How to Watch Penn State Renew its Basketball Rivalry With Pitt

The Nittany Lions face the Panthers for the first time since 2017 in a unique neutral-site game.

Penn State Nittany Lions guard Kayden Mingo dribbles during the first half against the Fairfield Stags at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

It will be a Keystone State clash at Hershey’s Giant Center on Sunday when Penn State and Pitt face off for the first time since 2017. It’s the first NCAA basketball game held in an arena home to the Hershey Bears and the PIAA state basketball championships. 

“It should be a great atmosphere,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said. “Like I said from day one of my press conference, let’s think outside the box. Let’s go to people. Let’s go to our fans around the Commonwealth.”

Penn State and Pitt have a storied rivalry on the court and will meet for the 149th time dating to 1906 (a 30-4 Penn State victory). The Nittany Lions won the last matchup, defeating the Panthers 85-54 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was Penn State’s first win over Pitt since 2000. Penn State’s 31-point margin of victory in 2017 was the largest in the series since Penn State won 84-44 in 1967.

Rhoades has known Pitt head coach Jeff Capel, who is in his eighth season with the Panthers, for a while and both were head coaches at VCU. “Jeff Capel is a buddy of mine,” Rhoades said. “I have great respect for him. It’ll be an honor to share the court with him.”

RELATED: Penn State has a rising star in freshman Kayden Mingo

How to watch Penn State vs. Pitt

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades talks with his players during a timeout in the first half against the Fairfield Stags at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The Penn State-Pitt revival will tip-off at noon ET on Big Ten Network with Ed Cohen Nik Stauskas on the broadcast. Steve Jones and Dick Jerardi will deliver the radio broadcast on the Penn State Sports Network.

Rhoades said would like to see Penn State and Pitt play each other more frequently to keep the rivalry alive.

“Old-school traditions and rivalry matchups we should always play, in my opinion, especially in basketball when you play 31 games. We should have those,” Rhoades said. “Sometimes it’s because of the leagues, the league everybody is in, that you can’t make it work. Everybody has a different scheduling philosophy, I understand that, but we’ll always try to see if we can pull these games off.”

Having closer games geographically, as Rhoades noted, is also better for teams financially. 

“If it’s good for both of us, we’ll try to do this more,” Rhoades said. “And I keep talking to other programs nearby to do this as well, because there’s a lot of advantages to it.”

About the Penn State Nittany Lions 

Penn State Nittany Lions guard Kayden Mingo (4) dribbles the ball around Michigan State Spartans guard Divine Ugochukwu (99) during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State is 8-3 after dropping its first two Big Ten games. After losing by 41 on the road to Indiana, Penn State had a better performance, nearly upsetting the No. 9 Michigan State Spartans at the Bryce Jordan Center. 

“I absolutely loved our response to that terrible result, the two days of practice going into Michigan State and the way we competed against Michigan State,” Rhoades said. “Now, I’m still not satisfied because we didn’t find a way to win the game. … Some days you’re not as close as you want to be and other days you’re pretty close, but it all counts, it all matters, and we’re not here to be close.”

With eight freshmen, Penn State has the youngest team in the Big Ten, but Kayden Mingo is among the highest-scoring freshmen in the conference, averaging 15 points per game. Rhoades said this group has a “coachable, competitive character,” which kept morale high through early adversity. 

“When you’re young, you don’t know what you don’t know, so you just move on to the next day,” Rhoades said. 

The Big Ten has five teams in the AP Top 25 poll and four others receiving votes. Penn State navigated its nonconference schedule fairly easily, losing only to Providence. Pitt and North Carolina Central are Penn State’s last nonconference games of the regular season.

Penn State has been relatively high-scoring, averaging 81.1 points per game but its defense has struggled with consistency. Through experience as the season advances, Rhoades expects the defense to improve but knows that it needs to be strong against Pitt. 

“They have some guys that can really isolate you in space,” Rhoades said. “We have to really show up, our defense has to travel in this one for sure.”

About the Pitt Panthers

Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Jeff Capel reacts on the sidelines against the Quinnipiac Bobcats during the second half at the Petersen Events Center. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Pitt is at .500 (6-6) after defeating Binghamton 103-63 on Wednesday night. The Panthers haven’t played a conference game yet; they play Miami on Tuesday in their first ACC game of the season.

Senior forward Cameron Corhen and sophomore guard Brandin Cummings lead Pitt in scoring, both averaging more than 13 points per game. The Panthers have five freshmen on their roster, but only Omari Witherspoon is averaging more than 25 minutes a game. 

“Pitt, I think, is a team at times that can be very explosive and score in bunches,” Rhoades said. “We really got to do a good job in transition. We really got to do a good job when they spread you out, they go five out.” 

Pitt has played some challenging opponents so far, which is why it has lost six games to this point. Prior to its win over Binghamton, Pitt dropped its three previous games against Texas A&M, Hofstra and Villanova. 

“I think they played a very good schedule,” Rhoades said. “They’re early on trying to figure out themselves from there, but they have some guys that can really have big nights. … They’re definitely a team, as I’m watching tape of them, that we got to be ready to play, because if not, and they get a lot of confidence, they can really get going.”

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