"It depends on who wants to be fair weather and who wants to, if you want to call it, legit or supportive," Cornley said. "It matters to a certain extent, but to a certain extent it really doesn't. The crowd is not on the court."
Fans could only play a large role if Penn State can pull off the upset. The Badgers' loss to Missouri State on Nov. 24, which means any Big Ten team has a shot, and Penn State can point to a close, 84-74 defeat against Indiana, the only conference opponent to beat Wisconsin this season.
This game for the Lions is just another chance to prove their worth.
"You don't get many chances like that," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "It's a great opportunity. We need to play extremely well. Probably the best we've played, obviously, in the league against a team like Wisconsin. I always believe our team is capable of doing that."
One point DeChellis has emphasized to his team this week is last year's 15-15 squad that made the NIT having only two wins in its first eight conference games. In the ninth game, the Lions came out and beat then-No. 6 Illinois on the road.
Now Penn State heads into a stretch against the nation's elite -- as Badger seniors Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor come to University Park tonight and Greg Oden with No. 3 Ohio State coming a week from now -- the Lions' focus continues to fade away from the fans.
It's hard enough to try and control Tucker, who averages 19.8 points per game, second only to Iowa's Adam Haluska and his 20.5 point output. Taylor is the No. 2 threat, but DeChellis said he noticed watching game tape that there are large chunks of time where Tucker won't even take a shot. Taylor will just kill you with his 41 percent efficiency from beyond the arc.
Then there is Wisconsin's front line, featuring forwards Brian Butch, 6-foot-11, and Jason Chappell, 6-foot-10. It will be a challenge for the undersized Cornley, at 6-foot-5, to get his shot off.
The Badgers are the No. 1 team in the Big Ten in regards to scoring margin, defeating their opponents by an average of 15.5 points. If the Lions want to stay in the game, Cornley said, they need get a win by themselves.
"You got to find those things yourself," Cornley said. "If you look at our record you can't really say that, but as a team we have to dig down deep and figure out what we want to do and what we have to do to be competitive in the conference."
A blowout would hurt, and DeChellis doesn't want to lose the fans with another subpar effort, but regardless of the outside support, they have to play with a positive attitude -- even if it is hard to for others to believe in a victory.
"We want to win and we want to do something special. You always put pressure on yourself. We'll approach it where we can beat the giants on Wednesday night," DeChellis said. "We have a great opportunity. We're going to play to win and see what happens."
