Penn State coach Ed DeChellis did not mince words in describing No. 21 Georgia Tech.

"Their talent level is by far," DeChellis said, extending his left hand about two feet in front of him, "the best we've seen this year, and really by far we've seen in a while."

The Nittany Lions (4-1) play the Yellow Jackets (5-1) at 8 tonight at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Atlanta as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Georgia Tech is playing its first home game following the Maui Invitational, where it defeated Purdue and No. 14 Memphis, before losing to then-No. 5, and now top ranked UCLA in the championship game.

The Yellow Jackets have four players averaging at least 10 points per game. Three of those players -- 6-foot-8 freshman Thaddeus Young, 6-foot-5 freshman Javaris Crittenton and 6-foot-8 junior Jeremis Smith -- are also averaging at least four rebounds per game.

"They present a lot of challenges, everywhere," DeChellis said. "They can score off the dribble. They offensive rebound the heck out of it. They pressure defense. They have a lot of ways to beat you."

Penn State is playing its first road game of the season after defeating Bucknell and St. Joe's last week in the Bryce Jordan Center. Against Bucknell, the Lions squandered a 10-point lead with 8:15 remaining before winning in overtime. Penn State came from eight points down with 1:20 left to defeat St. Joe's.

"We haven't played particularly well," DeChellis said. "That's what I tried to get across to [the team]. We could play a whole lot better and we need to play a whole lot better. We can't have lulls offensively where we don't score and let it affect our defense."

The Lions will have junior forward Geary Claxton available for the second straight game, but DeChellis said it, "remains to be seen" how many minutes the preseason All-Big Ten selection will play. DeChellis said it's possible that Claxton does not start.

Whenever Claxton is playing, he and the rest of the Lions will look to prevent Georgia Tech from using its athletic ability to run the floor, something Penn State would prefer not to defend.

"We're going to focus on slowing their tempo down, playing our tempo, making them play 35 seconds of 'D'," junior forward Brandon Hassell said.

After defeating St. Joe's on Saturday, Penn State practiced for only 45 minutes Sunday, not including film study, and left for Atlanta immediately after practice yesterday.

It's a quick turnaround for the toughest game the Lions have prepared for this season, but at least one player says the team will be ready by tip-off tonight.

"We'll have enough [energy] to play this game," Hassell said. "We'll be OK."