Holding court in Happy Valley

There's a reason why Penn State is hovering near the bottom of the men's basketball Big Ten conference standings.\nThe Nittany Lions just can't shoot.\nThat same reason has led to losses to teams like Yale, James Madison and California. \nAnd things haven't gotten better since they last met IU Jan 5., in a game that ended with a 61-54 Hoosier victory. \nPenn State (5-11, 1-4 Big Ten) will get another shot at rectifying its shooting woes tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Penn., when it meets IU (11-6, 4-1) for the final regular-season meeting between the two schools. \n"We don't put the ball in the basket," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said early this week. "We've not done that consistently enough."\nAs in a Big Ten-low 40 percent from the field. \nThat's what the Nittany Lions shot in Saturday's 77-65 home loss to Michigan State and just a tad more than what they shot in the loss to IU in Bloomington. \nPenn State has lost five of its last six games and has found it rough in the Big Ten. It has lost two games by seven points or less and just slipped by Wisconsin, 51-49, for its only conference victory.\nPart of the reason, Dunn said, lies in the youth of his backcourt. Last season - when Penn State beat Providence and upset North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16 - Dunn relied on seniors Joe Crispin, Gyasi Cline-Heard and Titus Ivory. \nOne member of that trio led Penn State in scoring in each of its 33 games. \nThis season, that burden has fallen on junior Brandon Watkins and sophomore Sharif Chambliss. Both are experiencing growing pains.\nThe evidence is in the numbers. The Nittany Lions are committing 15 turnovers per game, are last in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio and are struggling to win on the road and at home.\n"When you have guys who are freshmen and sophomores, you're going to be up and down," Dunn said. \nBut Dunn is convinced the playing time -- and time alongside fellow returnee Tyler Smith, who consistently started last season and is third on the team in scoring this season -- is turning his green guards ripe. \nChambliss, who played only 4.3 minutes per game last season and didn't see action in 10 contests, leads the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Watkins is second with 13.6. Watkins played in every game last season, but like Chambliss, didn't start in any. This season, the new duo has started every game.\nChambliss has shown the most impressive improvement after taking only 30 shots all of last season. He took eight in the first meeting with IU, and led the Nittany Lions with 20 points. \n"(Chambliss) has played more," the seventh-year head coach said. "He's worked very hard to do the things we've asked him to do, and it's showed in his play."\nIt also caught the attention of IU Head coach Mike Davis, who coached Chambliss on the Big Ten All-Star Tour of Europe this summer. Davis warned his team Chambliss could heat up in a hurry, and his premonition came true. Chambliss hit seven of eight shots and didn't commit a turnover in 37 minutes in Assembly Hall. \nJust minutes after losing to Ohio State Saturday, Davis had already turned his attention toward Chambliss and Watkins. \n"They have two really good guards," Davis said. "What we have to do is keep our composure and stay focused."\nIU didn't do that against the Buckeyes, letting senior Brian Brown explode for a career-high 26 points, helping earn him Big Ten Player of the Week honors, and victimize it via dribble penetration. \nIf Chambliss and Watkins are able to do the same, they could pick up some ground in the league. Currently, Penn State and Purdue are the only teams stuck on one conference win. An IU win could put even more distance between the league's top and bottom teams. \n"You don't want to get two losses that early in the (Big Ten) season," IU sophomore Jared Jeffries said. \nPenn State already has four and doesn't see room for adding a fifth. \nIt looked like it might avoid loss No. 4 Saturday. PSU allowed Michigan State a 20-2 advantage early Saturday before grabbing a three-point lead with 11 minutes to play. But MSU used a 15-2 run to dump the Nittany Lions, who are yet to play in front of a sold-out Bryce Jordan Center this season. \n"We have a big week coming up," Dunn, the fastest coach to gain 50 and 100 wins in Penn State history, said. "We played 25 to 28 minutes well (against Michigan State), but in this league, you have to play 40 minutes, and we don't have a great deal of room for slippage"