Earlier this season, men's basketball coach Bruce Parkhill was queried about last season's loss to Ohio State in Columbus -- a game that seemed winnable near the end, but ended up as another notch in the loss column.

Did that game "stick out" at all in Parkhill's mind as a game the Lions should have won?

"No," he said mildly, shaking his head, a hint of a grin breaking across his stoic facade. After all, why should that game have any greater significance over any other from last year.

But then the grin got wider, "There's only one game that really sticks out in my mind from last year."

He didn't say which game that was, he didn't have to -- everyone knew.

Just as everyone knows now --1 p.m. tomorrow on the Rec Hall hardwood, the infamous rematch takes place: Penn State (10-7 overall, 3-5 in the Big Ten) versus No. 14 Indiana (13-5, 6-2).

Parkhill and company enter the contest at a disadvantage, though, unsure of whether or not starting guard Michael Jennings will be able to play. The shooting guard is still questionable after suffering a slight concussion late in the first half against Illinois.

Jennings was injured going for a rebound against beefy Illini forward Shelly Clark --all 6-foot-9, 262 pounds of him.

"He got creamed by a real big elbow," Parkhill said on his weekly radio call-in show yesterday, adding that if the senior can't go, backup Steve Wydman would most likely fill in.

With backup center Michael Joseph also questionable due to a back injury, and forward Matt Gaudio feeling ill, Parkhill said the Jennings injury becomes magnified.

"It feels like the roof's falling in," he said.

And don't think that Bob Knight and his Hoosiers wouldn't like to take advantage of the Lions' misfortunes.

Indiana makes its first appearance in Rec Hall since last year's double-overtime thriller made famous by a Sam Lickliter whistle at the end of regulation.

Penn State's first crack at Bob Knight's storied program this year ended in a valiant 80-72 loss in Indiana's Assembly Hall last month. If the game is that close once again, the Rec Hall mystique might be the difference.

But Indiana's Damon Bailey will try not to let that happen. Heading into the Hoosier's win over Ohio State Wednesday, the 6-foot-3 senior guard was averaging 21.9 points and 3.8 assists per game --both team highs.

"He's a great player," Penn State point guard Dan Earl said. "If you give him one foot, he's gonna put it up -- and it's gonna go in."