Dunn's wife gives birth

For Jerry Dunn this year's basketball season has been short on two things -- wins and good news. However, that changed this past weekend.

The day after his team won its second Big Ten game of the season, Dunn's wife Gwen gave birth to an 8-pound, 5-ounce baby girl, Morgan Jania Dunn.

"I just hope she makes a lot of money," Dunn joked at his weekly news conference yesterday.

As for his team, Dunn hopes it can use its much needed win over Northwestern as a springboard for to build some motivation as the season winds down. But in order to do so, the Nittany Lions have to get past a red-hot Wisconsin team tomorrow. The Badgers have won four straight conference games and are in a second-place tie with Purdue and Illinois.

To be successful against the Badgers, again the Lions will need to get Pete Lisicky open, because he has been the majority of their offense this season. Dunn said Lisicky has helped his own cause by getting better at making his own shot.

"Trent Tucker, one of the best shooters I've ever see at the NBA level, complimented him on being able to make an escape dribble and get his own shot," Dunn said. "And that is going to be very critical for him not only this year but for years to come."

As for Lisicky it has been a bittersweet season. On Saturday he broke the Penn State consecutive free throw record by making his 33rd straight. Last week against Indiana, he scored the 1,000th point of his career. But amid all the milestones, it has been hard for him to get too excited when his team continues to lose game after game.

"I think for anybody that wants to win as badly as he does, those things (records) are secondary to the team's success," Dunn said. "You really find out where a guy is when he says to you, 'The team's success means more than individual records,' and I think that any good team player will have that makeup, as Pete Lisicky does."

But all the losses and disappointment have not stopped Dunn from setting some goals for his team as the season winds down. He said he is taking the rest of the games one at a time but would like his team to win the rest of them. Dunn would like to this, not so much because of any postseason aspirations, but more to increase the confidence level of his players.

And if the Lions do have any postseason aspiration, the time is now to make a move. Winning out is likely the only way for them to earn a National Invitational Tournament berth.

"As we get closer to our goals that is something I would think more about," Dunn said. "But I don't want to put the horse before the cart, and certainly I think from the player's standpoint it is something to shoot for."