Penn State men’s basketball will be returning to The Palestera in January of 2023 to take on Purdue.
This is the highlight of Penn State’s conference schedule.
The 22-23 B1G slate 👀🗓️
🔗: https://t.co/ZgH5CPuBTU#WeAre pic.twitter.com/wL98C4yOvI
— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) September 8, 2022
The Nittany Lions, who are entering Year 2 of the Micah Shrewsberry era, will play the Boilermakers Sunday, January 8, at the historic Philadelphia venue which has been up since 1927 and has been called “the most important building in the history of college basketball.”
Penn State’s last game there was a win over Iowa in January of 2020.
The Purdue matchup would already have intrigue for multiple reasons. For one, Matt Painter’s program is perennially one of the Big Ten’s best and a frequent NCAA tournament participant.
The Lions and Boilers will play twice this season, with the second matchup scheduled for Feb. 1 at Mackey Arena.
The matchup with Purdue has grown more interesting within the last year, however, because of Micah Shrewsberry’s connection with Painter and Purdue.
Before becoming Penn State’s head coach, Shrewsberry worked under Painter as an assistant from 2011-13 and then again from 2019-21.
Shrewsberry is 0-2 against his old school thus far. Penn State lost to Purdue on both the regular season and Big Ten tournament last season, the later of which ended Year 1 of the Shrewsberry era.
Penn State finished last season with a 14-17 record and 7-13 Big Ten mark. The Nittany Lions won two conference tournament games before bowing out in the quarterfinal round against Purdue.
Penn State returns its too two scorers, Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy, from last year, and has added impact transfers Cam Wynter and Andrew Funk from Drexel and Bucknell, respectively.
Additionally, Penn State has the top-rated recruiting class in program history coming in, with five true freshmen ready to start their college careers in Happy Valley.
Penn State opens its season Monday, Nov. 7 against Winthrop. In the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions will play 10 home games and 10 away games.
