If there was ever a time for the Penn State men's basketball team to break out of its conference road-losing funk, tonight may be it.

It will be a battle of Big Ten Conference bottom-dwellers when the Nittany Lions (7-14, 1-7 Big Ten) take on Purdue (5-15, 1-8) at 8 p.m. at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. The Lions have possibly their best chance to end their 28-game road conference-losing streak against the struggling Boilermakers, with road contests against Northwestern (10-11, 3-6), Michigan (12-11, 3-6) and Michigan State (15-4, 6-2) remaining.

"If we come out and play with intensity, get the scouting report down with what the coaches have to say, you never know what can happen," Penn State guard Mike Walker said. "Especially a game like this, they're kind of down with us in the conference, it's a good chance for us to get a road win."

The Lions should be well rested after coach Ed DeChellis gave the team a rare weekend off.

"I didn't even know what to do with myself," Walker said. "It was the first time we had two days off since the beginning of the year."

Standing, or more appropriately, towering in the Lions' path this evening will be the massive presence of Purdue's 6-foot-7, 235-pound forward Carl Landry. The junior has a league-leading 18.8 points per game this season and is near the top of several other categories, including field goal percentage and rebounding.

"You have to try to limit his opportunities," DeChellis said. "I think that's an important key to the game. ... When he does catch it, good things happen for him and Purdue. Either he scores or he gets fouled and he gets to the free throw line."

Tonight will be the last time the Lions will see a familiar face on the other side of the court in Purdue coach Gene Keady. Keady will retire at the end of what is his 25th and final season as the Boilermakers' head coach. He is the second-winningest coach in Big Ten history with 262 victories.

"He's a guy that's been in the league forever, the elder statesman in the league," DeChellis said. "He brings notoriety to the Big Ten. Everybody knows Gene Keady is a legend, he brings a certain demeanor to the Big Ten and Big Ten basketball."

The Lions hope freshman Danny Morrissey should be able to play against the Boilermakers. The guard has battled various injuries this season, the most recent being an injury to his left knee. Morrissey wore a protective knee brace at practice Monday, but was optimistic that he would be healthy enough to suit up.

He said the team needs to build on last Wednesday's performance against Indiana (10-10, 5-4), when it lost in the final moments, 68-63, and finally outlast an opponent.

"I think our biggest thing now is just finishing a game, we weren't able to do that against Indiana," Morrissey said. "If we can remain consistent with what we did last week, I think we have a pretty good shot."