After last Wednesday's blowout loss at home to Indiana, Penn State men's basketball head coach Jerry Dunn and several of his players suggested the team might in fact play better basketball away from The Bryce Jordan Center. A spirited effort at Wisconsin on Saturday even lent credence to that notion.

So much for that theory.

The Nittany Lions fell to 0-7 on the road this season in losing their fifth straight overall to Minnesota, 94-70, last night at the Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

"They were more than 'on' today," Lions senior Tyler Smith said of the Golden Gophers on WMAJ-AM 1450. "They came to play tonight and brought a ton of energy."

Penn State (5-14, 1-7 Big Ten) fell behind 19-6 early and never recovered. The Lions got only as close as 21-13 before a 15-5 Gopher run essentially erased all doubt as to the outcome of the game, even though it was still only in the first half.

"We just dug ourselves a hole again, like we have the last two games, and it's tough to get out of those," Smith said.

Minnesota (12-7, 5-3) built its lead to 47-27 at halftime and came out flying in the second half, taking a 31-point lead at one point before a modest Lions comeback made the game more respectable.

"I certainly thought we showed some heart coming back," Dunn said. "Guys didn't quit."

While the Lions may have displayed the necessary effort, their inferior size and strength did them in once again.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Penn State was again dominated under the boards.

The Gophers out-rebounded the Lions 38-26, marking the seventh consecutive game that has happened to Penn State.

Minnesota scored 46 points in the paint, as opposed to only 18 for the Lions.

"They pounded the ball inside early," Smith said.

"They got a lot of easy looks on putbacks and rebounds."

Perhaps contributing to the Lions' lack of effectiveness on the inside was the absence of two freshmen forwards. Kevin Fellows is out seven to ten days with a high ankle sprain and Daren Tielsch took a shot to the mouth early in the second half.

The McKees Rocks native had three teeth loosened as a result of the contact. But Dunn isn't using the loss of Tielsch as an excuse.

"I'm not sure if at that point (of the game) it really made much of a difference," Dunn said.

Smith paced the Lions with 18 points. Sophomore Sharif Chambliss had 14, including 12 in the second half.

The Lions shot only 38 percent from the field for the game, and poor shooting only seemed to snowball and get worse as the game went on.

"When shots aren't falling, you tend to get discouraged and try and force things," Smith said.

"Everyone wants to do more to try and pick this team up and that's not always the answer."

While the basket might have looked like a pinhole for the Lions' players, it must have looked like a swimming pool to the Gophers.

Minnesota shot 62 percent from the field, including 68 percent in the second half.

It was the first time all season the Lions allowed an opponent to shoot more than 60 percent in a game. The 94 points against also represented the most Penn State has surrendered all season, topping the 88 Boston College scored in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Nov. 24.

Gophers freshman Rick Rickert led all scorers with 26 points, two off his career high.