Should Penn State basketball play Pitt more? Mike Rhoades says yes

What better way to renew a rivalry than to play a college basketball game at a place that’s never hosted one before?

That’s how Penn State basketball and Pitt, after not playing each other since 2017, will add another chapter on Dec. 21, when the teams tip off inside the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., the first time the multi-purpose arena will host college basketball.

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The Nittany Lions have played the Panthers 148 times, including an 85-54 win for Penn State in the last matchup inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A lot has changed since then, from new head coaches (Mike Rhoades for Penn State and Jeff Capel for Pitt) to faces of the program (Kayden Mingo for the Nittany Lions and Cameron Corhen for the Panthers).

As day inches closer, however, Rhoades was asked about this matchup happening again in the near future, to which he responded in adamant favor of.

“Look, I’m still old school. I’m not in charge so I can’t make the rules, but with regional matchups, old-school traditions and rivalries, we should always play them, in my opinion. Especially in basketball, where you play 31 games,” Rhoades said during media availability. “Everybody has a different scheduling philosophy. I understand that, but we’ll always try to see if we can pull these games off.

“Plus, instead of traveling all these different places, if you can make it work geographically, it saves your budget too, which we all need to do these days as well.”

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Rhoades added that Capel is a “buddy” of his, referencing their VCU ties where Capel was the head coach from 2003-2006, over a decade before Rhoades led the Rams from 2018-2023 before taking the Penn State job.

Playing in-state competition has been a priority for Rhoades since taking over the program. This year, he played La Salle in Philadelphia as a part of an early season invitational. Last season, he played Saint Francis,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/penn-state-basketball-play-pitt-205813093.html

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Publish date : 2025-12-18 20:58:00

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