With hopes of traveling to one of eight first-round NCAA tournament sites, Penn State will instead return to the Bryce Jordan Center for its postseason.
The Nittany Lions earned a No. 2 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and will host No. 7 George Mason 8 p.m. Tuesday on ESPNU.
"We're going to try to use everything we can to make sure our guys are motivated and excited and ready to play and compete Tuesday night," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We've only got one day to get this thing straightened up."
Left out of the field of 65 in the Big Dance, a first round NIT victory guarantees at least two home games for the Lions.
Top-seeded Florida headlines Penn State's bracket of eight in the 32-team NIT field and is a potential third-round opponent, while the semifinals and finals are played at Madison Square Garden in New York.
"We haven't played in Madison Square Garden, none of these kids have," DeChellis said. "So that will be the goal for us to try to play in Madison Square Garden."
The Lions have a quick turnaround to Tuesday night after the disappointment of Selection Sunday.
From the start of the season, the players have spoken about the ultimate goal of reaching the NCAA tournament. Instead, they'll have to refocus quickly and get ready for the consolation prize that is the NIT and try to prove doubters wrong.
"I think that you can just try to flip the script really and just try to play with a chip on your shoulder by coming out and practicing hard for tomorrow," senior forward Jamelle Cornley said.
Speaking shortly after the Lions found out they didn't receive a NCAA tournament bid, Cornley said the team must maintain a high level of intensity in order to "put on a great show" in the NIT.
"We've got to turn everything into a positive at this point," Cornley said. "We can sit around and mope around as much as we want. But when it's all said and done, we've gotta get back on the court and we've gotta perform."
Cornley will be making his second NIT appearance, as the Lions last played in the tournament his freshman season in 2006 and lost to Rutgers in the opening round. This will be the 10th NIT appearance in program history, and Penn State has advanced to the semifinals four times and lost in the championship in 1998.
In the program's best season since a 2001 run to the Sweet 16, DeChellis still hopes the Lions can add one more accomplishment to the 2009 resume.
"We have a lot of firsts this year," DeChellis said. "We won at East Lansing, that's a first. We won at Indiana, which is a first. Let's go do something else that's a first, and that's winning a NIT championship."
