Penn State was humiliated by the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers in a 105-57 road loss in 1993.

Exactly a month later, the Hoosiers came into Rec Hall ranked No. 1 and ready to take on the Nittany Lions. But Penn State put up its most impressive fight of its 7-20 season before a controversial call left the Lions with a dramatic 88-84 loss.

That's the anecdote Penn State
coach Ed DeChellis has been telling
his 7-16 squad, which lost to No. 1 Illinois in Champaign, Ill., on Jan. 12 by 26 points.

Back in 1993, DeChellis was on the sideline as an assistant to then-Penn State coach Bruce Parkhill.

At 8 tonight in the Bryce Jordan Center, DeChellis will be the head honcho, and he's done everything he can to fire up his team for the contest between Penn State and Illinois.

"We try to plan anything that we can do positively to help out kids and get them some confidence, and to motivate them and to show them some history," DeChellis said. "Hopefully, sometimes history repeats itself."

Last year, Penn State (7-16, 1-9 Big Ten) lost to Illinois (25-0, 11-0 Big Ten) by 43 on the road before suffering an eight-point loss at home. But this Fighting Illini squad is much more experienced.

The Illini start three juniors and two seniors, all of whom average double digits in scoring. Illinois is led by guard Luther Head's 16.9 points per game and junior forward James Augustine's 7.2 rebounds per game. Add unselfishness and versatility to the experienced squad and the play speaks for itself.

"That's a team," Penn State junior forward Aaron Johnson said. "That's how basketball is supposed to be played. They don't care how many points they have, how many rebounds, how many assists. They don't care about anything. All they want to do is win. They want to be undefeated the whole year. If we could have that energy, we can put a blemish on their record and be proud of that."

Illinois has been tested a few times this season, most recently last Saturday by No. 19 Wisconsin. The Illini beat the Badgers in Assembly Hall to remain the only undefeated team in college basketball. Purdue, Iowa and Michigan lost to Illinois by fewer than 10 points. And that's the key for the Lions -- staying in the game.

"The longer you stay in it and the longer you are hanging around, you start to feel better and shots start to go in and someone gets hot for you," DeChellis said.

Penn State is coming off of last Saturday's 66-56 loss to Ohio State, in which it shot 30 percent from the field. As a team, Illinois is shooting 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the 3-point arc.

"This game is about us stepping up to the challenge and guys playing better," DeChellis said. "Hopefully we'll have a great atmosphere and we'll get some positive things out of it."

DeChellis emphasized the importance of tonight's home crowd and how it can play a major factor, particularly if the Lions get ahead early in the game.

DeChellis vividly remembers the crowd in Rec Hall during that game in 1993. He recalls how hot it was, how rowdy the students were and the momentum the Lions had.

He tells his players they can experience that, too -- in the Bryce Jordan Center, for the first time in history.

"If you want to do something special, this is certainly an opportunity to do it," DeChellis said. "There is a lot of firsts. You can be the first one to knock them off. It's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be a tough task."