With the rest of the students in the University, the Penn State men's basketball team will spend next week studying for finals. However, while everyone else goes home for the holiday, the young Nittany Lion squad will spend their Christmas break cramming for what will perhaps be a more grueling test.

The Big Ten schedule.

The Lions have five games in between their match at Pittsburgh this weekend and the Big Ten opener Jan. 2 at home against Michigan to get to the level they will need to be at to face one of the toughest conferences in college basketball.

"Hopefully it prepares us for the Big Ten," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "Certainly we'd like to have some success as well in our non-league schedule, but I think the biggest thing is to get prepared for the Big Ten."

The Big Ten is known as one of the more physical conferences in Div. I. With four freshmen getting significant time as forwards, and the Lions getting outrebounded by a margin of 6.5 boards per game, the Lions are going to have to vastly improve their inside game to compete with the type of big men the conference has.

"I think that we will have seen as physical inside play as we're going to see in the Big Ten by the time January rolls around," Dunn said. "It's a matter of guys understanding what they're going to be faced with and making strides to be able to handle those types of teams."

The Lions will get one more game in before final exams at intrastate rival Pittsburgh tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Panthers are 7-1 thus far, with the loss coming to South Florida. The Panthers feature solid guard-play with junior Brandin Knight and sophomore Julius Page leading the offense.

They get back in action 11 days later when James Madison (2-2) comes to the Bryce Jordan Center Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The Dukes are led by junior guard David Fanning who is averaging 21.8 points per game.

The Patriot League tour comes back through the Bryce Jordan Center Saturday Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. when 1-6 Bucknell pays the Lions a visit. The Bison are led by senior guard Bryan Bailey. He paces the team with 18.3 points per game, but he's missed four of the Bison's seven games with an ankle injury.

After the Bucknell game, the Lions will make just their second trip out of the state this season to participate in the Golden Bear Classic at the University of California. They begin the four-team tournament against Coppin State Dec. 28. California and Harvard play the other game, and the winners and losers will match up the next day.

The Lions will need to take advantage of all of their small conference foes, because once Jan. 2 hits, and the Big Ten schedule starts, there won't be any easy games. This year the Wolverines lead off the Lions conference schedule. They will invade the Bryce Jordan Center on Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. The Wolverines (3-3) are trying to rebuild after a 10th-place conference finish last year with former Seton Hall mentor Tommy Amaker taking over as head coach.

Right before the break ends, the Lions will face their first conference power in Indiana (5-1), when they travel to Bloomington for a game Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. The Hoosiers were predicted to finish third in the conference thanks to the promise surrounding sophomore Jared Jeffries. Jeffries was last year's Big Ten freshman of the year, and is currently averaging 16.1 points per game.

The Lions are a long way from being ready for the conference slate, but they're confident that by the time it begins they will be.

"I think we have the players, we just have to go out and play with that high energy every night," senior guard Ken Krimmel said. "And not be worried about what it says on the other team's jersey, whether it's Temple or Michigan State. We just have to realize that we can play with anybody."