University Park, Pa. — The Nittany Lions basketball team will take on one of the most successful programs in college basketball history during the 2011-12 season when Penn State faces Kentucky at the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 19.
Penn State will play four games total in the early-season tournament, two at the Bryce Jordan Center on Nov. 14 and 16 and two at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncansville, Conn., on Nov. 19 and 20. The teams scheduled to compete in the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off are: Long Island University (Northeast), Marist College (MAAC), Old Dominion University (CAA), Penn State University (Big Ten), Radford University (Big South), University of Kentucky (SEC), University of South Florida (Big East) and the University of Vermont (America East).
Penn State will take on Radford on Monday, Nov. 14 and 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Long Island University on Wednesday, Nov. 16 in the Bryce Jordan Center during the campus round of the tournament.
"We are looking forward to four games of great competition in the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off," said Penn State coach Ed DeChellis. "In particular, I’m looking forward to facing my good friend and fellow Western Pennsylvania native John Calipari and Kentucky."
The Nittany Lions will face Kentucky (Nov. 19) at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Lions and Wildcats last met on Nov. 25, 2000 with Penn State claiming a 73-68 victory in Lexington. Kentucky owns a 2-1 lead in the series having posted victories in the 1952 (82-54) and 1955 (84-59) NCAA Tournaments.
The Tip-Off Tournament game schedule at Mohegan Sun opens with four games on November 19th – separated into two sessions. In Bracket 1, Long Island takes on Radford and Vermont battles Marist, with the winners and losers facing each other on Sunday, Nov. 20. Bracket 2 will feature Old Dominion vs. South Florida and Kentucky vs. Penn State, with the winners and losers of those games facing each other on Sunday. Game times and sessions for both rounds will be announced at a later date.
Four of the games from Mohegan Sun will be televised by ESPN networks. Television details will be announced at a later date.
Old Dominion, Penn State, Kentucky and South Florida will each host two campus site games as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off. Those games are scheduled between November 11 and November 23, 2011.
Tickets for the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena will go on-sale in the near future. For more information on the Hall of Fame Tip-Off, ticket packages and hospitality packages for the weekend games, log onto www.halloffametipoff.com
