Penn State basketball hosts top-ranked Purdue in its return to the Palestra

The old building will rock, but for a couple of Penn State basketball players, Sunday’s reverberations will shake out old memories, some of the best of their basketball lives. A big game in a full Palestra?

“Always special,” Penn State forward and Roman Catholic graduate Seth Lundy of playing at the Palestra. “Me and Funk had battles in there against each other.”

Nittany Lions guard Andrew Funk, Bucknell graduate transfer and Archbishop Wood graduate, sat next to Lundy the other day as Penn State made a couple of the Philly starters available to the media ahead of the game at the Palestra against top-ranked Purdue.

“I can remember when they played Michigan State, when they played Iowa,” Funk said of past Penn State Palestra pilgrimages. “Obviously, at that point, I had nothing to do with Penn State. But I can remember just how cool that looked. Fast forward to now, really special.”

» READ MORE: Seth Lundy is learning from fellow Roman Catholic grad Lamar Stevens

Favorite Palestra memory? Funk took the layup.

“Obviously, winning the Catholic League championship,” Funk said. “I’ve gone back and watched that game film probably too many times. I think I only scored two points in the game …”

Some guard named Gillespie took over that night in 2017.

“It was just so awesome, the environment,” Funk said. “Being part of a team that was able to do that, in that environment. I just remember growing up, my earliest memories at the Palestra watching Ja’Quan Newton at Neumann at the Palestra in the PCL championship. … I can remember the year his team won.”

Funk meant Lundy, in 2019 — Lundy had a huge game, scoring 19, a slew in the fourth quarter, as a loaded Roman team beat La Salle for the title. By then, Funk was a freshman at Bucknell.

“I was following on Twitter,” Funk said.

“The atmosphere is always amazing — especially, like, for the Roman family,” Lundy said. “I felt like we had the best student section in the country, in high school. … Moments you never forget. … My mom won’t let me forget about it. She’s always going on YouTube and watching the championship game. That will be special for her as well.”

Big 5 purists might (should) hate this … The Catholic League playoff doubleheaders provide the best current Palestra atmospheres. These Penn State visits recreate that since they don’t come too often, and make sure the opponent is top notch. Sunday’s game already is sold out.

Count Cam Wynter as an honorary Philly guy for this one, since the Drexel graduate transfer played more games off 33rd Street than anybody in this game. They were just down a couple of blocks at the DAC. Two freshmen — big man Demetrius Lilley, Lower Merion High School grad, and Jameel Brown, who played at the Haverford School and Westtown — are the latest from the area to head up Route 322.

“Hats off to Coach Chambers — I think it was his idea to start this,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said.

He’s right. Former coach Patrick Chambers started things rolling, with Michigan State showing up in 2017.

“It’s great for us,” Shrewsberry said. “It’s an area we want to continue to recruit. But we also want to bring ourselves to our fans. Our fans from Philadelphia don’t always get a chance to get here [to State College] and see the basketball team. So this gives us a chance to go there. And [it] gives our guys who aren’t from there a feel of what Philadelphia basketball is about, on top of, the No. 1 team in the country is rolling in here.”

» READ MORE: Westtown’s Jameel Brown helps give Penn State its best-rated recruiting class ever and a foothold in Philly

Purdue holds that spot at least until Monday, since Rutgers went to Purdue last Monday and knocked off the Boilermakers, who bounced back with a 71-69 win Thursday at Ohio State.

“If I had my choice, I don’t know if I would choose them,” said Shrewsberry, himself a former Purdue assistant. “But I did have a choice. Golly, I’m sorry. … I’m just looking forward to my first experience coaching at the Palestra.”

Shrewsberry, still maybe considered new to Pennsylvania in his second season at Penn State, was asked about the reception he’s gotten. He said it’s been all positive. He made sure to include Philly guys on his staff, he said, hiring assistants Adam Fisher and Mike Farrelly and adding Mike Green as director of player development.

“Also, I think people want to help us, as long as we’re doing good things,” Shrewsberry said.

Those good things include winning, and Penn State is 11-4, its five-game winning streak broken Wednesday at Michigan. Joe Lunardi has Penn State as the first team out of his NCAA field in a bracketology report issued Friday. A victory Sunday obviously would push the Nittany Lions into at least Lunardi’s theoretical field.

So the Eagles play the big game in town on Sunday … just not the only one.

» READ MORE: Can Villanova still make the NCAA Tournament? We asked bracket expert Joe Lunardi.