The "Ed-Heads" shirts were out, the Penn State football season had mercifully come to an end 24 hours earlier, and long gone were the likes of the EA Sports All Stars and Team Nike.
The crowd of 8,874 sat quietly in anxious anticipation for the start of the Ed DeChellis era in Penn State men's basketball, as the handful of Georgetown fans behind one of the baskets out-cheered the Nittany Lions faithful.
Four minutes, 13 Penn State points, and two Georgetown timeouts later, however, the raucous crowd approached a noise level rarely reached during a season opener against a non-conference, unranked opponent.
Penn State fans desperately needed this atmosphere, they needed to see things like, junior forward Jan Jagla slap the floor on defense.
Student Derek Angel (junior-media studies), otherwise known as "Captain Fan-O," expressed the sentiment held by many fans before the opening tip of the DeChellis era.
"We just want [the team] to play hard with excitement and passion," he said. "We want to see good games."
For the most part, even with the Lions losing a heart breaker to the Hoyas on a questionable foul call with 2.2 seconds left to play, Penn State fans came away with what they asked for.
At halftime, Andy Vance (sophomore-information sciences and technology) was excited by what he saw.
"It's good to see the enthusiasm and intensity that DeChellis has brought, good to see players smiling and having fun, not just standing around," he said.
The hope for the season however, seemed to change halfway through the team's first game of the season.
The same fans that would have been satisfied with seeing the Lions play with enthusiasm and have fun on the court were imploring them to get a late score or defensive stop.
Hope and optimism were replaced with the desire to win.
Senior forward Ndu Egekeze commented on the passion of the crowd, particularly the student section, by saying the environment resembled that seen during Penn State's 2001 Sweet 16 drive.
Student Cory Pihl (freshman - engineering) summed up the thoughts of many following the disappointing yet encouraging one point loss.
"Bring on the Big Ten," he said.
