Change is inevitable.

The Penn State men's basketball team has dealt with many alterations over the past few seasons and must again shift its game plan to combat Northwestern's 1-3-1 defensive scheme when the Wildcats come to the Bryce Jordan Center at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.

"It's a completely different style of play," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said of going up against Northwestern. "It's a completely different prep."

Senior Day signals change as well. The Nittany Lions (13-12, 5-9 Big Ten) will honor their lone senior, forward Travis Parker, before the game, as it will be his final regular season home contest under the black curtains of the BJC.

Parker is closing out his Penn State career in style, averaging over 18 points and six rebounds over his last six games.

Penn State's rotation has not been tinkered with since December, when forward Brandon Hassell was given a permanent seat on the bench after playing his way out of the starting lineup earlier in the year. Ever since, the Lions have gone with a seven-man rotation, requiring reserves Mike Walker and Milos Bogetic to make contributions during key stretches of games.

The reserves are not immune to change.

Walker, a streaky guard from Lewisberry, comes off the bench to provide the Lions with the spark that they typically would not get from the sometimes-enigmatic play of starting point guard Ben Luber.

The sophomore's 2.8 assists per game currently place him just under the 3.0 cutoff required to be officially ranked among the other statistical leaders in the category of assist to turnover ratio.

Walker, however, is unofficially among the nation's best with a 3.2 assist-turnover mark.

"I've been a lot smarter with the ball this year, I've made better decisions," Walker said.

In his freshman campaign, Walker produced a mark of just over 2.0 in assist-turnover category, but has made a concerted effort to become a bit more careful with the ball.

Making more significant changes, Bogetic has had to adjust to life in the United States as well as life as a low-post player. The 6-foot-10 freshman from Serbia and Montenegro has picked up confidence in both arenas.

"In Europe I used to shoot all the time, but over here I'm one of the tallest guys on the team, and I understand that I have to play more in the paint and I have to rebound," Bogetic said. "I have to play defense, that's my primary function over here, and if I can do something on offense that's great."

Though he said in October that pancakes were one of his favorite features of American life, Bogetic has undergone a change of heart as the season has progressed.

"I got sick of pancakes," Bogetic admitted. "Now I'm more of a McDonald's type because I don't have time for anything else."

Bogetic sometimes gets caught out of position on defense, which leads to an opponent picking up an easy basket and Bogetic picking up another foul.

The forward has been tagged with eight fouls in his last 30 minutes of play.

Being caught out of position against Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic may prove costly for Bogetic and the Lions. Vukusic leads the conference with 20 points per game, and, if sent to the foul line, buries 78 percent of his attempts.

Penn State picked up its first conference victory of the season in a January tussle in Evanston, Ill.

The Lions hope the result remains unchanged.