Catholicism has cathedrals. Islam has mosques. Judaism has temples.

Religions all over the world have grand and impressive structures where their disciples can go to worship. These structures are not merely called “religious buildings” but have their own strong words that characterize the building as a place of worship and grandeur.

The religion of college basketball is no different. Across the country, fieldhouses, coliseums, and halls host contests on the hardwood in environments that are loud and raucous. One such arena even borrows religious terminology in its nickname.

Over the last few years, Penn State men’s basketball has regularly had the opportunity to play one game per season at The Palestra, often dubbed “The Cathedral of College Basketball.” In the Nittany Lions’ few appearances there, Penn Staters have filled the stands, creating a difficult environment that rattles even some of the best teams in the country.

However, Penn State doesn’t need to travel three hours to Philadelphia to find its own college basketball cathedral. There is one on Burrowes Road.

Rec Hall opened in 1929, designed by Charles Klauder, the same architect who designed The Palestra. That fact shouldn’t surprise anyone considering how architecturally similar the two buildings are.

Despite their remarkably similar appearance, the current status of the two buildings is very different. The Palestra is sacred in college basketball. Not only does it host the University of Pennsylvania’s home basketball games, but it regularly hosts other basketball events like Penn State’s Palestra game and the Philadelphia Catholic League championships.

On the other hand, Rec Hall at Penn State had not hosted a college basketball game in seven years until this week. Just as many expected it would be, Penn State basketball’s return to Rec Hall proved what an amazing venue it is.

In its Return to Rec clash with No. 12 Illinois, Penn State men’s basketball pulled off an 8-0 run in the final 35 seconds to achieve a seemingly impossible comeback victory. It was a magical scene at Rec Hall as students stormed the court in a sea of white.

An integral part of Penn State’s miracle comeback was a pair of missed free throws by Illinois guard Coleman Hawkins which might’ve sunk the dagger into the Nittany Lions, who were trailing by two with 16 seconds left.

Hawkins is an 83% free-throw shooter. Two consecutive misses are uncharacteristic of him. Why the back-to-back bricks, then? The crowd had him rattled. What makes playing in Rec Hall and these other intimate venues is that noise gets amplified. The fans are right on top of the players, and the opposing players can feel it.

According to David Blank, the max decibel reading during the end of the game was 122.2 dB. To put things into perspective, the highest-ever decibel reading at Beaver Stadium was 122 dB. The low roof at Rec Hall traps the sound, forcing waves to echo and amplify, leading to some of the loudest levels ever recorded at a Penn State sporting event.

Decibel reader for the final 3 free throws and court storm at Rec Hall #psu #weare @PennStateMBB pic.twitter.com/mOciz175mU

— david blank (@fanOfThings00) February 22, 2024

Rec Hall is acoustically prone to heightened sound. That loudness can truly have an effect on some of the best teams in the country, playing in a much louder Penn State arena than they are used to.

Compared to Rec Hall, the Bryce Jordan Center isn’t an intimidating place to play. The BJC was designed to hold large-scale events like THON and concerts, with a gently sloping bowl that places most fans at a distance from the action on the court.

The entire upper bowl of the BJC is often completely curtained off for basketball games, and the lower bowl is typically sparsely populated with fans sitting scattered around the arena. The ceilings are high, so the sound waves dissipate before they get the chance to echo and amplify. In layman’s terms, the BJC is not an intimidating place to play basketball.

The idea that Rec Hall is a harder place to play than the BJC is not just a theory. After Wednesday’s contest, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood discussed how he “wished” they played the game at the BJC. Perhaps an opposing head coach’s public admission that he’d rather play across campus is a testament to why playing games at Rec Hall would be so successful.

"I wish we were back in the other place [Bryce Jordan Center]," Coach Underwood said.

He went on to call this atmosphere "Great for college basketball."

— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) February 22, 2024

When asked about the possibility of playing more games at Rec Hall, men’s basketball head coach Mike Rhoades discussed his willingness to play anywhere but also his love of the atmosphere Rec Hall provides.

“This was old school. This was like ‘check it up and let’s go play in a hot gym,’ which is what it’s all about, which is a lot of fun,” Rhoades said.

Rhoades commented on how the decision is administrative, which begs the question, “What happens to the Bryce Jordan Center?” There are a number of logistical challenges that would come with moving two more teams into Rec Hall which already hosts wrestling, men’s and women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s gymnastics.

The seemingly obvious answer is to move wrestling to the Bryce Jordan Center. Wrestling’s annual BJC Dual regularly fills most of the arena, if not selling out. If wrestling moved homes across campus for every matchup, they likely wouldn’t fill the arena every dual, but they’d fill the lower bowl, a feat that basketball can hardly ever achieve itself.

Another counterargument for the move is that the team would be “downgrading” by moving to a smaller venue. However, this wouldn’t be the first time a team tactically downsized to create a more intense playing environment. Northwestern football recently announced plans to renovate their football stadium and decrease capacity by 12,000.

Yes, decreasing the capacity would make tickets harder to get for fans, but fans would also get treated to a significantly better experience when attending games at Rec Hall than if attending games at the hollow shell of an empty Bryce Jordan Center.

The Lady Lions were up next at Rec Hall the day after the men, and while they didn’t come away with the result they’d hoped for in an 82-69 loss to No. 2 Ohio State, head coach Carolyn Kieger still had positive things to say about the environment at Rec Hall.

“It just felt different. It felt like an intimate environment,” Kieger said postgame. “I absolutely felt it louder [than the Byrce Jordan Center]. I felt when we were making a run or trying to withstand a run, I felt it. It’s just louder.”

In a radio interview after the game, Lady Lions assistant coach Pam Brown echoed some of Kieger’s sentiments, discussing how the environment at Rec Hall is so much more intense than at the Bryce Jordan Center.

“It was phenomenal. The atmosphere was great. You love that the fans are right on top of you. It gets super loud in here,” Brown said.

The reality is, unlike the Bryce Jordan Center, Rec Hall was made for basketball, designed by the architect of the sport’s greatest “cathedral.” There’s a reason the decibel levels reached historic levels on Wednesday night. Rec Hall is the perfect venue for the gritty brand of basketball the Nittany Lions want to play.

If you have your very own “cathedral” of college basketball, isn’t it a waste not to hold mass? There is a clear desire among fans to hold more games in the venue, and the team is seemingly more successful when doing so.

Happy Valley could be a place that opposing schools fear coming to play in, just like it is for football. Unless a major shift happens in the attendance numbers across campus, the Bryce Jordan Center will not be that place. Rec Hall could be.