This year was supposed to be different.

This team was supposed to be far improved from a 9-19 season.

Take away the misfortunes, such as guard Marlon Smith now sidelined for the season with a transient blood clot. Forget about the players who departed the team for different reasons, leaving Penn State coach Ed DeChellis with a not-so-deep 10-man roster. And take away the adversity the Nittany Lions have faced, and things could be different.

But until then, Penn State (6-11, 0-4 Big Ten) continues to struggle, most recently with its 14th consecutive Big Ten loss and ninth loss in its last 10 games -- a hard-fought 66-62 defeat to Michigan (12-5, 3-0 Big Ten) on Saturday.

It's a defeat made worse by the Nittany Lions week off next week.

"You got a horrible feeling in your stomach and a horrible taste, and you get to be miserable for a whole week instead of four or five days," DeChellis said.

Penn State trailed the Wolverines by just four heading into halftime. After a few early first-half leads, the Lions were unable to regain an advantage in the second half. Penn State forward Travis Parker knocked down his third 3-pointer of the afternoon to bring the Lions within four at the two-minute mark.

Parker and forward Aaron Johnson then converted four foul shots, leaving the Lions behind 59-57 with 1:04 remaining.

A rowdy crowd of 8,800 at the Bryce Jordan Center was silenced 30 seconds later when Michigan forward Ronald Coleman answered Penn State's effort with his fourth 3-pointer of the second half, all of which were momentum-stoppers for Penn State.

"This league is all about big shots at big times," DeChellis said. "I thought we could kind of creep back into things and be right where we needed to be, and we had some turnovers and didn't take advantage of our opportunities."

What makes Saturday's loss the hardest to swallow is that the Lions played arguably the best they have all season. Four players finished with double figures in scoring; Johnson posted his eighth double-double; and Parker poured in a season-high 19 points while grabbing five rebounds, dishing out four assists and knocking down three-of-six 3-point shots.

Forward Geary Claxton added 13 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Despite suffering symptoms of the flu and vomiting before the game, guard Ben Luber finished the game with 13 points and three assists.

"It seemed to me, we had so many balls roll around the basket and not roll in," DeChellis said. "When you're struggling, it seems like all those things kind of go against you, every kick, every loose ball, every roll doesn't go your way."

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of Saturday's game was the newfound chemistry between Parker and Claxton. The forward duo connected numerous times throughout the game, most notably when Claxton threw down an alley-oop from Parker. A few seconds earlier, Claxton wowed the crowd with a dunk off another stellar dish from Parker.

Still, the frustration of the lost battle was apparent when Parker and Claxton came into the media room for the post-game press conference. Their demeanors spoke louder than their few humble words.

They don't seem to be all right with losing. In fact, they haven't learned to deal with it any better, especially after an obviously emotionally draining defeat.

"You just have to play hard, 40 minutes each game like Coach says," Claxton said. "We're giving all of our effort and all we can do is just keep trying and play harder."

Just take away Coleman's game-winning 3-pointer and things could have been different.

But until then, the Lions are still 6-11 and winless in the Big Ten.