The situation looks all too familiar to the men's basketball team.

On Jan. 28 Rutgers came in to Rec Hall and handed the Lions their first home loss in 25 games. Three days later, Penn State went into Morgantown, W.Va., and beat the Mountaineers in the WVU Colesium -- the toughest place to play in the Atlantic 10.

On Wednesday the Lions took it on the chin again at Rec Hall, 69-59, to Temple. Tomorrow night the Lions (15-8, 8-6 in the A-10) will look to rebound again when they face Massachusetts (15-8, 8-6) at 7:08 in Amherst, Mass.

"It's a very similar assignment," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "UMass is very tough. This is a difficult stretch."

Penn State has won 13-of-22 games against the Minutemen since the two teams began playing in 1976. But the Lions are are just 4-6 in the 4,024-seat Curry Hicks Cage -- where former ABA and NBA great Julius Erving played his college basketball.

This game will determine sole posession of fourth place. The Lions and the Minutemen are trying to catch up to A-10 co-leaders Temple and Rutgers, both 11-3 in the conference, and George Washington. The Colonials are in third place with a 9-6 record.

Penn State won the first meeting between these two teams, 65-64, Jan. 3 in Rec Hall. But it took two James Barnes free throws with four seconds left to pull out the game. Barnes finished with a team-high 19 points in the win.

Coach John Calipari's team has finished on the short end of most of its contests. The Minutemen have lost six conference games by a total of 11 points.

UMass relies on balanced scoring. All five starters average in double figures. Junior guard Jim McCoy is the UMass' leading scorer with 17.3 points per game. The Pittsburgh native had 20 points in the teams' first meeting.

The Minutemen are small but talented up front. Sophomore forward Tony Barbee, at 6'6" 210 pounds, is the team's second leading scorer with 16.4 points per game.

Center Harper Williams, a 6'7" 200-pounder, is the Minutemen's leading rebounder with 8.2 per game. Williams, who was Atlantic 10 Player of the Week last week, averages 12.7 points per game.

Forward William Herndon, at 6'3" 225 pounds, is also averages 12.7 a game. Joining McCoy in the back court is point guard Rafer Giles, UMass's 3-point threat. He has hit 44-of-118 (37.3 percent) treys and averages 10.4 points per game.

The Lions will try to improve on their 3-6 road record.

"We're just going to have to go up their and get a win on the road," forward James Barnes said. "They just beat West Virginia in Morgantown so they are going to be confident. We've just got to be more confident"

"We've got some tough road games down the stretch," guard Monroe Brown said. "We're just going to have to get them."