UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State coach Patrick Chambers’ first season in the Big Ten will open with road dates at Michigan and Northwestern the conference announced Wednesday when it released complete schedules, tip times and television arrangements for all 12 conference teams.
The Nittany Lions will begin their 20th season of Big Ten Conference play and first under Chambers on Thursday, Dec. 29 in Ann Arbor, Mich., as they take on the Wolverines in a 7:30 p.m. ET tip on the Big Ten Network (BTN). The Lions will follow up that game with a Sunday, Jan. 1 tip at Northwestern in a 7 p.m. ET contest televised by ESPNU.
Penn State went 12-10 vs. Big Ten foes last year, finishing tied for fourth in the regular season with a 9-9 record and going 3-1 in the Big Ten Tournament to reach the Nittany Lions’ first-ever Big Ten Tournament final.
Penn State will make at least 12 appearances on the Big Ten Network and have six games streamed live on BTN.com to go along with the previously announced eight games on one of the ESPN Networks, a pair of wild card games that could appear on CBS, ESPN or BTN and Big Ten Tournament games broadcast on BTN, ESPN or CBS. The Lions will have at least 23 games televised to a national audience on the year. Penn State has had 89 of its last 103 games over the previous three seasons televised to a national television audience via ESPN, The Big Ten Network, FOX or CBS Sports.
Sixty-four Big Ten men’s basketball conference games will appear on BTN during the 2011-12 season, marking the fifth consecutive year that every regular-season conference game will be nationally broadcast. Combined with the 44 games appearing on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU that the Big Ten announced yesterday, the conference’s latest media agreements result in more than 100 conference games appearing on national networks for the coming season.
The Nittany Lions’ first Big Ten home game comes on Thursday, Jan. 5 as Penn State takes on Purdue in an 8:00 p.m. ET tip on BTN. The Lions will face Indiana on Sunday, Jan. 8 (noon, BTN) in the Bryce Jordan Center in the first of five home, weekend Big Ten contests. Minnesota (Sunday, Jan. 15 at 4 p.m., BTN), Nebraska (Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1 p.m., ESPNU), Northwestern (Saturday, Feb. 25 at 9 p.m., ESPNU) and Michigan (Sunday, March 4, time and TV TBA) will also make weekend trips to State College.
Penn State will take on Illinois in the Jordan Center on Thursday, Jan. 19 in a 9 p.m. tip televised live on ESPN2. Also making trips to the Jordan Center among the Lions’ nine conference home games will be Wisconsin (Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m., BTN) and Iowa (Thursday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m., ESPNU).
Among the Lions’ nine, conference road trips will be dates at Nebraska (Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8:30 p.m., BTN ), Indiana (Sunday, Jan. 22 at noon, BTN), Ohio State (Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m., BTN), Iowa (Saturday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m., ESPNU), Michigan State (Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m., BTN), Wisconsin (Sunday, Feb. 19, time and TV TBA) and Purdue (Wednesday, Feb. 29 at 6:30 p.m., BTN).
The Nittany Lions have single plays with Minnesota (home), Illinois (home), Michigan State (away) and Ohio State (away) in the 18-game conference schedule. Tip times and television arrangements were also announced for the Nittany Lions’ non-conference schedule and exhibition contest. Penn State will take on Slippery Rock in double-header exhibition action with the Lady Lions on Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. in the Jordan Center. The Lady Lions take on Bloomsburg at 2 p.m.
Tip times were also set for home games vs. Radford (Monday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.), Long Island (Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.), Youngstown State (Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.) and Lafayette (Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.), which will all be live streamed on BTN.com.
The Nittany Lions will take on Mississippi on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. live on BTN. Penn State’s contest with Mount St. Mary’s (Sunday, Dec. 18 at 4 p.m.) will also be shown on BTN and the Lions’ game vs. Cornell (Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 p.m.) will appear either on BTN or BTN.com.
Penn State’s road game vs. Duquesne on Saturday, Dec. 10 at Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center will tip at 7 p.m. The tip time has yet to be set for the Lions’ contest at Saint Joseph’s on Saturday, Nov. 26.
Previously announced tip times and television arrangements for the Lions also include taking on Kentucky at the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Uncansville, Conn. at noon on Saturday, Nov. 19. That game will appear on one of the ESPN Networks. Penn State will also play either South Florida or Old Dominion at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20 in the Tip-off Tournament at the Mohegan Sun.
Penn State will play a Big Ten/ACC Challenge contest at Boston College on Wednesday, Nov. 30 in a 7:15 p.m. tip on ESPNU.
Penn State opens the 2011-12 season with a double-header with the Nittany Lion football team on Saturday, Nov. 12. The Nittany Lion basketball team will face Hartford in the Bryce Jordan Center in its season opener while the football team will take on Nebraska at Beaver Stadium. Start times for both contests have yet to be announced pending television arrangements, but will allow fans to enjoy both contests on the day.
Nittany Lion Basketball season tickets are available by calling 814-865-5555. Season tickets are $200 for adults, $170 for faculty/staff and seniors, $80 for youth and $59 for students. PNC Flex Books are also available again this year for $99. The Flex Book gives fans 12 vouchers, 10 that can be redeemed in any combination for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion Basketball tickets throughout the year and two extra vouchers for the Nittany Lions’ Coaches Vs. Cancer game and the Lady Lions’ Think Pink game.