Penn State coach Ed DeChellis admits three was not the number of losses the men's basketball team planned to have as it begins the final stretch of the non-conference season.

But he'll also point out that two years ago, the Nittany Lions finished the season with seven wins total.

Tomorrow, Penn State (7-3) will be looking to best that number by one when it faces Southeastern Louisiana (6-4) at 4 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center.

While the Lions do have seven wins through their first 10 games for the second straight season, many wins have been unconvincing.

A one-point win over Hartford, a three-point overtime win against Bucknell, even a nine-point victory against then-winless Morgan State haven't been completely satisfying.

"We haven't played well. We've won games. We've found ways to win games, and that's very important," DeChellis said earlier this week. "We're getting better, but we haven't played well as a team."

The Lions have blown double-digit leads several times this season. Sometimes they have been able to hold off teams. Other times, like last Saturday against Seton Hall, they haven't been so lucky.

Penn State had 21 turnovers in that loss, continuing the Lions' trend of committing 20-plus turnovers in each of their three losses this season.

"Taking care of the ball and not going into lapses. That's the only thing that's a problem with us," junior swingman Geary Claxton said.

Injuries have also prevented Penn State from playing a single game with everybody healthy. Wednesday was supposed to be the game every starter was ready to go, but senior guard Ben Luber began to feel pain in his left ankle in Tuesday's practice and did not play versus Long Island. DeChellis said Luber has bone spurs in his ankle and is listed as day-to-day.

"I don't remember a team [I've been a part of] not ever having the guys for the first 10 games," DeChellis said, adding he really wondered what was going on when redshirt sophomore Danny Morrissey came down with a stiff neck before a game against Morgan State.

"I've got guys who get hurt sleeping," DeChellis said. "We got guys hurt in practice ... but when you get guys hurt while they're sleeping, that's a little bit of bad luck."

Tomorrow's game is the first of the Lions' final three non-conference contests at home. Penn State plays Maine on Dec. 23 then Virginia Military Institute, a team averaging 102 points per game, comes to the Jordan Center a week later.

Penn State also plays its first three Big Ten games before the first day of spring classes, at home versus Northwestern (Jan. 3), at Purdue (Jan. 6) and home against Indiana (Jan. 13).

"Our main focus all year has been the next game is most important. We put every game that we had turnovers in behind us and focus on the next game. We're stepping in the right direction," said senior guard David "Mooch" Jackson.

"Next game is the most important game."