Georgia Tech and Penn State now will meet at Madison Square Garden for a noon game Dec. 16, tipping off a Holiday Festival tripleheader at the venue. Big Ten Network will televise the matchup.
Tech and Penn State were mentioned for a game in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena on Dec. 17, although that never was announced by either program.
The matchup between the Yellow Jackets and Nittany Lions will be followed by a men’s game between St. John’s-Fordham at 3:30 p.m. and a women’s game between St. John’s-Villanova at 6 p.m.
Penn State reached the NCAA Tournament last season, advancing to the round of 32, and finished with a 23-14 record, 10-10 mark in the Big Ten. Tech and Penn State will meet for the fifth time, most recently in 2016 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at State College. The Nittany Lions lead the series 3-1.
Tech will play a game at Madison Square Garden for the first time since the 2017 NIT. The Jackets are 18-8 all-time in the arena.
The Penn State matchups completes the Jackets’ 2023-24 nonconference schedule, which also includes a trip to Cincinnati (Nov. 22), the ACC/SEC Challenge against Mississippi State at home (Nov. 28), the annual Tech-Georgia game in Athens (Dec. 5) and the Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 21-24) in Honolulu, in which the Jackets will face Massachusetts in the opening round.
The nonconference slate also includes five games against teams that won 20 or more games in the 2022-23 season, including four that played in the postseason. Mississippi State (21-13), Penn State (23-14) and Howard (22-13) all played in the NCAA Tournament last season, while Cincinnati (23-13) reached the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Massachusetts-Lowell (26-8) finished second in the America East Conference. The Jackets potentially could play two more 20-win teams from last season in the Diamond Head Classic, with a possible game against Hawaii (21-11) in the second round and TCU (22-13) in the final round.
Tech opens the 2023-24 season Nov. 6 against Georgia Southern at McCamish Pavilion.
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