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In a recent press release, Penn State officially announced its 2015-16 non-conference schedule and it should be an interesting one. The Nittany Lions faced some intriguing non-conference opponents including Akron, USC, and Virginia Tech last season and are set to add some other top matchups this year.
Though Penn State does not have any teams that are projected to be elite next season, there are some interesting matchups with teams including Boston College, Colorado, and DePaul. For a program that is still trying to take the next step in the Big Ten, it's a manageable schedule that should afford the team plenty of opportunities to score quality and resume adding wins.
Here is the full non-conference schedule.
2015-16 Penn State Non-Conference Schedule:
- Nov. 14 -- VMI
- Nov. 17 -- DePaul
- Nov. 20 -- at Duquesne
- Nov. 24 -- Radford
- Nov. 28 -- Bucknell
- Dec. 2 -- at Boston College
- Dec. 5 -- Eastern Michigan
- Dec. 8 -- at George Washington
- Dec. 10 -- Canisius
- Dec. 12 -- Louisiana-Monroe
- Dec. 19 -- at Drexel
- Dec. 22 -- Colorado
- Dec. 23 -- Kent State/SMU
The Nittany Lions will likely face their biggest challenges against Boston College, George Washington, and during the team's trip to Las Vegas when they will face Colorado and the winner of Kent State and SMU. As previously mentioned, none of these teams look like major national contenders, but they should be good enough to offer not only challenging games, but will offer potential boosts to the resume with wins.
Penn State will have to overcome the loss of DJ Newbill heading into next season, but with an exciting new recruiting class and the return of several young contributors, this could be a schedule to get off to a hot start. There are not many names on the slate that will turn the heads of general college basketball fans, but there are more than enough quality opponents to put together a nice schedule for the Nittany Lions.