Ohio State Basketball vs Penn State doesn’t play on Bryce Jordan Center

On January 31, 2025By Littum

Ohio State has traveled to Penn State for Men’s Basketball Games for more than 30 years, but this next one will be a little different.

Thursday night Nittany Lions hosts Buckeyes not in their typical home but in their earlier. Ohio State will fit into the recreational hall, simply referred to as REC Hall, and not Bryce Jordan Center as Nittany Lions returns to the building that was their home until 1996 for a one -time game this season.

“They were lovely enough to allow us to play in their old gym, which I am sure will be a pretty good crowd,” said Ohio State coach Jake Diebler with a laugh after Buckeyes beat Iowa 82- 65 Monday. “We expect it to be a real game at a high level.”

Rec Hall is currently home to Penn State’s men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s gymnastics and wrestling teams.

Although Nittany Lions has been playing in the Bryce Jordan Center since 1996, they have occasionally played in their former fitness center. This will be the fifth game in Rec Hall and only since last season when Penn State took down No. 12 Illinois 90-89 on February 21, 2024.

During the forecast, Rhoades Blue White Illustrated said that the old school environment allows the program to think outside the box.

“Playing the game in Rec Hall, Great Environment, on top of the field, old school, kind as double knot your shoes and let’s go to work,” he said. “Hot gym, hot arena, and everyone went on campus and it was a lovely evening.”

In the future, Rhoades has indicated that he would like to continue playing the occasional game in REC Hall, which had a final listed capacity of 6,848 fans, but managed to fit more than 8,000 on six occasions. Bryce Jordan Center has room for 15,261.

Ohio State Assistant coach Talor Battle played for Nittany Lions from 2007-11 and is the school’s scoring leader at all times. He began his coaching career as an assistant at his Alma Mater in the 2020-21 season before spending the next three years at Northwestern and joined Buckeyes during the peak season.

He has never played or coached inside Rec Hall. Diebler said Buckeyes will try to pull from their game at No. 11 Purdue on January 21 when they came from behind to win 73-70 in front of a sold-out Mackey Arena audience.

“We expect it to be a great atmosphere, like most atmospheres in the Big Ten,” Diebler said on Tuesday on his weekly radio program. “That’s what makes it so hard on the road in this league. I’ve never been in there. We have a coach -fight that has one thing or two to say about how good an environment it will be. When we get out of a game in the Mackey Arena, which I think is one of the best environments in the whole college basketball, we lean on that experience. “

Ohio State is 2-3 in its last five trips to the Bryce Jordan Center. Last year, Nittany Lions deleted an 18-point deficit and handed Buckeyes an 83-80 loss.

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