For three and a half years, Penn State coach Ed DeChellis worked for a home game like Saturday's to show that men's basketball could make an impact on campus.

The largest crowd in six years filled the Bryce Jordan Center. Michigan State, a quality opponent, was on the away bench. Free tickets were handed out to students earlier in the week.

Past football players Larry Johnson and Tamba Hali were two of the announced 13,347 in attendance. Wanted football recruits and the assistant coaches hoping to woo them sat nearby.

It was NASCAR Day, too. The pace car from Pocono Raceway and the Batmobile were parked on the concourse. And everyone in attendance would receive a coupon for a free sub from Jimmy John's if Penn State won.

Even the black curtains that normally hide the empty upper deck seats behind both baskets were raised, one fully and the other halfway.

More importantly, people were sitting in the usually forbidden upper level that has come to define Penn State basketball.

Then the game started.

Michigan State's 91-64 demolition of the Nittany Lions became a reminder that the program has a long way to go before it consistently forces 13,000-plus to stay for an entire game and return for another one.

The football recruits left at halftime. Johnson and Hali bounced soon after. By the end of the game, at least two-thirds of the arena was empty, and no one went home with a Jimmy John's coupon.

Instead, Penn State players left the Jordan Center wondering if fans would ever come back after watching what DeChellis called, "the biggest egg that we've laid in several years."

"Before the game, I was extremely excited to see that many people," senior guard Ben Luber said. "Since I've been here, I've never seen that many in the stands. I hope to see that again, but we've got to win some games and get some respect to get those fans back in the seats."

Aside from the first minute of the game, during which Penn State led 2-0, the fans --except for 80 or so Michigan State students dubbed the "Izzone" in honor of Spartans coach Tom Izzo -- had little to cheer about.

The Michigan State students were consistently the loudest all afternoon. From Section 133, they taunted the silent courtside Penn State student section with chants of "La-zy-Nitt-wits!" and "Why-so-quiet?" At halftime, one member of the Izzone told me, "They're just sitting there."

This was not what the Penn State marketing staff envisioned when it decided to hand out free student tickets at the HUB last Thursday and Friday.

"We've been searching for a crowd like this," DeChellis said after the game. "Our people have done a very good job getting people here, our students came, and we laid the biggest egg that we've laid in several years. That's the disappointing part. ... I can't even describe how I feel."

People will probably come to watch Greg Oden and Ohio State play on Valentine's Day. Others will want to see an elite Wisconsin team, but a program cannot rely on opponent drawing power if it wants to be successful.

How many students are going to be on time for a 12:05 p.m. tip-off against Purdue two Saturday's from now?

I don't know what you think, but there are probably going to be proportionately fewer than the amount that saw the kickoff of the Penn State football team's rain-soaked, Joe Paterno-less game versus Temple this fall.