The painful memory is still fresh in their minds.

On Jan. 5, the Penn State men's basketball team went to Alumni Hall in Bloomington, Ind., a place where they had never won in nine tries, and attempted to defy history by building a 22-8 lead to open the game.

However, they would only see that lead crumble to pieces. They would lose 61-54, despite holding Indiana without a field goal in the last five minutes of the game. They allowed the Hoosiers to go 32-38 from the free throw line, and committed three turnovers in the last minute of the game after tying the game at 54.

"I never wanted to have the feeling I had after the Indiana game again in my life," junior point guard Brandon Watkins said after the Wisconsin game Jan. 9.

The Nittany Lions (5-11, 1-4 Big Ten) get a chance for revenge tonight at 8 p.m. at The Bryce Jordan Center, but they are facing a team that has looked much better since the Lions nearly beat them. The Hoosiers (11-6, 4-1) dominated Michigan State in their next game, and upset then-No. 13 Iowa before losing to Ohio State Saturday in a game for first place in the conference.

This game is very important for the Hoosiers. It caps off a three-game road stretch, which they are 1-1 after the loss to Ohio State, and a win would serve as a necessary confidence builder for their home game against No. 8 Illinois on Saturday.

"(Tonight's) game is so important for us," Indiana coach Mike Davis said. "To go out and get two out of three on the road would really help our chances at a Big Ten championship.

"In the back of our mind we're thinking about Illinois, but Penn State is a team that's a lot better than their record. They played us this year better than any team we've played. Ohio State beat us, but it was a very tough game that we had against Penn State."

The Hoosiers' improvement is thanks mostly to the continuing development of sophomore forward Jared Jeffries, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the Gatorade National Player of the Year in his senior year in high school.

With last year's leading scorer Kirk Haston gone to the NBA, Jeffries has had to carry the bulk of the Hoosiers' offensive load.

Not surprisingly, he has emerged as one of the conference's best players. He ranks fourth among conference scorers in all games this season with 17.4 points per game, and is averaging 20.6 points per game in conference games, good for second in the Big Ten. He is also third in the conference in rebounding with 7.3 per game.

"Jared Jeffries is a pro," Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn said. "He could've gone (to the NBA) last year. . . He's very skilled for a kid his size, he's extremely athletic, and he has a great feel for the game."

The Lions' most blatant struggling point recently has been in the rebounding department, losing the battle of the boards 42-20 to Michigan State and 34-18 to Ohio State.

Against Indiana, they face a front line without the bulk of the Spartans or Buckeyes. The Hoosiers usually put three guards on the floor, and have been outrebounded by an average of 3.4 rebounds per game thus far this season.

According to Dunn, if the Lions hope to pull an upset this time around and end the trend of losing close games, they need to make big plays in the clutch.

"You have to make plays," Dunn said. "You have to put the ball in the basket, and you have to make stops. Sometimes we've been able to do both consistently. Sometimes we've done one and not the other. The team that wins can usually put the two together."