Penn State will take on Lehigh at 7:30 tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center in an important out-of conference contest.
The Mountain Hawks played as a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament last spring and will test a Nittany Lion squad that struggled in an exhibition win over East Stroudsburg at the Jordan Center Sunday afternoon.
Penn State will be looking out for Lehigh sophomore C.J. McCollum tonight, who scored 26 points in the Tournament against No. 1 seed Kansas last spring.
That title belongs to the Mountain Hawks’ C.J. McCollum, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year and one of NCAA basketball’s hidden gems, nestled away in the Lehigh Valley town of Bethlehem.
To stop at just preseason player of the year would be an insult to the sophomore McCollum, though. As a freshman, McCollum became the first player in Patriot League history to win both the player and rookie of the year awards in the same season.
"McCollum’s a very good player," said Penn State coach Ed DeChellis, who called McCollum an NBA talent. "He can really score. He separates well, he has a knack of dipping into you and separating, makes tough shots."