Penn State Basketball: Nittany Lions Headed To Vegas For Early Season Tournament

Penn State men’s basketball team will be heading out west this fall for an early season tournament.

The location on this occasion will be Las Vegas.

The Nittany Lions are among eight teams in the 2015 Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic to be held December 22 and 23 at the Orleans Arena, tournament organizers announced Thursday.

The 2015 field also includes: Colorado, SMU, Kent State, Canisius, Louisiana Monroe, Nicholls State and Hampton. 

Penn State will play four games in the Classic – the first two in University Park and the final two rounds in Vegas before the holidays.

While perhaps not the hardest field of teams to face, with the departure of guard Geno Thorpe and the arrival of a crucial recruiting class, getting experience and wins will be a vital part of the early season.

Penn State will be led, in theory, by Brandon Taylor, Jordan Dickerson and Shep Garner but will need help from the likes of freshman Josh Reaves and his fellow underclassmen.

Past champions of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic include Kansas State (2008), Alabama (2009), New Mexico (2010), Baylor (2011), Colorado State (2012), UNLV (2013) and Loyola (Ill.) (2014).

FOX Sports 1 will televise the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic third-place and championship games on Wednesday, Dec. 23, at 9 and 11:30 p.m.

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