Dec. 4, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., DEC. 4, 2007 - The Nittany Lion basketball team thrived on the support of 4,000 students last week in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge victory over Virginia Tech in the Bryce Jordan Center. One of the largest, loudest and most enthusiastic student sections in Jordan Center history sent tremors through the stands and was a constantly bouncing white whirlwind before a national television audience as it spurred Penn State to an exciting 66-61 victory on ESPN2.
Two bus loads of students traveled to Philadelphia for Penn State's match-up with St. Joseph's in the Palestra and were a loud and visible presence on the Hawks home floor.
This Saturday, Penn State looks forward to similar support when it takes on Big East foe Seton Hall at 8:00 p.m. in the Jordan Center on the Big Ten Network.
"The students were unbelievable tonight," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said after the Virginia Tech win. "I think our student crowd is as good as I've seen it here. I think, as the guys mentioned, we fed off our student crowd. I know we had a lot of kids that surrounded the court and they had to sit upstairs because there was no room. That's just tremendous, and I would like to thank all of the students. That was tremendous and a great atmosphere.
"Amazing!" exclaimed freshman Talor Battle after the game.
"Beautiful!" said fellow freshman Jeff Brooks when asked about the crowd.
"That was probably one of the best in four years that we've had here," Mike Walker said. "A night like this is what we want to get every night."
Nittany Nation, let's do it again Saturday!