​Whenever Penn State plays basketball games at the Palestra, it’s typically an exciting time for the fan base. That will hopefully be the case for the Nittany Lions this time around when they take on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, which has been better than Penn State in basketball over the past few years, has to feel rather confident about winning this game.Penn State, however, really has no excuse for losing to a team like Pittsburgh when it will have the entire fan base behind it. Ultimately, this is Penn State basketball we’re talking about, and until something changes, I don’t really know how much confidence we should have in the program’s ability to win games at a high level. That also goes to show how bad things have been at the Palestra for Penn State all this time, with the school recently noting that it is actually 14 games below .500 there.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“The Palestra has long been intertwined with Penn State basketball history. The Nittany Lions played their first game inside the famed arena on Jan. 27, 1927, less than a month after the building officially opened on New Year’s Day. Penn State’s longtime home, Rec Hall, was designed by the same architect, Charles Klauder, with construction beginning just weeks after the Palestra opened before Rec Hall debuted in January 1929. Penn State enters the milestone 150th matchup with Pitt leading the all-time series 76-73. It marks the second-straight season the longtime Keystone State rivals will meet at a neutral site after facing off at the GIANT Center in Hershey during the 2025-26 season.“The Nittany Lions have played 64 previous games at the Palestra and own a 25-39 all-time record in the historic building, including a 15-11 mark against opponents other than Penn. Penn State has found success in recent years in Philadelphia, winning five of its last eight games at the Palestra and 14 of its last 24 contests in the venue,” the school wrote.This is a very concerning record for Penn State, and it’s almost tough to believe in a sense.Given how awesome the games at the Palestra are, there’s really no excuse for this bad of a record. History would now tell us that Penn State is not going to win this game, and Pitt also leads the all-time series by three games.