They almost saw gleaming daylight, but got cloud cover instead.

They almost got the shine of a new lapel pin issued to coaches for advancing to the next round of the Big Ten Tournament. But the Penn State men's basketball team had to sit in the dingy mist of its locker room in Conseco Fieldhouse. A real humidor of a place, the atmosphere of Friday's loss to Ohio State hung low.

"We expected to beat Ohio State," sophomore guard Mike Walker said. "It's tough for us because we still lost the game and it's not like Ohio State's that much better than us."

He referred to the Big Ten regular season champion Buckeyes, the team which counts three victories over the Lions among its 26 for the season. Yet there Walker sat as limp as his warm-up suit which sat on him.

Just moments before he nailed a 3-pointer to put the Lions up by 12, the cheers for Penn State pushed pretenses of rank out the window.

"We can play with anybody, teams know that," freshman forward Jamelle Cornley said.

Which is just what makes the reaction to this loss so confounding. Walker said the players, coaches and their families were the only ones who thought they could beat Ohio State. The Buckeyes, who senior forward Travis Parker said were giving the Lions "no respect" at the beginning of the game, didn't appear to.

But after the game Ohio State coach Thad Matta said his team was "obviously fortunate" to win. Disappointment can't come to those who don't think they have a realistic shot to come out on top. Disappointment, however, does come after you fumble a legitimate shot to win.

"We had a chance to beat them, but we didn't. I'm upset about that," Parker said.

Parker's been the grandfather of change this season, lifting the team to unforeseen heights in a turnaround year. He said he was excited to enter the locker room at halftime Friday with a lead, trying to remain calm enough to finish the victory.

But one man can only do much, even if he is the team's lone senior. And that may be the point. In a league as senior-dominated as the Big Ten, you have to take the Lay's approach -- you can't have just one.

"Three of those guys are fifth-year guys," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said of Ohio State's roster. "We're not that. Sometimes experience plays a critical part in this thing."

What the Lions are, according to DeChellis, is freshman forward Milos Bogetic getting "banged around" by Buckeyes senior Terence Dials. They are 12 freshman and sophomores on a roster of 16.

Why the Lions lost, among many reasons, is not having the experience to guide them in the game's final stretches. Headed to the NIT and, according to Walker, poised to be on an Ohio State-like level next year, they may be vastly improved. But now they're also still new.

So it could be considered naïve to expect to beat such a team in the first place. But any naiveté concerning the team's expectations and postgame disappointment isn't out of youth.

Cornley, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, said he knew Penn State was the underdog headed into Thursday's game but capable of taking advantage of a team's slip-ups -- which the Lions nearly did. He almost did so by himself, scoring a game-high 18 points.

"You just have to realize we can play with anybody," Cornley said. "If we bury our heads, I think that's when the outcome can get ugly."

So the Lions just have to keep playing hard, he said, despite the narrow loss that proved what they'd said all along.

So excuse them if their heads hung a little below the dinge, if not buried. Even before Walker put the Lions up a dozen, Parker excitedly entered the locker room and Cornley posted 18 points, this team expected to win. Foolishly or not.

"Coach always said we had a highlight coming," Parker said. "This was our highlight, but we didn't take advantage of it."