11 a.m. at Penn State • Bryce Jordan Center • ESPNU, 1500-AM

Preview: The No. 24 Gophers (15-3, 3-2 Big Ten) will try to bounce back from their worst loss of the season, by 18 points Wednesday at Michigan State. After winning their previous two road games, the Gophers were humbled in their second meeting with the Spartans this season. The Gophers can still match the program's best Big Ten start (4-2) since 2008-09 with a third win on the road, which would be the most in a conference season under Richard Pitino. Penn State (10-7, 2-2) upset Michigan State 72-63 in Philadelphia last week, but in its only conference game at home it lost to Northwestern 87-77.

Players to watch: Junior Nate Mason is averaging 14.3 points and 5.4 assists this season for the Gophers. He is shooting only 29 percent in the past three games, but he scored all of his 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting in the second half of Wednesday's loss. Penn State freshmen Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens combined for 32 points on 12-for-22 shooting against Michigan State. Carr and Stevens were high school teammates at Roman Catholic in Philadelphia.

Numbers: The Nittany Lions have three consecutive victories over the Gophers, but before that they had lost five in a row in the series.

MARCUS FULLER