It’s been a tough week all around here in Happy Valley. Penn State  (10-12, 2-7) dug themselves an early hole, and went down 15-2 to start the game. Later on, Pat Chambers picked up a technical foul and Tim Frazier even lost his shoe at one point. It was that kind of night for the Nittany Lions as they lost to No. 4 Ohio State (18-3, 6-2) 78-54.

Penn State had a tough time getting any rhythm early. The Buckeyes jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Jermaine Marshall got Penn State on the board nearly five minutes into the game. Marshall had a nice stretch towards the end of the first half; however, the Nittany Lions would head into halftime trailing 38-18. When a team trails by more points than it actually has at the half, it is typically not a good thing.

The second half was more of the same as Ohio State was in control throughout. Marshall finished with fourteen points while Frazier led the Nittany Lions with sixteen; however, neither shot particularly well from the field. As a whole, Penn State shot a mere 31% from the field compared to 50% for Ohio State.  Sasa Borovnjak, Ross Travis, and Matt Glover had a rough night. The three played 25, 20, and 19 minutes respectively, but only combined for 7 points on 2 for 14 shooting from the field.

Likely future NBA lottery pick Jared Sullinger had a strong game for Ohio State recording twenty points and thirteen rebounds. Point guard Aaron Craft was efficient adding 11 points while never once missing from the field.

One of the lighter moments of the game came in the final few minutes as Ohio State students broke out the song “We Don’t Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan.”

As evidenced by the electric win over Illinois last week, Penn State showed it is easily capable of holding their own in most Big Ten games, but Chambers’ young squad does not appear ready for the Ohio States of the world quite yet.

As Ohio State prepares for a marquee matchup against Michigan, Pat Chambers’ young squad will have almost a week off before returning home next Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. to face No. 25 Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have played well at home in the Big Ten and defeated a tough Wisconsin team at home late last January.

They will have some time to figure out what went wrong tonight before attempting to get back on track against the Badgers.