Penn State men’s basketball already has a few major pieces in place for the 2026-27 season, and the biggest one is a trip to the Bahamas.
The Nittany Lions are set to play in the 2026 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament from November 24-27, 2026 at Imperial Arena at Atlantis Paradise Island in The Bahamas. This year’s event won’t use the usual eight-team bracket. Instead, it has been split into two separate four-team groups.
Penn State landed in Group 2 alongside Memphis, Mississippi State and Wake Forest. Each team is guaranteed two games, and the Nittany Lions will only face opponents from that group.
Group 1 features Marquette, Texas A&M, Virginia and Xavier.
The tournament matchups and tipoff times will be released later.
There’s also an exhibition game on the calendar. Penn State will travel to Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, October 17 to face St.
Bonaventure in the Greenlight Network Preseason Showcase at KeyBank Center. Even though it’s being played in Buffalo, it will count as a home game for the New York-based Bonnies, who only have to make a 71-mile trip.
Penn State’s Big Ten slate is also starting to take shape. At home, the Nittany Lions will host Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue, Washington, Nebraska, Ohio State and Rutgers.
On the road, they’ll visit Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State, UCLA, USC, Washington, Nebraska, Ohio State and Rutgers.
The rest of the schedule will come into focus later, but those are the key dates and opponents known so far.
In Other News...
Penn State Faces Major Pressure In Battle For Elite In-State EDGE
Penn States push for elite in-state talent is running into a tougher recruiting climate than usual, and the latest example is four-star edge rusher George Parkinson IV. The Pennsylvania standout has become one of the most closely watched names in the state, with Penn State in the mix alongside LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas A&M as the race for one of the regions top defensive prospects tightens.
The bigger issue for the Nittany Lions is what this kind of battle says about their ability to hold off national heavyweights when the process gets expensive and competitive. With in-state recruiting already showing how difficult it can be to keep top talent close to home, Penn States NIL setup is now part of the conversation, and this recruitment could become a telling test of whether the program can match the deep-pocketed contenders circling Parkinson. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States 2026 Reload Hinges On These Massive Step-Up Spots
Penn States offseason turnover was always going to force a reset, but the scale of it makes the 2026 retool feel especially dramatic. More than 60 players are gone from the roster, including eight NFL Draft selections, and that leaves a lot of the depth chart in the hands of newcomers and players who have yet to prove they can handle full-time roles.
Up front, the Nittany Lions are preparing to lean on redshirt freshman Malachi Goodman at left tackle, while the defense is also being asked to absorb some major changes. Transfer linebacker Braelon Bacon is part of the answer in the middle, and young defensive end Yvan Kemajou is suddenly in the spotlight on the edge, giving Penn State a lot to sort through before the season starts to reveal which of these step-up spots can hold. [Read more 🡒]
Did Penn State Simply Outgrow James Franklin In The End
James Franklins Penn State run will be remembered as one of the most successful in program history, even if it ended with a sense that the ceiling had become hard to push through. From 2014 until partway through the 2025 season, he piled up a 104-45 record, won a Big Ten title and finally got the Nittany Lions into the College Football Playoff, all while helping turn Penn State back into a consistent national player.
Now at Virginia Tech, Franklin is stepping into a different kind of job, one where the expectations and the weekly pressure look a lot different than they did in State College. He has already acknowledged that the ACC presents a different scenario than chasing a national championship, and the question hanging over both schools is whether Penn State simply reached the point where Franklins model had taken it as far as it could go, or whether the relationship grew too comfortable before the final break. [Read more 🡒]