How to watch Penn State hoops host Illinois in Return to Rec Hall

Penn State basketball head coach Mike Rhoades acknowledged upon taking the job his fresh perspective. Bringing new eyes to the position as the Nittany Lions’ head coach, that meant thinking “outside the box” in regard to the program’s scheduling and presentation.

Wednesday night, that thinking will return the program to its much-loved former home.

For the first time since moving to the Bryce Jordan Center during the 1995 season, Penn State will host another Big Ten opponent at Rec Hall. The storied, romanticized venue that opened in 1929 will again play host to the Nittany Lion basketball program for the evening when they welcome Illinois (6:30 p.m., BTN).

An idea born of a trying new things in his debut season as Penn State’s head coach, it’s one Rhoades and the Nittany Lions are eager to experience.

“Talking to a lot of people, they talk about Rec Hall and it keeps coming up. I thought, that’s a cool idea, why wouldn’t we do that again?” Rhoades recalled. “It’s something I brought up to Pat (Kraft) and Adam (Miller) and the administration, If we can make it work, let’s see if we can do it. 

“To do it this quick in the first year was great. So I really appreciate it. I know there’s a lot that goes into it behind the scenes that we all don’t see every day, but I know a lot of people worked on and all that. So I just think it’d be a really, really cool thing for everybody.”

Penn State hoping for momentum swing

Entering the home stretch of the 2023-24 campaign, the trek across campus provides a welcome rebirth for a team fighting to doldrums of February. Currently riding a three-game losing streak, including the Nittany Lions’ worst scoring performance of the year in a lopsided, 68-49 loss at Nebraska on Saturday afternoon, Penn State is also now without its leading scorer, Kanye Clary. Announced as being dismissed from the team, described as a “coach’s decision,” the program enters Wednesday night’s game hoping the reset from a flurry of activity will pay dividends.

“We needed to get rest. We played four games in 10 days, and we’re beat up a little bit and health wise. So we want to make sure we’re healthy because you gotta have fresh minds, fresh legs. That’s huge in how we want to go about it,” said Rhoades. “But we got to make shots. It is what it is. When we’ve been making shots, our numbers are pretty darn good. We’re back to two home games here, two games on campus. Let’s knock those shots down. And we got to take care of the ball. 

“Those are what I think are most important for us right now is. Let’s keep getting each other shots, but we got to knock them down and we got to take care of the ball. Then I think we got to rebound better, which is it’s improved throughout the year and it helped us some games. And I think the last couple of games we’ve just given up too many second shots.”

Nittany Lions Return to Rec

More than 30 years after working at a Penn State summer basketball camp at Rec Hall, Rhoades and the Nittany Lions will get the opportunity to test those needed improvements. And with it, they’ll hope to capture some of the magic the venue engenders.

“Now I get to coach a game there. And everybody here at Penn State gets to experience it. So let’s continue to think outside the box and keep working on things like that,” said Rhoades. “It should be a lot of fun. Will be great for the students, great for our players and all the fans.”

Here’s how to watch:

Penn State (12-14 overall, 6-9 B1G, NET 100) vs. No. 12 Illinois (19-6, 10-4 B1G, NET 12)

Venue: Rec Hall
Tip time: 6:30 p.m. ET – Wednesday, Feb. 21
TV: Big Ten Network – Jason Horowitz (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 372 & SXM App Big Ten Radio
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast | Live Stats
GAME NOTES: Penn State

What is the Penn State-Illinois spread?

The Nittany Lions are 7.5-point underdogs to Illinois on Wednesday evening. And, the over/under betting total is 156 points.