It's been almost a full year since the Penn State men's basketball team last won a Big Ten game.

On Feb. 13, 2002, the Nittany Lions beat the Iowa Hawkeyes, 71-65, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

A year later, the Lions are hoping that lightning can strike again.

Desperate for a win, the Lions (5-13, 0-7 Big Ten) will once again host the Hawkeyes (11-6, 3-3) tonight at the BJC. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Iowa started the Big Ten season strong, beating Northwestern on the road, and then upsetting Michigan State and Illinois at home to begin the season 3-0.

But since then, the Hawkeyes have struggled, losing to Wisconsin on the road, then falling to Ohio State and Purdue at home.

The win-starved Lions will be facing a very beatable team.

In addition, Iowa will be playing without its starting center and leading rebounder, junior Jared Reiner, who sprained his medial collateral ligament against Ohio State last week.

Penn State forward Jan Jagla, who has been struggling all season, is happy that he won't have to battle with Reiner for rebounds tonight.

"It's a big factor because he's the second or third-best rebounder in the league," Jagla said. "It's an advantage for us."

Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn doesn't agree, however. Even though Reiner won't suit up, he's not looking at the game any differently.

"There's not a lot of difference in terms of trying to prepare for them," Dunn said. "Their front-line guys are all physical and they want to get it inside as much as they can. I think it certainly shortens their rotation, but they have a lot of guys that are multi-dimensional."

Iowa is quarterbacked by freshman point guard Jeff Horner, who is currently leading the Big Ten in assists, with 5.67 dishes per game, just ahead of another freshman guard who gave the Lions trouble, Illinois' Dee Brown.

"I think he's played with a great deal of poise for a freshman," Dunn said. "He's going to be a guy that you're going to have to deal with for a long time in this league."

Joining Horner in the backcourt is senior guard Chauncey Leslie, the Hawkeyes' leading scorer, and junior Brody Boyd.

Greg Brunner, another freshman, has started every game at forward, but will have to pick up his game even more in Reiner's absence.

It's always possible for a team to take Penn State, the Big Ten whipping boy, for granted. But since his team is struggling, and it'll be playing on the road, Iowa men's basketball coach Steve Alford isn't worrying about any sort of letdown.

"I think that when you're 6-0 in the league, maybe [you could take a team for granted]," Alford said. "But when you're 3-3, and playing a six or seven-man rotation, and you're fighting tooth and nail just for a good break here or there, I don't think that's going to happen with us."

For the Lions to have any chance of winning tonight, they'll have to stop getting themselves in big first-half deficits. Penn State has gotten off to slow starts in every single game it has played this season.

"We're always down at the half," Jagla said. "We have a lot of energy at home but it lacks in the end. A lot of [the energy] comes from the fans."

The Lions have had chances to win games at home this season, most notably against Purdue and Minnesota, but they lost because they couldn't close out the games.

"I think it's a matter of will and toughness," Dunn said. "We can't concern ourselves with what has or hasn't happened. We have to concern ourselves with making things happen."

He can talk, but can his team back him up on the court?