Ed DeChellis glanced downward for a moment as though the wind had just been knocked out of him. He took a deep breath to collect himself.

"We gotta get one rebound," DeChellis said, shaking his head. "One rebound away from winning the game."

That one rebound separated the most crushing defeat of the season from what could have been the biggest win in two years for the Penn State men's basketball team. As it was, the Nittany Lions dropped their conference home opener, 80-76, to Iowa on Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 8,293 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Lions (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) were clinging to a one-point lead with 51 seconds left when the Hawkeyes' Adam Haluska had his 3-point shot bounce off the iron. But 6-foot-7 teammate Greg Brunner collected the board and sank two free throws after getting subsequently fouled.

Iowa never looked back.

"It seemed like we were always one bounce away all night -- one bounce away -- one roll in the basket away," DeChellis reflected. "We had the lead with 50 seconds."

Of course, the buzzer didn't sound after Brunner stepped behind the charity stripe. But two Penn State miscues in the closing 48 seconds shut the door on any opportunity for an upset.

DeChellis naturally wanted to give his best player, sophomore forward Geary Claxton, a possible game-winning shot from the post. Freshman Jamelle Cornley may have been a bit eager to execute, though, as he saw Claxton in the paint, and his pass from the top of the key sailed out of bounds.

"I saw an angle where I thought Geary could get it," a red-eyed Cornley said. "It was a little too low on my part, and I think he got held up by Haluska at the same time.

"It's something I hope never happens again."

Iowa (13-4, 2-1) soon increased the lead to three and Erek Hansen blocked Ben Luber's attempt at a layup to put the game out of reach.

"I feel like they know we should've won -- but, hey, it happens," Penn State's Travis Parker said.

Parker turned in a memorable performance by posting his fifth career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. It was a bit uncharacteristic of the big man, but the game was full of precedents.

The Lions recorded a season-low nine turnovers, four players reached double-digit figures for only the second time this season and the shortest team in the Big Ten became one of the few teams to out-rebound Iowa (36-29).

"The disappointing thing is what they did to us under the backboard, and nobody's really done that to us all year," Iowa coach Steve Alford said.

Then again, what Haluska did to Penn State nobody's done all season either. Haluska racked up 21 of his career-high 29 points in the opening period to put the Hawkeyes ahead at the half, 40-34.

The Lions put an emphasis on contending every one of Haluska's shots in the second half, though, making Saturday's game Penn State's second-closest Big Ten loss in four years. The last time Penn State even defeated a conference team not named Northwestern was more than two years ago.

Still, Parker believed there was plenty to build on from the loss.

"Even though we lost, I think we gained respect from Iowa and I think we gained respect from a lot of people in the Big Ten," he said. "By this game we played today, we gained more confidence."