Crowd support warming up cagers on quest for NIT crown

NEW YORK -- The Penn State men's basketball team has a storied history of playing well, and winning at The Bryce Jordan Center.

But playing outside the Center has been a different story. While showing off an 11-2 home record this season the Nittany Lions posted an unimpressive 4-9 road record during the regular season.

At times throughout the 1997-98 season Penn State (19-12) looked like a top-25 team. Knocking off the likes of No. 16 Iowa on Jan. 28 and No. 5 Purdue on Feb. 21 showed this team had what it takes to succeed, and more importantly, attract some more loyal followers. And on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City those followers showed up.

No.

At least 15 buses full of Penn State students made the 4 1/2 hour trek from State College to the Big Apple to watch their Lions hold on to beat a reckless Georgia squad 66-60 in front of 11,043 and advance to the National Invitation Tournament final against Minnesota (19-15) tonight at 7:30 on ESPN.

"I think it's great," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "and my hats are off to them as well. We appreciate their support. I am sure our players appreciate that. Gratitude, I'm not sure is the right word, but it did a lot for these kids."

The Penn State faithful were out in full force in the Garden on Tuesday night. It started with more than nine minutes remaining in the first game of the night between the Golden Gophers and Fresno State. Anxious to get their cheer on and tired of waiting for the game to end, the Lion supporters began to bellow the familiar chant "We are, Penn State," to completely drown out the voices of anyone supporting another team in the arena.

"It was a great crowd," freshman guard Joe Crispin said. "You could definitely tell that the Penn State crowd was more excited and outnumbered the Georgia crowd."

When it finally came time for Penn State to take the floor, every Penn Stater in attendance voiced their support. The band played, the cheerleaders did their thing, and the fans made the players feel like they were right at home. In fact, the crowd that showed up Tuesday night was larger in mass and seemed more energetic than any crowd of students that never filled the Center during the season.

Since Penn State is the school with the closest proximity to New York City among the competing teams in the NIT, it only seems right that it would have the largest showing of fans.

But nothing is guaranteed.

"Everybody I talked to back at school was real excited about it (the bus trip)," senior guard Pete Lisicky said. "Last night may have been the best home advantage we've had in a long time. That was a great crowd we had last night and if we could get something like that again that would be awesome. I think everyone on our team benefited from it. It gave me a couple of boosts when I needed them. It's good to have that."

Perhaps, with an even bigger crowd at the Garden tonight supporting the Lions they can guarantee their first ever NIT title.