For Penn State basketball fans interested in taking a trip down memory lane, a game in Rec Hall may not be too far down the road according to athletic director Dave Joyner.
Joyner addressed the Dubois crowd Thursday morning at the second to last stop of Penn State’s Coaches’ Caravan saying that the game was in the works but there were still issues to be worked out. At a caravan stop earlier this week, head coach Patrick Chambers also confirmed that the program was working on a game in the old arena.
Neither Chambers nor Joyner indicated when the game would be played, although sources around the program have confirmed that a significant amount of effort has been put towards figuring out the on-site logistics of such a game. The implication being that unlike recent years where a game in Rec Hall has been wishful thinking, if the right things came together the game would take place sooner rather than later. Chambers did mention that playing the game in Rec Hall this upcoming season “Is being talked about.”
Following the installation of a floor exclusively for volleyball, a custom floor that would include the ability to anchor the hoops would need to be temporarily installed. That is currently one of the largest obstacles aside from ticketing logistics.
For Chambers, a Philadelphia hoops native and product of weeknights spent attending A-10 basketball, a game at Rec Hall even once would be a nice homage to his roots and a chance to inject some energy into a growing fan base.
Penn State has not played a basketball game in Rec Hall since the Bryce Jordan Center’s opening in 1996. Prior to the Jordan Center’s construction, Rec Hall featured a loud and energetic crowd. The cavernous nature of the Jordan Center has not provided Penn State with a similar atmosphere as the one it once had across campus. The largest crowd in Rec Hall history was the 8,600 fans who witnessed the men’s basketball team defeat Virginia 93-68 on December 5, 1973.
We’ll have to wait and see whether a game in Rec Hall ever takes place, but the wheels are now in motion — and it appears closer to reality than has been the case in recent years.
