Jamelle Cornley remembers the first time he set foot inside the Bryce Jordan Center and saw thousands of empty seats.
Former assistant coach Hilliary Scott, who was instrumental in bringing Cornley to Penn State, challenged him with the responsibility of filling each of the 15,261 seats in the arena by the end of his career.
After three years, spectators filled the lower bowl and some crept into the upper level, too. Then there were those pesky black curtains unforgiving staff workers kept drawn to lessen some of the cleanup after basketball games -- raising both curtains is Cornley's ultimate objective.
Come Sunday, that objective will be met. Pat Peachey, a ticket saleswoman at the BJC, said remaining tickets for the Wisconsin game are only available in sections 203, 206, 208, 209 and sections 219-225 -- in other words, the curtains have got to go.
"It's gonna mean everything to me," Cornley said. "When I first came here on my visit in fall of 2005, I came into the gym and looked around the arena and thought, 'This is a lot of seats.' "
As of Thursday afternoon, Ticketmaster listed the best available seat for one person as section 225.
Peachey, who's been taking ticket requests at Penn State for a little more than a year, could not give an estimate on how many tickets have been sold thus far but said they were selling at a fast rate.
Sports information director Brian Siegrist said about 8,500 tickets were sold as of Tuesday afternoon, not including student season ticket holders. Plus, most students tend to buy a ticket at the gate, he said.
Chris Simon, one of three students who wear self-made Pringles chip cans to games, will assume his usual position court-level next to the rest of Nittany Nation Sunday.
"We're doing the best we've done in a while," Simon said. "We could have maybe the biggest crowd we've ever had."
Sunday's game against the Badgers provides another opportunity for Cornley besides playing in front of a packed house. In his four years, Wisconsin is one of three Big Ten schools Cornley has not beaten.
Wisconsin (12-9, 3-6 Big Ten) has lost six straight going into Thursday's game against Illinois. It won 65-61 against Penn State Jan. 3 to improve its record to 22-8 all-time against the Nittany Lions.
But Cornley said he's staying grounded and isn't getting overly excited about having two monumental career achievements in front of him Sunday.
While curtains and wins are significant for the senior forward, Cornley is never one to put himself before his team.
"I'm never gonna play out of character," Cornley said. "Being a senior, I know what to expect. I know how to play after the adrenaline sets in. I'm just gonna continue to be Jamelle Cornley and play how I play, and that's strong and very passionate, emotional and lead my team to a victory."
