Junior men's basketball guard David Jackson sank his first shot in last Saturday's 75-64 loss to Ohio State with little hesitation.

Only a few seconds ticked off the shot clock before he launched a 3-pointer, giving Penn State a temporary 9-8 lead.

Wasting no time in his other makes in the first half -- hitting a jump shot and driving right to the basket for two -- Jackson put together the best Nittany Lions shooting performance of that first half and his best statistical Big Ten performance: 5-of-11 shooting, 12 points, four rebounds.

It's an approach and level of involvement the team has been waiting to see from its starting shooting guard in Big Ten play. His numbers Saturday trump his averages in four previous conference games: 1.75-of-5.75 shooting for 5.25 points.

Despite his "solid" night, according to Penn State coach Ed DeChellis, it's not enough.

"He still has more, he can still do more. We're gonna try to continue to emphasize that to him and push him," DeChellis said.

DeChellis said earlier in the season he wanted Jackson to be more aggressive and involved in the offense and, after a couple conference games, gave Jackson mixed reviews. DeChellis said he was very involved and did well (3-of-8 shooting, nine points) in the 65-61 win at Northwestern on Jan. 11.

Yet just three days later he was "just OK" according to DeChellis, hitting just one of four shots in the Lions' narrow loss to Iowa (though he was not feeling well the night before).

Jackson, a junior college transfer from Gulf Coast Community College in High Point, Fla., said he tries to be effective every game and his confidence is up. But he said this season has been a long transition phase of new teammates, system and coaches.

"It's kinda hard to come from being the go-to guy to being a role player," Jackson said. "Or to whatever the coaches want you to be."

His situation contains a bit of irony, being a very new player to the team but the oldest at 23. Still, he's cracked the starting lineup and averages 28.8 minutes per game.

Jackson said he is feeling his way this season and wants to run plays all the way through rather than grab all the shots himself.

"I'm just trying to find a way to be more aggressive and still be into the whole team concept," Jackson said.

And if he continues to develop like he did last Saturday, the coaches might not have to ask him to.

Eighth Man

Discounting the Lions' Big Ten opener at Ohio State, the same seven players have played double-digit minutes in Big Ten games: the five starters, sophomore guard Mike Walker and freshman forward Milos Bogetic.A few reserves came in for a few minutes, but for the most part, the rotation doesn't include an extensively deep bench.

"It's a concern," DeChellis said. "It's not like a situation where you don't want to play guys. Guys have to give me confidence in them to put them in the game."

Thus far, they haven't. The question, then: who, if anybody, will be the eighth man? DeChellis said he will expand the rotation when his players practice well consistently and make the most of the minutes they're given in game situations. This may become a larger issue as the Big Ten season grows longer in the tooth, especially since DeChellis said the Lions are a young team susceptible to the daily grind of the season.

Player Notes

Junior forward Cilk McSweeney, who has seen very limited playing time in Big Ten play, might contribute more and crack the rotation if he could. But DeChellis said he can only practice on Fridays because of a schedule that has him in class from 3:30-5 p.m.

Freshmen Joonas Suotamo and Nikola Obradovic could potentially contribute more as well. But Suotamo battled an injury earlier this season that set his development back and Obradovic, though a tremendous shooting guard, needs to take better care of the ball according to DeChellis.