Penn State's bench has been almost non-existent throughout much of the season.

Minnesota barely even has one.

At 8 tonight, the Nittany Lions (14-7, 4-6) head to Minneapolis to go up against an under-matched, under-sized Minnesota team that has the ability to excel in the underdog role.

In the Golden Gophers' (16-8, 4-7) 94-83 loss to Michigan State Saturday, Minnesota stayed within striking distance of upsetting the Spartans right up until the final minutes of the game.

"We played as a hard and as scrappy as we could have against one of the best teams in the country for 38 minutes," Minnesota head coach Dan Monson said.

The Gophers head into the game against Penn State with only six scholarship players expected to be in uniform.

Since the NCAA slapped several sanctions on the program for violations during the Clem Haskins era, Minnesota's roster dropped to nine scholarship players. But with injuries to senior leader John Blair-Brickerstaff and Travarus Bennent that occurred last week, the roster has slimmed to six scholarship players.

Despite being undermanned, Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn knows the Gophers will give his team all they can handle.

"They're a good team," he said. "They've got guys who can beat you off the dribble as well as shoot the three-point shot. They have a combination of the two that you always have a chance to win games."

During the Lions bye week, Penn State has tried to work on team defense.

The Lions are ranked 11th in the Big Ten in defense.

With Dusty Rychart playing well in the post by averaging 15 points and a little more than seven rebounds per contest, he and outside shooter Terrance Simmons could cause Penn State havoc.

In the loss Saturday to Michigan State, Minnesota hit 16 three-point shots, with Simmons leading the way with seven three pointers.

Since both Penn State and Minnesota play much of are similar by playing a lot their game from behind the perimeter, the matchup's should be evenly matched.

"I think their pretty similar but may be a little more athletic on the perimeter than we are I think were similar," Dunn said.

Although Penn State will need to play Minnesota tough, these next three games should play into the Lions favor. After tonight's game, Penn State will return home to play Purdue Saturday before getting back on the road to play Northwestern next weekend.

"I feel we have a great shot," Titus Ivory said. "I never put it out of mind that we couldn't respond from some close losses earlier this season. But you know we got a nice little stretch here that we could take advantage of teams that aren't doing that well as some of the other ones."