Coming off winning its first NCAA tournament game since 2001 in Thursday’s 76-59 triumph over Texas A&M, Penn State will now play Texas, and the tip-off time and channel have been announced.
Penn State will have its second-round matchup against Texas tip-off Saturday at 7:45 from the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, Iowa, and will be broadcast on CBS.
Texas, the number two seed in the Midwest Region, beat No. 15 Colgate 81-61 Thursday. Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points off the bench for Texas.
Dylan Disu and Marcus Carr chipped in with 17 points apiece for Texas.
In Penn State’s win, Andrew Funk led the team. The fifth-year senior went 7-for-11 from the field, 8-for-10 from three and ended with 27 points in Penn State’s first “March Madness” game since 2011.
Jalen Pickett wasn’t bad, either. The All-American ended the night 19 points and eight assists, and played the entire game. Seth Lundy added 10 points.
As a team, Penn State shot 13-for-21 from 3 and held Texas A&M to nine of 32 from beyond the arc.
Now, it’s on to the Round of 32. Texas is favored by 5.5 according to Caesars Sportsbook, with the over-under for the game at 140.5.
Penn State would like to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001. Texas hopes to advance to its first sweet sixteen since 2008.
Penn State’s last Round of 32 game took place in 2001. That ended up being a great day for the program. After beating No. 10 Kentucky in the first round, Joe and Jon Crispin and seventh-seeded Penn State upset second-seeded North Carolina to move on to the Sweet 16, where it fell to 11th-seeded Temple.
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