The big boys are coming to town Saturday.

You can forget about all of the East Stroudsburg's and Lock Haven's of the world when No. 11 Pittsburgh comes to the Bryce Jordan Center to take on the Penn State men's basketball team at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Unlike some of these lower division schools on the Nittany Lions schedule thus far, Pitt (6-0) is a well-oiled machine. The Panthers are led by senior forward Chevon Troutman, 6-10 sophomore forward Chris Taft and junior guard Karl Krauser. In its annual season preview, The Sporting News said, "there is no team with a better point-post duo" than Krauser and Taft.

"They're big kids, strong kids, athletic kids," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "It's a very, very good front line, something that we're obviously going to have to deal with."

Pitt has been rolling past its competition with few problems, winning all of its games so far by an average of 26.5 points per game.

DeChellis has also been impressed by the play of Pitt's defense.

"They really get down and make it tough for you to score, they really make it tough to get the ball by them," he said. "I think their on-the-ball defense is tremendous and their pressure is very good. They're a team that when they smell blood they can really get after you."

On the other side of the spectrum, Penn State (5-3) is coming off a difficult 66-53 loss at Georgetown. The Lions were down early to the Hoyas, 17-0, but fought back to make it a game in the second half. Despite the loss, Penn State had been having some success as of late. The Lions beat Rutgers in an impressive 83-80 shootout last week. DeChellis has seen both plenty of positives and negatives from his young squad so far this season.

"Some days I think we're really making strides to become a better basket-

ball team and other days I just think we take a step back," he said. "I know as a young team that we're not going to play 40 minutes of basketball yet, I know it's too early in the season."

One possible boost for the Lions could be the return of guard Ben Luber to the lineup. Expected to be one of the team's leaders on the court prior to the season, the sophomore has yet to play in a game because of personal matters. DeChellis said he practiced for the first time Wednesday, but it might be too soon to put him back in.

"His conditioning is not there even though he did some things here with us in the last ten days," he said. "I think if he does play Saturday his time will be very, very limited."

One problem for the Lions has been its shot selection. DeChellis is hoping the team can start playing more of a transition game, much like his previous team at East Tennessee State.

"Some games we've shot it quick," he said. "We're a kind of team where we've got to try to push the ball in transition. We've got to try and get some easy shots."

During the break, the Lions will continue it's non-conference schedule with a home game against Buffalo on Dec. 21, before heading West for the Arizona State University/AZCentral.com Hoops Classic. The Lions will play Valparaiso on Dec. 28, and either Arizona State or Long Island on the 29th.

The Big Ten schedule begins on January 5th for the Nittany Lions with a home contest against No. 20 Michigan State. Three days later Penn State travels to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers.

But, never one to look ahead, freshman Mike Walker said the Nittany Lions are just focusing on this weekend's big game against Pitt.

"This is as big as it gets," Walker said. "Having a team that's going to be close to the top ten coming into our gym, I just can't wait to play. I'm so excited, everyone on the team is excited. ... If we can just come out and play our game, I know we can play with them."