The Colonials will meet an old foe again in next year’s non-conference schedule.
Former Atlantic 10 rival and current Big Ten Conference member Penn State has agreed to a home-and-home series with GW over the next two seasons, head coach Mike Lonergan announced Monday. The Colonials will start the head-to-head series on the road at University Park on Dec. 14. GW will then host Penn State in the 2015-16 season.
The Nittany Lions are the latest to join the men’s basketball team’s increasingly high-profile list of non-conference opponents.
GW will face another member of the Big Ten in a home-and-home series, though officials have yet to announce the team. The Colonials are slated to face ACC champion Virginia on the road on Nov. 21 in the first game of a home-and-home and will travel in December to the 2014 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, which includes Colorado, Nebraska and Wichita State.
Athletic Director Patrick Nero said via Twitter that the full non-conference schedule will be announced soon.
Penn State went 16-18 last year but showed power at times, such as during both games of a season series sweep of Ohio State. The Nittany Lions saw their season end in the quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational against Siena.
The last time GW faced the Nittany Lions was 1991, in a 71-57 neutral-site non-conference game victory. The previous season, the Colonials fell to Penn State in the A-10 Championship game, 81-75. GW is 11-19 all time against the Nittany Lions.
Lonergan and Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers have also met before.
Lonergan repeatedly faced off against the former Boston University head coach during his six seasons at the helm in Vermont. In their final two seasons before moving to their current schools, Lonergan’s Catamounts swept all three games in the 2009-10 season, including the conference championship game.
Chambers’ Terriers came back and swept Vermont in the regular season, including a final game between the two head coaches – a 66-64 overtime thriller in favor of Boston University.
