The Penn State men’s basketball team will tip off its 114th season tonight as they take on Penn at 7:30 in the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lions, coming off a NIT Championship season, will battle the Penn Quakers after a dominating exhibition opener performance last Friday against Slippery Rock. Penn State decisively won the contest 82-51.
This season Penn State looks to gain more recognition in the Big Ten among top programs such as Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan. Last year’s NIT champs are thirsty for a chance to represent Penn State in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
At the helm for Penn State will be 2009 Big Ten Coach of the Year, Ed DeChellis. In his sixth season as head coach, DeChellis recently signed a contract extension that will have him remain the Nittany Lions’ basketball coach through the 2013-2014 season. The extension is part of a response to the program’s recent accomplishments due to the team and DeChellis’s positive strides.
First Team All-Big Ten guard Talor Battle, with the help of junior forwards D.J. Jackson and Andrew Jones, return in hopes of leading the Nittany Lions to success after going 27-11 last season.
Battle, who was named to the 2009-2010 Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List, is coming off a summer in which helped lead the United States to a bronze medal in the World University Games. Penn State’s junior guard also led the U.S. team in scoring and three-point shooting during the competition.
But this season, with the loss of several players, the Nittany Lions look to new faces as well as returners to step up and fill voids. Freshman newcomer Sasa Borovnjak of Serbia joins the Nittany Lions and hopes to replace the inside-scoring threat that Jamelle Cornley once fulfilled.
Adding to the mix and hoping to expand their roles within the team will be returning sophomore guard Chris Babb and junior forward Andrew Ott.
Other notable players on the rise for the Nittany Lions include freshmen Tim Frazier, Billy Oliver, and Jermaine Marshall.
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