 1897, finishing with a 1–1 record after playing Bucknell twice. They lost the first game 4–24, and won the second 10–7. The team went without a formal head coach until Burke Hermann in 1916.
The program has ten NCAA tournament appearances with its best finish coming in 1954, reaching the Final Four. Its most recent appearance was in 2023, when the team beat Texas A&M in the first round. The program also has 11 appearances in the National Invitation Tournament, with the most recent being in 2018, when they beat Utah to win the NIT championship. They also won the NIT championship in 2009.