It’s no secret that Penn State has some electric atmospheres for sporting events. Beaver Stadium, Rec Hall, and Pegula Ice Arena are usually the first venues that come to mind, but during Penn State men’s basketball’s victory over Minnesota on Saturday afternoon, the Bryce Jordan Center was the center of the Nittany Lion sports world.

It’s been a long time coming for Pat Chambers, and it was truly starting to feel like the coach may never find a way to turn his group into a winner. Despite a bright spot when Penn State won the NIT in 2018 and finished with a 26-13 overall record, Chambers’ tenure in Happy Valley has hardly been marked by success before this season.

Considering all of that, Saturday’s win in front of a sold-out crowd illustrated just how much the head coach and his team have been able to build up a massive amount of support in the community thanks to their winning ways.

The White Out atmosphere in the BJC quite literally felt like a mini version of Beaver Stadium on game day, as fans were willing their team on during a tense second half in which the Golden Gophers made things quite interesting.

Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino noticed the clear difference in energy during Saturday’s contest, and he summarized it well at the end of his postgame press conference.

“I think the buy-in from the community is big,” Pitino said. “Where have you all been the past nine years? I haven’t seen any of you guys in this press conference. It’s been the emptiest press conference ever. Not a shot at the media or the fans, but Patrick Chambers is a great coach. He’s got great talent, and he gets those guys better. When you get buy-in from the community, that team can beat anyone.”

Pitino went on to say that the Nittany Lions are already a talented team, but they’re even harder to beat when they have such a strong home-court advantage.

“I don’t know how many home games they have left, but this is a tough place to play. Before, it wasn’t, not that we were setting the world on fire before, but it wasn’t,” Pitino said. “The fans know they’re in the NCAA tournament, they’re 18-5, they’re 8-4 in conference, they’re playing for a potential Big Ten title. They do a great job they push the guys a lot. Now that there is buy-in from the community, there is a level that every program can get. In this league that’s what it’s all about.”

Aside from Chambers, Penn State players who have been in Happy Valley for several years are now seeing just how much their trust in the program has paid off. Fifth-year senior Mike Watkins and senior Lamar Stevens are obviously key parts of the team, and their head coach has seen throughout their careers how they have pushed to buy in to the program and the community as a whole.

“It starts with Lamar [Stevens] as a freshman always being willing to do the charity events and being out there in the community and developing relationships,” Chambers said. “If you don’t develop relationships with everybody that lives here in State College and the students, they’re not coming out. I think you saw four years, and for Mike Watkins, five years, and for me, a long time building relationships and I think people are really excited about what we’re doing.”

That buy-in from the players clearly paid off on Saturday, as the BJC was rocking throughout the contest. The passion for the team is clear from students and fans overall, evidenced by the several long lines building up outside of the arena as game time approached.

Nittany Lion fans will have plenty more reason to cheer throughout this dream season. Penn State’s next home game comes at 12 p.m. on Saturday, February 15 when it welcomes Northwestern to the BJC. Stevens and Co. will try to win its 13th home game of the season against the Wildcats, while the senior forward will try to stay hot after a career-high 33-point performance against Minnesota.

First, though, the team will travel to Purdue on Tuesday for tough conference road game. That game will start at 6:30 p.m. and be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.