City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry remembers a moment growing up in Indiana when local star Eric Montross returned to the area with his North Carolina Tar Heel team to play at Butler.

It was a chance for those who’d grown up watching the future NBA player to see him play at the college level and a chance for a young kid at college to spend some time back home.

Shrewsberry has the chance to afford several of his players the same opportunity on Sunday when the Nittany Lions’ local heavy roster heads to the Palestra to take on No. 1 Purdue. 

It’s the third time in the past seven years Penn State has ‘hosted’ a game at the Palestra, playing Michigan State there in 2017 and Iowa there in 2020.

“It’s such an unbelievable event,” Shrewsberry said. “Hats off to (former PSU) coach (Pat) Chambers. I think it was his idea to start this … him getting a chance to bring back his team to Philly. He was recruiting Philly at a high level. It was getting a bunch of guys there and getting them a chance to come home.  “

“It’s great for us because we have four guys from the area, not even including Cam (Wynter), but it’s also an area we want to continue to recruit. We also want to bring ourselves to our fans. Our fans in Philly don’t always get a chance to get here and see the basketball team, so this gives us a chance to go there and gives our guys who aren’t from there a feel of what Philadelphia basketball is about. Playing in the Palestra is such a historic venue on top of the No.1 team in the country is rolling in here. … It’s gonna be a great atmosphere. It’s gonna be a fun game.”

Penn State's 2017 and 2020 teams were led by Chambers, a Newtown Square native who played at Philly U (Jefferson) and coached at various levels around the Philadelphia-area. The 2017 squad had six Philadelphia-area products in Roman Catholic products Shep Garner, Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Nazeer Bostick along other local products Mike Watkins (Phelps/MCS) and Julian Moore (Germantown Academy.

Stevens and Watkins returned to the Palestra with the Nittany Lions in 2020 along with Izaiah Brockington (Archbishop Ryan), John Harrar (Strath Haven) and then-freshman Seth Lundy, another Roman Catholic product.

Heading back into Philadelphia once again on Sunday, the Nittany Lions’ roster is loaded with local ties — led by Lundy (13.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg), the team's second leading scorer. Bucknell graduate transfer Andrew Funk (12.1 ppg) was a Philadelphia Catholic League rival of Lundy’s at Archbishop Wood. They both earned first team all-league honors in 2017-18.

Freshmen Demetrius Lilley (Lower Merion) and Jameel Brown (Westtown) are two more local products. Senior wing Caleb Dorsey didn’t grow up in the Philadelphia-area but spent his entire high school career at the Hill School. 

Then there’s former Drexel standout Camren Wynter (9.7 ppg), who will be back in the city after a standout career with the Dragons.

“We have a chance to play a really good team in Purdue, obviously they’re No. 1 in the country, but I can remember when (Penn State) played Michigan State, when they played Iowa (at the Palestra),” Funk said. “Obviously, at that point I had nothing to do with Penn State, but just how cool that looked. Fast forward to now and it’s really special to get the opportunity to play there now for this program.”

Funk and Lundy have the most ties to the Palestra itself. Lundy won three PCL championships there during his career at Roman, including back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019 to conclude his time with the Cahillities.

The three-time All-PCL selection said his mother constantly reminds him about those moments at the historic venue, often bringing them up on YouTube. A last-second win over Bonner-Prendergast during his junior year has its place among the Palestra’s lure.

“Just playing in that arena is definitely something special. The atmosphere is always amazing, especially for the Roman family,” Lundy said. “I feel like we had the best student section in the country in high school. It was always special, especially winning it too. It just makes it a little better. … It’s one of those moments you never forget because that’s one of those moments that’s always a part of us how we won there and stuff like that. Nobody can take that away from us. My mom, she won’t let me forget about it.”

The one season Lundy didn’t win a PCL title was during his sophomore season when Funk and Wood — powered by eventual Villanova star Collin Gillespie — earned the program’s first championship at the Palestra.

“Obviously, my favorite one is winning the Catholic League championship,” Funk said of his Palestra memories. “I’ve gone back and watched that game film probably too many times. I think I only scored two points in the game, but it was just so awesome the environment, being a part of a team that was able to do that in that environment because I just remember growing up my earliest memories of the Palestra watching Ja’Quan Newton and Neumann at the Palestra winning the PCL championship. A lot of great memories there.”

There will be plenty of reminiscing and catching up with family and friends for Penn State’s local products. They also hope they can add another win at the Cathedral of College Basketball to their resumes come Sunday.

“It’s the next game on the schedule but at the same time, it’s always special playing at the Palestra,” Lundy said. “Me and Funk had battles in there against each other. To play with him and be on the same team, will definitely be special coming from Philly. It’s definitely going to be a great moment and a moment we look forward to.”