Penn State Nittany Lions basketball

Penn State Nittany Lions
Penn State Nittany Lions
	File:PennStateNittanyLions.gif
University	The Pennsylvania State University
Head coach	Ed DeChellis (5th season)
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Arena	Bryce Jordan Center ; (capacity: 15,261)
Nickname	Nittany Lions
Student section	Nittany Nation
Colors	Blue and White;
Uniforms
Home	Away ;
NCAA tournament Final Four
	1954
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
	1942
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
	1952, 1955, 2001
NCAA tournament appearances
	1942, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1965, 1991, 1996, 2001
Conference tournament champions
	1991 (Atlantic 10)
Conference regular-season champions
	1977 (Eastern 8)

The Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team is a NCAA Division 1 college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They are a member of the Big Ten Conference and play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from boisterous Rec Hall during the 1995/96 season. Their student cheering section is known as the Nittany Nation.

The program has 8 NCAA tournament appearances with its best finish coming in 1954, reaching the Final Four. Its most recent appearance was in 2001, when the team defeated #2-seeded North Carolina to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

Current coaching staff

Ed DeChellis - Head Coach
Kurt Kanaskie - Assistant Coach
Hilliary Scott - Assistant Coach
Dan Earl - Assistant Coach
Eldon Price - Director of Basketball Operations
Jon Perry - Video Coordinator

Coaches

		Overall		Conference
Name	Years	Won-Lost	Pct.	Won-Lost	Pct.	Note
None	1897-1915	30-17				includes 1917-18 season
Burke M. "Dutch" Hermann	1916-1932	148-74				PSU's first coach.
None	1917-18
Hugo Bezdek	1918-19	11-2				Coached PSU football, MLB Pitt. Pirates and PSU Basketball in one year
Earl "Spike" Leslie	1933-36	29-28
John Lawther	1937-49	150-93				1942 NCAA
Elmer Gross	1950-54	80-40				1952 NCAA, 1954 NCAA Final Four, the First Person to both play and coach in the NCAA Tournament
John Egli	1955-68	187-135				1955 & 1965 NCAA, 1966 NIT
Johnny Bach	1969-78	122-121
Dick Harter	1979-83	79-61				1980 NIT
Bruce Parkhill	1983-95	181-169				1991 NCAA - 1989, 1990 & 1992 NIT
Jerry Dunn	1995-2003	117-121				1995 NCAA, 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen - 1998 & 2000 NIT
Ed DeChellis	2003-Present	56-91	38.1	19-63	23.2	2006 Post Season NIT

NBA Draft Picks

1947 John Rusinko Baltimore Bullets
1953 Herman Sledzik Baltimore Bullets
1955- Jesse Arnelle (2) Fort Wayne Pistons
1961 Peter Baltic (9) Detroit Pistons
1965- Bob Weiss (3) 76ers
1966- Carver Clinton (11) 76ers
1974- Ron Brown (7) Celtics
1981- Frank Brickowski (3) Knicks
1983- Mike Lang (8) Knicks
1984- Dick Mumma (10) Clippers
1995- John Amaechi (signed undrafted) Cavaliers
1999- Calvin Booth (2) Wizards

Nittany Lion Men's Basketball Players

Amaechi - Arnelle - Baltimore - Barr - Booth - Brickowski - Joe Crispin - Jon Crispin - Earl - Garcia - Gross - Iuzzolino - Jagla - Loeffler - Stahley - Weiss

v t e Big Ten Conference
Current members	Illinois Fighting Illini Indiana Hoosiers Iowa Hawkeyes Maryland Terrapins Michigan Wolverines Michigan State Spartans Minnesota Golden Gophers Nebraska Cornhuskers Northwestern Wildcats Ohio State Buckeyes Oregon Ducks Penn State Nittany Lions Purdue Boilermakers Rutgers Scarlet Knights UCLA Bruins USC Trojans Washington Huskies Wisconsin Badgers
Associate members	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (men's and women's lacrosse) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (men's ice hockey)
Former members	Chicago Maroons
Championships & awards	Athlete of the Year B1G Super Saturday National Championships
Sports	Football (Standings, Champions) Men's basketball (Regular season, Tournament) Women's basketball (Regular season, Tournament) Ice hockey (Tournament) Men's lacrosse Women's lacrosse Volleyball
Media	Big Ten Network

v t e Big Ten Conference men's basketball
Teams	Illinois Fighting Illini Indiana Hoosiers Iowa Hawkeyes Maryland Terrapins Michigan Wolverines Michigan State Spartans Minnesota Golden Gophers Nebraska Cornhuskers Northwestern Wildcats Ohio State Buckeyes Oregon Ducks Penn State Nittany Lions Purdue Boilermakers Rutgers Scarlet Knights UCLA Bruins USC Trojans Washington Huskies Wisconsin Badgers
Championships & awards	Regular season champions Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament Coach of the Year Player of the Year Freshman of the Year Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball (defunct)
Conference challenges	ACC–Big Ten Challenge (1999–2022) Gavitt Tipoff Games (2015–2023)
Seasons	1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25