Ed DeChellis was getting sick of the same old story.

The first-year Penn State basketball coach found himself answering the same questions after his team's 75-56 loss to Indiana on Wednesday night. Fatigue, turnovers and poor shooting have dogged the Nittany Lions (9-11, 3-6 Big Ten) since starting conference play 2-0.

Now, heading into tomorrow's game at Northwestern (10-11, 5-5), DeChellis is primed to make some changes to a lineup that has struggled the past few weeks and has remained largely unchanged this season.

After stating for weeks that he preferred keeping forward Aaron Johnson out of the starting lineup so he could have some energy off the bench, DeChellis hinted that he was considering starting him instead.

"We're going to look at things in practice," DeChellis said. "And then we'll decide on the lineup from there."

It has gotten to the point where Johnson's numbers have simply been too impressive to ignore. Against the Hoosiers, he set career highs in points (28) and rebounds (15) and was the lone bright spot in an otherwise sub-par game for the Lions.

Johnson is often asked if he wishes he were starting, but he points to his nearly 30-minute per game average in Big Ten play as a reason for him not to be upset. On a team suffering from mid-season fatigue because of a severely shortened bench, Johnson remains the freshest player and biggest boost of energy. Missing the first five games while recovering from surgery on a detached retina may be a significant reason for his seeming lack of fatigue.

"I hate sitting on the bench and seeing us go down 10-0," Johnson said after the Indiana game. "We always have to come from behind."

Also, in a move that he already made against Indiana, DeChellis has rethought his utilization of 7-foot junior Jan Jagla.

Since before the season started, DeChellis has repeatedly talked of his preference to have Jagla play at small forward to work his outside shot, and that's where he has seen the majority of his playing time.

Jagla himself has said that he's been uncomfortable at the position from day one and his numbers there have dropped dramatically in the past seven games, as he seems to be unable to find a rhythm.

"It's been frustrating for me," Jagla said of his time at small forward. "They've needed me to play out there, which is fine, but it'd help me out to play the four."

DeChellis said he expected to use Jagla more at power forward, though the big man had limited success there against the Hoosiers. Whether the changes alter the Lions' ability to guard Wildcats guard Jitim Young remains to be seen. Ranking fourth in the conference with 18.1 points per game, Young came on in the second half against the Lions earlier in the season, scoring 16 points in a 63-61 loss to Penn State.