Ed DeChellis warned the media it might sound stupid, but he said it anyhow.

"Illinois didn't beat us Saturday night," he began. "And I don't want Illinois to beat us Wednesday night. We have to move on."

Whether Penn State overlooks its next opponent seems to be the major topic of discussion. The Nittany Lions are favored to win at 8 tonight when they take on last-place Minnesota (10-9, 1-7 Big Ten) at the Bryce Jordan Center. The only thing that can beat Penn State, it seems, is Penn State.

According to sophomore forward Geary Claxton, at least, that shouldn't be an issue.

"We're focused on Minnesota," Claxton said on Monday. "[Illinois] is in the past now. It was great while it lasted, but it's time for work."

And most fans are counting on the Penn State men's basketball team making quick work of the Gophers -- Minnesota is last in the conference in scoring offense, scoring margin, free throw percentage, field goal percentage and 3-pointers against Big Ten teams.

Still, nobody knows about parity better than Penn State after it rallied 16 points to upset then-No. 6 Illinois over the weekend.

"If you point to the schedule, you say, 'Who are we just going to show up and beat?' " DeChellis said. "And there's nobody -- and I think that's proven night in and night out in the league."

DeChellis might be on to something. In the last two weeks, Minnesota blew out then-No. 11 Indiana by 19 points, and Purdue grabbed its second conference victory by upsetting Wisconsin. That all, of course, is in addition to the biggest upset of all: Penn State's road win over Illinois.

Even so, this game is especially critical for Penn State if it wants to qualify for the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The Lions play Minnesota tonight along with Purdue and Northwestern later in the season -- two teams that Penn State has already beaten once each.

If Penn State were to just win those three games, the team would finish at 14-14. Teams need to finish at only .500 to qualify for the NIT.

"We talk about it a lot," sophomore guard Mike Walker said of the NIT. "It's funny. Just last week, it wasn't on our minds too much. But you beat a team like Illinois -- one game -- and you're talking about it again."

But one player in particular stands in Penn State's way: Minnesota's 6-foot-5 veteran Vincent Grier, a versatile player who has NBA potential. Even Walker praised Grier, saying the senior is a guy who is "gonna score 15, 20 points."

"Our focus is gonna be to try and stop him and try to bring our game that we brought Saturday," Walker said.