Penn State Nittany Lions basketball

The Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from Rec Hall during the 1995–96 season. Their student cheering section is known as the Legion of Blue.
The team played its first season of basketball in 1897, finishing with a 1–1 record after playing Bucknell twice. They lost the first game 4–24, and won the second 10–7. The team went without a formal head coach until Burke Hermann in 1916.
The program has ten NCAA tournament appearances with its best finish coming in 1954, reaching the Final Four. Its most recent appearance was in 2023, when the team beat Texas A&M in the first round. The program also has 11 appearances in the National Invitation Tournament, with the most recent being in 2018, when they beat Utah to win the NIT championship. They also won the NIT championship in 2009.

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Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Nittany Lions have appeared in the NCAA tournament 10 times. Their combined record is 10–11.

1942		Elite Eight Regional 3rd Place Game	Dartmouth Illinois	L 39–44 W 41–34
1952		Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Kentucky NC State	L 54–82 L 60–69
1954		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National 3rd Place Game	Toledo LSU Notre Dame La Salle USC	W 62–50 W 78–70 W 71–63 L 54–69 W 70–61
1955		First Round Sweet Sixteen Regional 3rd Place Game	Memphis State Iowa Kentucky	W 59–55 L 53–82 L 59–84
1965		First Round	Princeton	L 58–60
1991	#13	First Round Second Round	#4 UCLA 12 Eastern Michigan	W 74–69L 68–71 ^OT
1996	#5	First Round	#12 Arkansas	L 80–86
2001	#7	First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen	#10 Providence 2 North Carolina 11 Temple	W 69–59W 82–74 L 72–84
2011	#10	First Round	#7 Temple	L 64–66
2023	#10	First Round Second Round	#7 Texas A&M 2 Texas	W 76–59 L 66–71

NIT results

The Nittany Lions have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament 11 times. Their combined record is 27–9. They were NIT champions in 2009 and 2018.

1966	First Round	San Francisco	L 77–89
1980	First Round	Alabama	L 49–53
1989	First Round Second Round	Murray State Villanova	W 89–73 L 67–76
1990	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Marquette Maryland Rutgers Vanderbilt New Mexico	W 57–54 W 80–78 W 58–55 L 62–75 W 83–81
1992	First Round	Pittsburgh	L 65–67
1995	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Miami Nebraska Iowa Marquette Canisius	W 62–56 W 65–59 W 67–64 L 79–81 W 66–62
1998	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals	Rider Dayton Georgia Tech Georgia Minnesota	W 82–68 W 77–74 W 77–70 W 66–60 L 72–79
2000	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Princeton Siena Kent State Notre Dame NC State	W 55–41 W 105–103 W 81–74 L 52–73 W 74–72
2006	Opening Round	Rutgers	L 71–76
2009	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals	George Mason Rhode Island Florida Notre Dame Baylor	W 77–73 ^OT W 83–72 W 71–62 W 67–59 W 69–63
2018	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals	Temple Notre Dame Marquette Mississippi State Utah	W 63–57 W 73–63 W 85–80 W 75–60 W 82–66

CBI results

The Nittany Lions have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational once. Their record is 1–1.

2014

First Round
Quarterfinals

Hampton
Siena

W 69–65
L 52–54

Statistical Leaders

1,000 Point Scorers

⁺ 2020 B1G Tournament and 2020 NCAA Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
^** denotes active player.

All-Americans

Year	Team	Name	Outlet
1954	1st Team	Jesse Arnelle	Helms Foundation
1955	2nd Team	Jesse Arnelle	Helms Foundation
2023	2nd Team	Jalen Pickett	AP, NABC, SN

NBA players

NBA draft

Year	Round	Pick	Name	Team
1947	3	10	John Rusinko	Baltimore Bullets
1953	7	2	Herman Sledzik	Baltimore Bullets
1955	2	13	Jesse Arnelle	Fort Wayne Pistons
1965	3	22	Bob Weiss	Philadelphia 76ers
1966	11	6	Carver Clinton	Philadelphia 76ers
1974	7	17	Ron Brown	Boston Celtics
1981	3	57	Frank Brickowski	New York Knicks
1983	8	12	Mike Lang	New York Knicks
1984	10	211	Dick Mumma	Los Angeles Clippers
1994	10	211	John Amaechi	Cleveland Cavaliers
1999	2	35	Calvin Booth	Washington Wizards
2018	2	51	Tony Carr	New Orleans Pelicans
2023	2	32	Jalen Pickett	Denver Nuggets
2023	2	46	Seth Lundy	Atlanta Hawks
2024	1	30	Yanic Konan Niederhauser	Los Angeles Clippers

Other NBA players

The following is a list of undrafted Penn State players who have played at least one NBA regular or post-season game. Bold denotes players with active NBA or NBA G League contracts.Lamar StevensAndrew FunkIzaiah Brockington