Titus Ivory played at Penn State from 1996-2001 and was part of the Nittany Lions’ dramatic Cinderella run in 2001 when Penn State advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen after its upset victory against second-seeded North Carolina.
The 6′-4″ do-it-all Charlotte, North Carolina native was also part of the 1998 team that made it to the NIT Championship game in Madison Square Garden and the 2000 squad that punched its ticket to the NIT Final Four in New York.
After Ivory’s senior season, he earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Honors and was also selected to the Third Team All-Big Ten.
He then went onto to play 11 seasons, professionally, overseas.
So what brought Ivory to State College?
Once Ivory started getting recruited in North Carolina as a standout, multi-sport athlete at North Mecklenburg High School, it gave him the opportunity to then play basketball and football at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts which opened up his exposure to more northern schools like Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Boston College.
It then came down to three colleges for basketball: Michigan State, Davidson or Penn State, and Ivory fell in love with everything State College had to offer.
“I love Penn State for what it brought me and how I grew up in that environment and it was a true blessing,” Ivory said.”Penn State taught me about independence….the lifestyle, it’s a peaceful area, and it allowed me to express my independence, the brotherhood in the team, the friends that I met, the great coaching staff that we had, resources…it was a utopia of some sorts…it had everything that you needed to become successful….I didn’t have to worry about any outside influences influencing me to do the negative things or make wrong choices….the games on the weekends for football, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, hockey or whatever it was, you could find something to do.”
One of the biggest achievements in Ivory’s PSU career is when he scored 21 points in the second round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament against North Carolina to help the Nittany Lions advance to the Sweet 16.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.What was it like for Ivory to represent Penn State basketball in such a dramatic, historical run?
“It’s one of those things where at a school like Penn State where the football team is a dynamic that you can’t overcome, you can’t overlook what they did and what they do, but to have basketball on a similar platform in the nation’s eye… knocking off North Carolina for me was a dream come true…playing in the Superdome (New Orleans) was just amazing, too…and then coming back to State College and having everybody jump on light poles…the airport was packed…it was just a great week for the basketball team not only for us as players but for the school dynamic,” he said.
After Ivory’s professional days in Europe, he came back to North Carolina and worked at the airport for a little while, then for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, taught for about eight years in the school system and did some college coaching.
He is currently a facility coordinator at the Charlotte Latin School running athletics for youth programming and also coaches middle school basketball.
Ivory is currently residing in Charlotte, NC, with his wife Nicole and their four children Talia, Titus, Nia and Norrie.
You can watch NSN’s interview with Titus Ivory in its entirety below and listen to his take on the current Penn State men’s basketball program.
