Penn State heads into the Big Ten Tournament this week as the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 10 seed Northwestern. This year, the tournament will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Other than Rutgers, no other Big Ten school is within relative proximity to New York City. If Penn State is going to make a run in the tournament, it’ll need to have a big advantage in fan support at Madison Square Garden.

With many students and alumni living in the New York area, there’s no reason Madison Square Garden can’t be filled with blue and white. It’s time for you New Yorkers to remembers your Penn State roots.

Penn State finished the season 12-4 at home, losing to Wisconsin and Rider by one point, Minnesota in overtime, and a ranked Michigan team by nine points after losing Mike Watkins to injury. Penn State also blew out then-ranked No. 8 Ohio State at home in front of one of the largest crowds at the Bryce Jordan Center in quite some time.

The Nittany Lions have shown the ability to play and compete well with other teams in the Big Ten, losing on the road to top-ranked teams Michigan State and Purdue by slim margins. After falling to Nebraska on Sunday, Pat Chambers’ squad needs to turn some heads. Yes, Tony Carr will have to continue to be Tony Carr. In other words, he’ll need to continue to play like the best scorer in the conference.

Lamar Stevens and Josh Reaves will need to score and defend like crazy if Mike Watkins is still gone, and the brigade of backup big men will need to come up big on the defensive end. More than anything, though, the Nittany Lions need to continue to believe. Is there any better way to instill that confidence in a team than by showing up for support on the road?

The team has looked defeated at times on the road during games, but with a home crowd behind them, could have the confidence to make a run.

About the Author

Nathaniel Pinskey

Nathaniel is only filling this out because he was forced to. He prefers to be called Nathaniel, but it always turns into Nate or Nathan. Send questions and comments via e-mail (nathaniel@onwardstate.com) and follow him on Twitter (@nlpinskey3896) even though he doesn't tweet.

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