Sept. 3, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Sept. 3 2008 - The Nittany Lion basketball team will open the Big Ten season at home on ESPN2, one of at least two conference game appearances on the network, and will have a minimum of 15 conference games televised on the Big Ten Network it was announced Wednesday when the Big Ten released the schedule, tip times and television arrangements for the 2008-09 conference basketball season.
Penn State will start the conference season on ESPN2 vs. Northwestern at noon on Dec. 31 in the Bryce Jordan Center as part of a slate of games on ESPN and ESPN2 on New Year's Eve. Penn State will also appear on ESPN on Feb. 24 when they take on Ohio State in Columbus in a 7:00 p.m. tip. Penn State also has one other previously announced ESPN2 appearance vs. Georgia Tech (Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.) as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The Nittany Lions' Big Ten schedule is highlighted by four weekend home dates. Penn State will take on Iowa (Sat., Jan. 24 at 6:00 p.m.), Wisconsin (Sun., Feb. 8 at 3:00 p.m.), Minnesota (Sat. Feb. 14 at 1:30 p.m.) and Indiana (Sat., Feb. 28 at 6:00 p.m.) on weekend dates in the Jordan Center, all on the Big Ten Network. Penn State will have single plays vs. Northwestern (at home) and Ohio State (on the road) on the year and play every other team twice in the 18-game Big Ten slate. Penn State will receive bye dates in late January, prior to heading to Michigan State on Feb. 1 (12:00 p.m. on BTN), and in late February, prior to its ESPN "Super Tuesday" match-up at Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions' nine Big Ten home dates also include January match-ups with Purdue (Tue., Jan. 6 at 9:00 p.m.), Michigan State (Wed., Jan 14 at 6:30 p.m.) and Michigan (Tue., Jan. 20 at 9:00 p.m.) and an early March date with Illinois. The Illinois game is a television wild card game that will be played on either March 3, 4 or 5 on either the Big Ten Network or an ESPN outlet. Final arrangements for the game will be announced in February.
The Big Ten Tournament returns to Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., March 12-15, and will have television coverage by ESPN and the Big Ten Network in the first two rounds with the semifinals and finals televised on CBS.
Penn State officially gets the 2008-09 season underway on Fri., Nov. 14, as the Nittany Lions take on William and Mary the night before the Penn State football team takes on Indiana in Beaver Stadium. Non-conference tip times and television arrangements will be announced by the conference in the coming weeks. A complete Nittany Lion basketball schedule is located on the men's basketball home page at GoPSUsports.com.
Coming off its most conference wins (7) and best Big Ten finish (7th) since 2001, Penn State returns seven players that started 12 or more games in 2007-08, its top two scorers and four of its top five rebounders from last season. Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) and Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) led the Lions in scoring and shared team MVP honors last season. Battle, a sophomore point-guard who posted 10.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg and 3.1 apg last season, also led the Lions in assists and steals and was among the top five rebounders. Cornley, who averaged 12.1 ppg and 6.0 rpg last season, earned third-team All-Big Ten honors despite missing six games due to injury. He is among five returning seniors that also include guard Danny Morrissey (Cleveland, Ohio), the team's leading three-point shooter in three seasons, and Stanley Pringle (Virginia Beach, Va.), a starter in 12 games who shot better than 40 percent from the arc last year.