How to watch Penn State basketball host Michigan at the Palestra

Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades leaned into the frustration. His Nittany Lions on the receiving end of a 92-61 thrashing at Michigan State on Thursday evening, he stressed to his team the need to understand its failings, put the game behind it, and move on.

“Dealing with adversity. Pretty much like life, it doesn’t always go the way you want, it’s how you react to it. So I told our guys to sulk over it tonight and get over it. Let’s get ready to go to win the next one,” he said. “It’s an unforgiving conference that we’re in. That’s how it goes. We didn’t play well enough, especially in that first half, to win a game on the road. And we got to learn from it.

“But you can’t complain about anything. You can’t make excuses. You got to find a way, you got to move on from the good and the bad and the ugly. And that’s what we got to do.”

Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, Rhoades and the Nittany Lions will get that chance.

Penn State set to take on Michigan in showcase game

Set to welcome Michigan to the Palestra, the Penn State basketball program is making its annual pilgrimage back to the Cathedral of College Basketball on Sunday afternoon.

A matchup of two teams coming off losses on Thursday, the Wolverines also dropping a 73-71 decision at Minnesota to fall to 1-2 in league play, Rhoades acknowledged his anticipation for the opportunity to bring Penn State to the famed venue for a game, with the intention to do it again every year moving forward.

“It’s an absolute honor and privilege to be able to coach Penn State there on Sunday. For all our staff and our team, we don’t take it for granted. What a great opportunity. That’s the fun part of it. Getting ready for another Big Ten game against a very good Michigan team, well coached Michigan team, that’s the next game on our schedule,” he said. “But to go into Philadelphia, show off our Penn State alumni and go to them in the Philadelphia area, it’s a huge area for us. And in terms of recruiting, all the connections we have there from our staff and myself with all the high school coaches and the basketball people in Philadelphia, being honored to be at the Palestra and be in Philly representing Penn State.”

Here’s how to watch the Nittany Lions in action on Sunday:

Game time, how to watch: Penn State (7-7, NET 139) vs. Michigan (6-8, NET 81)

Venue: The Palestra
Tip time: 12 p.m. ET – Sunday, Jan. 7
TV: BTN
Stream: Live stream on Fubo! For a limited time, new subscribers can save $20 on Fubo’s Pro, Elite and Premier plans for the first month!
On the call: Wayne Randazzo (play by play) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
Radio: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
Live stats: Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

What is the Penn State-Michigan spread?

The Nittany Lions are 3.5-point underdogs against Michigan on Sunday afternoon. And, the over/under betting total is 153.5 points. 

Penn State injury updates

• Favour Aire is back after suffering a broken finger that kept him out until the final game of the calendar year. He played four minutes in the Nittany Lions’ win over Rider before the break. And, according to Rhoades, the big man will continue to help Penn State on the interior. 
  “Just another big body, another guy that at the rim can help us rebound and get in the way. Defense at the rim, blocking shots. He is athletic. We can run the floor and can finish vertically. So that helps. Just having that other body,” said Rhoades. “If you think of some of the games where we had some foul trouble inside, that could have really helped us. The biggest thing with Fave now is, he’s still a young player. He needs time, he needs reps. We’re going to throw him in the fire and see what he does. But he needs experience and he’s gonna get that here, getting thrown in the fire here in Big Ten play.” Aire played only one minute in East Lansing on Thursday.
• Wing Nick Kern missed the Rider game but returned to score 10 points in Penn State’s loss at Michigan State on Thursday night.
• Missing a full month of action with an unspecified foot injury, shooting guard Jameel Brown returned against Rider. “He’s very close to being full time back,” said Rhoades. “He has had some good practices. We wanted to get him in the Rider game, but we wanted to be careful, too. But he had a really good practice today.” Brown went on to play seven minutes against the Spartans.