Fans storm the court at Rec Hall after Penn State’s 90-89 upset of Illinois on Feb. 21. 2024. Photo by Jake Musmanno | Onward State

The bleachers were filled and were situated all the way up to the hardwood. The fans brought forth an energy, a noise unfamiliar to the Bryce Jordan Center in events other than concerts. Penn State’s return to Rec Hall last season was an invigorating experience: a packed crowd, a miraculous comeback and a last-second win over No. 12 Illinois.

It felt like a basketball game.

The Nittany Lions will again play in their former home venue on Thursday night, when Ohio State comes to town. It’s an event Mike Rhoades has had circled on his calendar since the last time he coached there. He’s a basketball purist with an admiration for the sport’s history in Pennsylvania. And he hasn’t shied away from banging his fist for more Rec Hall hostings.

“That is a basketball arena. That’s a basketball gym,” Rhoades said Wednesday. “The one thing that’s been neat going around the Big Ten is seeing basketball arenas. Not big convocation centers, basketball arenas. Even when they bring the bleachers in around the court so it gives it a basketball fan experience. That, to me, is Rec Hall, and that just brings a lot of excitement.”

Penn State has played at Rec Hall just four times since moving to the Bryce Jordan Center in 1996. And last season’s win over Illinois marked the team’s first conference game in 28 years played there. It couldn’t have gone better. An elated Rhoades spoke postgame about the momentum the win, done in such a historic venue, could have on his program.

Rhoades made it clear that night he hoped to be back. Even in the offseason, Rhoades wouldn’t stop beating the drum on the importance of Rec Hall to him and his program. He sat beside Big Ten Network’s Dave Revsine, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Oregon’s Dana Altman at Big Ten Media Day in October, and the topic was brought up.

“I try to make it an everyday discussion with our administration,” Rhoades said then. “It was a great environment, turning back the clocks for a lot of alums, a lot of fans and supporters. So we’re going to continue with our administration. We want to be outside the box, that’s what we keep talking about.”

The metrics appear to suggest that Rec Hall would make a more suitable, permanent arena for Penn State. The venue’s capacity is just over 6,500 and the Nittany Lions have averaged an attendance of 7,223 this season while playing in the Bryce Jordan Center, which can seat north of 15,200.

It’s hardly a question that the environment within Beaver Stadium has an effect on opposing football teams. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings said crowd noise had a “big impact” and “disturbed” his offense after Penn State’s 38-10 win over the Mustangs in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 21.

In college basketball, players and coaches know what they’re getting into when they travel to Indiana or Purdue, where the arenas are built for basketball games. It’s loud and the fans are close to the floor, providing a true home-court advantage, the type of edge that Rhoades and his Penn State program get just once a year in their return to Rec Hall. 

“Those are the arenas we all grew up in and the gyms we all grew up in, and you see that in the Big Ten right now when we go on the road,” Rhoades said. “Michigan had people right on the court, all the way around. Michigan State brings in bleachers and goes around the court. That encompasses it and makes it a basketball arena and gives that fan experience and player fun experience a cool atmosphere.”