Penn State Basketball won’t reschedule Lost non-conference games | Why it matters

Penn State Basketball won’t reschedule several non-conference games that were canceled due to COVID-19, which could impact the Nittany Lions’ postseason hopes 

Penn State Basketball Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry revealed Monday that the Nittany Lions will not reschedule the lost non-conference games due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Penn State, due to their own COVID-19 issues, were forced to cancel a pretty marquee road test at Virginia Commonwealth University and a home game vs Quinnipiac.

VCU was likely the Lions’ best chance to earn a decent non-conference road win (after getting crushed at UMass). As it stands, the only decent name Penn State Basketball beat in the non-conference was neutral site over Oregon State in the third place game of the Emerald Coast Classic.

Penn State Basketball had a third game canceled, home vs Delaware State, but that was due to COVID-19 issues within the Hornet program.

It’s not really a surprise that Penn State wasn’t able to reschedule these games since the same thing happened last year.  Frustrating, however, is that Ohio State also had non-conference games cancelled due to the coronavirus and has already made up one of those games.

At 8-8 (3-5 in conference), Penn State Basketball could use these games to stave off falling below .500 in the hopes of postseason play. Despite the NIT not requiring a .500 record, last year’s team was a strong indiciation that the .500 record barometer is still strongly considered.

Penn State’s game vs Minnesota that was postponed by COVID issues within the Golden Gopher program will still likely be rescheduled by the Big Ten Conference.

Penn State Basketball heads to Indiana for a rematch with Hoosiers Wednesday night as the Nittany Lions try to avoid falling into the bottom four of the Big Ten Conference.