1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team

American college basketball season

1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball

NCAA tournament

Conference| Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP| No. 18
Record| 21–7 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach|

* Jerry Dunn (1st season)

Assistant coach| Frank Haith (1st season)
Home arena| Rec Hall
Bryce Jordan Center

Seasons

<- 1994–95

1996–97 ->

1995–96 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

* v
* t
* e

| Conf |  |  | Overall

|
|
|
|

Team | W |  | L |  | PCT |  |  | W |  | L |  | PCT
Indiana[a] | 13 | - | 5 |  | .722 |  |  | 20 | - | 11  |  | .645
No. 18 Penn State | 12 | - | 6 |  | .667 |  |  | 21 | - | 7  |  | .750
No. 21 Iowa[b] | 12 | - | 6 |  | .667 |  |  | 24 | - | 8  |  | .750
Minnesota[c] | 11 | - | 7 |  | .611 |  |  | 20 | - | 10  |  | .667
Wisconsin[d] | 9 | - | 9 |  | .500 |  |  | 18 | - | 14  |  | .563
Michigan State | 9 | - | 9 |  | .500 |  |  | 16 | - | 16  |  | .500
Illinois | 7 | - | 11 |  | .389 |  |  | 18 | - | 13  |  | .581
No. 4 Purdue[e] | 6 | - | 12 |  | .333 |  |  | 7 | - | 23  |  | .233
Ohio State[f] | 5 | - | 13 |  | .278 |  |  | 12 | - | 15  |  | .444
Northwestern[g] | 4 | - | 14 |  | .222 |  |  | 9 | - | 18  |  | .333
Michigan[h] | 1 | - | 8 |  | .111 |  |  | 1 | - | 10  |  | .091
Rankings from AP Poll
Records above are after NCAA sanctions against Minnesota, Purdue, and Michigan as noted:[1]

1. ^ Indiana adjusted from 12–6, 19–12
2. ^ Iowa adjusted from 11–7, 23–9
3. ^ Minnesota adjusted from 10–8, 19–13 (vacated 2 games)
4. ^ Wisconsin adjusted from 8–10, 17–15
5. ^ Purdue adjusted from 15–3, 26–6 (forfeit 18 wins, vacated 2 games)
6. ^ Ohio State adjusted from 3–15, 10–17
7. ^ Northwestern adjusted from 2–16, 7–20
8. ^ Michigan adjusted from 10–8/21–11 (vacated 21 games)

The 1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team represented Pennsylvania State University as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1995–96 season. The team was led by long-time assistant Jerry Dunn, serving in his first-year as head coach. Penn State played its home games in University Park, Pennsylvania - the first six at Rec Hall before opening the brand new Bryce Jordan Center on January 11, 1996.[2] After winning the first 13 games of the season, the Nittany Lions climbed as high as No. 9 in the AP poll, and received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Penn State lost to Arkansas in the opening round to finish the season with an overall record of 21–7 (12–6 Big Ten).

## Roster

[edit]

1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball team

Players | Coaches
| Pos. | # | Name | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown

|
|
|
|
|
|

G | 32  | Pete Lisicky | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |

| So | Whitehall, Pennsylvania
C | 52  | Calvin Booth | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | 235 lb (107 kg) | Fr | Groveport, Ohio
F | 33  | Glenn Sekunda | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |

| Sr | {{{home}}}
G | 10  | Dan Earl | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |

| Jr | {{{home}}}
F | 24  | Matt Gaudio | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |

|  | {{{home}}}

Head coach

* Jerry Dunn

Assistant coach(es)

* Frank Haith

* * *

Legend

* (C) Team captain
* (S) Suspended
* (I) Ineligible
* (W) Walk-on

* Injured
* Current redshirt

## Schedule and results

[edit]

