Confidence is often hard to regain once it has been shaken. If it were in a box, it would be labeled "fragile."

The Penn State men's basketball team has had its confidence shaken a great deal.

The Nittany Lions (6-11, 0-4 Big Ten) are currently on a five-game losing streak that includes two heartbreaking losses to Texas A&M -- in which they lost a 17-point lead in the second half -- and Michigan by a combined six points.

"You lose a couple of close games like we've had, and get beat soundly on the road; there's no denying that," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "That confidence is a very, very delicate thing. We just try to be positive with our players."

To add injury to insult, the Lions have to do without Marlon Smith for the rest of the season, which in turn means increased minutes for the team's many freshmen, a situation the second-year coach went through last year.

Is this deja-vu?

"Yeah, I saw some stuff that alarmed me [last year]," DeChellis said. "There was a separation from the older guys ... but I haven't felt it this year with this squad."

An increased role for star-in-the-making Geary Claxton is not such a bad thing. The superfrosh has been the Lions' best player since conference play began and has been praised by nationally recognized coaches Tom Izzo and Tommy Amaker.

The 6-foot-5 native of West Haven, Conn., is averaging just under 16 points and six rebounds in four Big Ten games. He will be a handful for the slender front court of the Northwestern Wildcats (8-8, 1-3), which includes two Croatian-born players (Verdan Vukusic and Davor Duvancic).

The Wildcats are riding a three-game losing streak into tomorrow's match-up at the Bryce Jordan Center. The last time Northwestern visited Happy Valley, it left on the wrong end of a 63-61 overtime thriller.

The Wildcats run a Princeton-style backdoor offense, started by legendary coach Pete Carril, which can be very difficult for a team to defend. Penn State has already seen this type of offense this season when they faced a Carril disciple on Dec. 26 when they took on Georgetown's John Thompson III, who was an assistant under current Wildcats coach Bill Carmody.

"It helped that Georgetown did some of the same things," DeChellis said. "We prepared pretty well for Georgetown just didn't start the game well [17-0 deficit to start game]. ... They're either going to make lay-ups or shoot 3's, there's not much middle ground."

A problem for Penn State all season has been the number of players available to DeChellis at practice. This has hindered the ability to prepare for games correctly.

That number took another hit on Monday when freshman guard Danny Morrissey injured his shoulder during a 2-on-2 drill.

Morrissey pump-faked Claxton, who fell for the move, and his elbow landed on Morrissey's shoulder.

Morrissey's X-rays came back negative.