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This Week in Penn State Sports History: Nittany Lions claim 2009 NIT Championship

History may repeat itself.

With Penn State headed to Madison Square Garden for the 2018 NIT semifinals, we take you back to 2009 for one of the biggest games in program history.

Under coach Ed DeChellis, the Nittany Lions won 21 games in the regular season and would qualify for the 2009 National Invitational Tournament after falling to Purdue in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.

The road to Madison Square Garden was challenging, as Penn State had to fight off a pesky George Mason side in overtime, before dispatching Rhode Island and Florida to reach the NIT Final Four in New York .