Basketball: Men's

Penn State men's basketball released its 2012 non-conference schedule Wednesday, which is highlighted by a mid-November trip to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where the team will open with preseason No. 6 N.C. State.

The Nittany Lions, who finished 4-14 in the Big Ten and 12-20 overall last season, will face five different Pennsylvania schools, four of which, Bucknell, Penn, La Salle and Duquesne, finished in the top 111 in RPI a season ago. The Lions will have eight home games and will take on Boston College for the second straight year in the Big Ten/ACC challenge Nov. 28.

"We have put together a challenging non-conference schedule that will help prepare this team for Big Ten Conference," head coach Patrick Chambers said in a release. "It's great to renew some rivalries with some of our fellow Pennsylvania schools."

The Lions will play Philadelphia University, Chambers' alma mater, in an exhibition Nov. 3. The team will then get the season going Nov. 9 at the Bryce Jordan Center against St. Francis before heading to Puerto Rico, where it will face N.C. State, then either Massachusetts or Providence.

The other games on the schedule are Delaware State, Army and New Hampshire, all at home. Four of the teams on the Lions' non-conference schedule made postseason tournaments last season.