Date
time, TV  | Rank# | Opponent# | Result  | Record  | Site
city, state

|
|
|
|
|

Regular Season
Nov 25, 1995*
|  | Morgan State | W 90–65 | 1–0
| Rec Hall
University Park, Pennsylvania
Dec 29, 1995*
|  | vs. Santa Clara
Cable Car Classic | W 70–49 | 8–0
| San Jose Arena
San Jose, California
Dec 30, 1995*
|  | vs. Bradley
Cable Car Classic | W 75–72 | 9–0
| San Jose Arena
San Jose, California
Big Ten Regular Season
Jan 3, 1996
|  | at Ohio State | W 72–69 | 10–0
(1–0)  | St. John Arena
Columbus, Ohio
Jan 7, 1996
|  | Wisconsin | W 79–50 | 11–0
(2–0)  | Rec Hall
University Park, Pennsylvania
Jan 11, 1996
|  No. 20  | Minnesota | W 76–61[2] | 12–0
(3–0)  | Bryce Jordan Center (14,852)
University Park, Pennsylvania
Mar 9, 1996
|  No. 16  | Ohio State | W 86–70 | 21–6
(12–6)  | Bryce Jordan Center
University Park, Pennsylvania
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1996*
| (5 E)  No. 18  | vs. (12 E) Arkansas
First Round | L 80–86 | 21–7
| Providence Civic Center
Providence, Rhode Island

*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
E=East.
All times are in Eastern Time.

– Source:[3][4]

## Rankings

[edit]

Main article: 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked| Week

|

Poll| Pre| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| Final
AP| —| —| —| —| —| —| —| —| 20| 14| 14| 10| 10| 9| 14| 12| 16| 18| Not released
Coaches| —| —| —| —| —| —| —| 25| 22| 14| 14| 11| 10| 8| 12| 13| 17| 18| —

[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 56. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
2. ^ a b "Hoopla Doesn't Affect Penn State in Long Run". Los Angeles Times. January 12, 1996. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
3. ^ "1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
4. ^ "2019-20 Penn State Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 12, 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
5. ^ ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 1042–1043\. ISBN 0-345-51392-4.1042-1043&rft.pub=Random+House&rft.date=2009&rft.isbn=0-345-51392-4&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:1995–96+Penn+State+Nittany+Lions+basketball+team" class="Z3988">

* v
* t
* e

Penn State Nittany Lions basketball

Venues|

* Armory (1896–1929)
* Rec Hall (1929–1996)
* Bryce Jordan Center (1996–present)

Culture & lore|

* Legion of Blue
* Nittany Lion
* "Fight On, State"
* Penn State Blue Band

People|

* Head coaches
* Statistical leaders

Seasons|

* List of seasons
* 1896–97
* 1897–98
* 1898–99
* 1899–1900
* 1900–01
* 1901–02
* 1902–03
* 1903–04
* 1904–05
* 1905–06
* 1906–07
* 1907–08
* 1908–09
* 1909–10
* 1910–11
* 1911–12
* 1912–13
* 1913–14
* 1914–15
* 1915–16
* 1916–17
* 1917–18
* 1918–19
* 1919–20
* 1920–21
* 1921–22
* 1922–23
* 1923–24
* 1924–25
* 1925–26
* 1926–27
* 1927–28
* 1928–29
* 1929–30
* 1930–31
* 1931–32
* 1932–33
* 1933–34
* 1934–35
* 1935–36
* 1936–37
* 1937–38
* 1938–39
* 1939–40
* 1940–41
* 1941–42
* 1942–43
* 1943–44
* 1944–45
* 1945–46
* 1946–47
* 1947–48
* 1948–49
* 1949–50
* 1950–51
* 1951–52
* 1952–53
* 1953–54
* 1954–55
* 1955–56
* 1956–57
* 1957–58
* 1958–59
* 1959–60
* 1960–61
* 1961–62
* 1962–63
* 1963–64
* 1964–65
* 1965–66
* 1966–67
* 1967–68
* 1968–69
* 1969–70
* 1970–71
* 1971–72
* 1972–73
* 1973–74
* 1974–75
* 1975–76
* 1976–77
* 1977–78
* 1978–79
* 1979–80
* 1980–81
* 1981–82
* 1982–83
* 1983–84
* 1984–85
* 1985–86
* 1986–87
* 1987–88
* 1988–89
* 1989–90
* 1990–91
* 1991–92
* 1992–93
* 1993–94
* 1994–95
* 1995–96
* 1996–97
* 1997–98
* 1998–99
* 1999–2000
* 2000–01
* 2001–02
* 2002–03
* 2003–04
* 2004–05
* 2005–06
* 2006–07
* 2007–08
* 2008–09
* 2009–10
* 2010–11
* 2011–12
* 2012–13
* 2013–14
* 2014–15
* 2015–16
* 2016–17
* 2017–18
* 2018–19
* 2019–20
* 2020–21
* 2021–22
* 2022–23
* 2023–24
* 2024–25

NCAA Final Four appearance in italics
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[PCT]: Winning percentage
*[No.]: Number