According to head coach Ed DeChellis, the success of the Penn State men's basketball team lies on one often overlooked building block: confidence.

It's something he's preached to his team all year, and it's something the coaching staff has been trying to instill into its players since day one.

"We have the talent to compete in the Big Ten, it's just that we have to go out there and play with some sense of confidence," assistant coach Hilliary Scott said. "We as a staff are trying to get these guys to play with a certain attitude."

That's why, as far as confidence goes, this past week has been one of the craziest on record. After surrendering 104 points to Ohio State -- the most in Big Ten play since 1993 -- the team was a bit beside itself. But only six days later, the Nittany Lions did a complete 180 by recording their first conference road victory in nearly five years.

"I'm happy for the guys, happy for the program -- especially to get this streak away from us," DeChellis said after the Northwestern win. "We never talked about it, but we knew it was there."

Sophomore guard Mike Walker believed the Northwestern game was the most important matchup of the season -- and the Lions couldn't afford another hit to their pysche.

"Once we lose our confidence, all our games go downhill," Walker explained.

It may be an uphill battle with Iowa and Purdue up next, but Penn State has some breathing room thanks to its non-conference schedule, which brought the team's strength-of-schedule ranking down to 174th, according to RPIRatings.com.

DeChellis said that he scheduled the likes of Nicholls State and New Hampshire so his team could build confidence. And virtually every player has echoed the head coach's take on the issue -- even Finland's Joonas Suotamo.

"Confidence level is key," Suotamo said. "I learned pretty early on that confidence is everything in basketball.

"You can't score if you don't believe you can score."

It's an easy philosophy to understand, but difficult to adopt. Five years after Penn State's last winning record, though, the Lions finally seem to be catching on.