Forget about playing the No. 19 team in the country, forget about early January's 35-point defeat at the hands of that same squad -- forward Jamelle Cornley refuses to call his Nittany Lions the underdog vs. Ohio State.

"I see what I'd call a win," he said about tomorrow's matchup. "I don't call it an upset because when you call something an upset, you think you can't win.

"But I think we can win this game."

Cornley said the confidence of the Penn State men's basketball team is soaring.

And it'll have to be at noon tomorrow when the Lions take on an Ohio State team that handed them their biggest conference loss in 13 years.

That 104-69 thumping is still fresh in Penn State's mind, too -- it happened a little over two weeks ago.

Players described the 20-turnover game as "embarrassing," and assistant coach Kurt Kanaskie called the 29-point halftime deficit "demoralizing."

Still, a lot has changed since then.

Penn State (10-5, 2-2 Big Ten) has won two out of its last three conference games and has improved its possession offense and defense greatly.

Senior leader Travis Parker even attributed that positive change to the Ohio State loss, saying it was a wake-up call.

"We didn't make that transition from the non-conference schedule to the Big Ten," Parker said. "After that game, that beating they gave us, we started focusing and seeing that we're in the Big Ten conference now."

The Lions' last loss came at the hands of No. 23 Iowa, and only four points separated Penn State from an upset win -- so it's clear the Lions can be competitive with a ranked team.

But they'll have their hands full with Ohio State (13-2, 3-2), an experienced squad that starts three fifth-year seniors.

The Buckeyes also have three players -- Terrence Dials, Je'Kel Foster and Ron Lewis -- who average more than 10 points per game. It's an offensive trio that gave Penn State fits the last time around.

Lewis himself posted 26 points in only 21 minutes of playing time, as Ohio State shot 63.2 percent from the floor.

According to Kanaskie, eliminating that statistic will be one of the keys to tomorrow's game.

"There really wasn't much defense the first time we played," Kanaskie acknowledged. "But that's the key, we don't turn the ball over and we take care of the ball so they don't get easy baskets.

"We're anxious to see how far we've come."