It is a taste so bitter and rancid that those who suffer it, however rarely, will do anything they can to keep it from lingering.

It is a taste the members of the men's basketball team have grown all too accustomed to over the past two seasons, but one they have had to bear only three times so far this year. Wednesday, after the third time, the Lions couldn't hide the bitterness.

"When you get a loss like this, the next time you go out, you just want to spit that bad losing taste out of your mouth," junior forward Rahsaan Carlton said after Penn State's 71-69 loss to Indiana.

Carlton and the rest of the Lions (10-3, 2-2 Big Ten) will get their first chance to cleanse themselves when they host Northwestern (4-9, 0-4) at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Rec Hall.

In its third Big Ten season, Coach Bruce Parkhill's squad is proving itself a legitimate competitor for a spot in the league's upper tier. And while the Lions would obviously rather sit among the conference elite than dwell in the cellar, there is a drawback to success. The losses, no longer expected, are now much harder to take.

"We're past the babying stage where close is congratulated and you get the slaps on the back," senior center John Amaechi said. "Now, really, close is a slap in the face."

If the Lions hope to avoid another slap -- and their first back-to-back losses of the year -- the Wildcats could be coming at just the right time. Coach Ricky Byrdsong is without four starters from a team that made it to the second round of the NIT last season, with senior forward Cedric Neloms the only returnee.

Neloms was averaging 13 points a game going into the Wildcats' loss Wednesday at Michigan State, but his efforts haven't been enough to overcome Northwestern's inexperience and early injury problems. The 'Cats come limping into the Lions' den, and Penn State knows the opportunity it has.

"There's a lot of league games left, and hopefully we will be able to come back. I believe that we'll be able to," sophomore point guard Dan Earl said. "But we've just got to look on. There's nothing we can do about the past now. I think we'll bounce back and hopefully get one this Saturday."