There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

The popular Wizard of Oz saying is ringing true for the Penn State men's basketball team as the flailing Nittany Lions return to The Bryce Jordan Center for three games starting Wednesday when they host Illinois.

Penn State (12-6, 2-5 Big Ten) has now dropped three straight conference games and will get a chance to redeem themselves at home in the next eight days.

In the Lions' first meeting with the Fighting Illini, Penn State didn't score a field goal in the first eight minutes and were dominated in every facet of the game, getting clobbered, 92-60.

But now the Lions host the Illini, however, Penn State's home stand doesn't get any easier after the Illinois matchup as Indiana comes to town on Saturday evening and Michigan travels to Happy Valley next Wednesday.

The Lions are coming off a crushing 63-58 loss to No. 15 Wisconsin on Saturday, and with their star player, 6-foot-1 senior Joe Crispin struggling to find his jumpshot, Penn State might be in trouble if they can't get a few key wins in the next three contests. The Lions must move on and get a few big conference wins at home this week if they want to stay on the tournament bubble. And with a 3-5 record in January, the Lions are skating on very thin ice.

"Any time you're playing at home in the Big Ten, you have to get things done," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "We just need to get things done."

The Lions need to get them done now, too.

Penn State has nine games left, six of which are going to be played at The Bryce Jordan Center. Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan and Ohio State are all home, while the Lions have to travel to Iowa, Northwestern and Minnesota.

With three huge conference contests coming up at home, the Lions must pull off at least one upset to keep pace with a distancing Big Ten.

Northwestern men's basketball coach Bill Carmody knows how tough it is to win in the Big Ten. In his first year with the Wildcats, the former Princeton head man still hasn't won a conference matchup, but the first-year coach said he knew how tough it was to win on the road before he took the Northwestern job.

"When you go on the road it gets a lot rougher," Carmody said. "But when you are at home, it seems like it just gets easier to win."

That is what Penn State faces now. Six out of its final nine games are home, and all of them are very important if they plan to play, instead of watch, the NCAA Tournament.