The measuring stick is making another appearance for the Penn State men's basketball team tonight.

The 3-0 Nittany Lions host Clemson at 8 p.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and should once again find out what kind of team they are.

Clemson is 4-0 this season with a 28.3-point average margin of victory.

The Tigers specialize in full-court pressure defense, forcing opponents into an average of 24 turnovers a game while collecting 16 steals per contest.

In a way, the kind of team that Clemson is now is what Penn State men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis hopes his Lions can be in the not-too-distant future. Penn State presently averages 6.7 steals per game.

"It's gonna be 40 minutes of pressure," DeChellis said.

"They're very good at it. They're playing the way that I hope we can someday get to playing in terms of really pressuring after every made basket. It's going to be tough to get transition hoops."

Though Clemson will come at Penn State with ball denials and lockdown defense, the Lions have done a solid a job of taking care of and distributing the ball thus far.

Penn State leads the Big Ten with 1.76 assists for every turnover this year, while point guard Ben Luber leads the conference in assists per game.

"We're a very unselfish team, guys are sharing the ball, making the extra pass," DeChellis said.

"That's gonna be very important [tonight] when we're gonna need to make the extra pass."

Since transition baskets -- an area the Lions are looking to capitalize in this year -- may be few and far between, more emphasis will be placed on the set offense and the ability of players to make shots out of the press-breaker.

This is not entirely bad news for Penn State, as the Lions have seen improved play from Travis Parker at the four-spot. Parker had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Long Island on Saturday, and appears to be over his back problems from two weeks ago.

DeChellis has instructed the captain to focus on playing "inside-out, not outside-in."

The matchup with Clemson will be Penn State's first test against a higher level opponent.

"We're playing a whole different level [tonight] than what we've played so far," DeChellis said. "I'm anxious to see our guys try to get to that level."

The Lions may favor a lineup with several ball handlers in order to get past the Clemson press. That pressure defense creates much of the offense for the Tigers, and Penn State is in no hurry to help them out.

"We're going to have to change things when we can," DeChellis said.

"It's good for us to play a team like Clemson who is really long, big and strong. We've played some different styles before, and this is a completely different style. We'll play the guys who handle the ball best and take care of the ball and execute."

The Challenge

This is the first year in which every Big Ten school has played in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Tonight's game will mark the first time DeChellis has faced an ACC team as head coach of the Lions.