ROAD WARRIORS AT IT AGAIN

The last thing Penn State fans need is another reason to hate the University of Michigan.

The second-place Nittany Lions will take their conference-best four-game winning streak into the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor Thursday, its second of five road games scheduled in the month of February.

The Wolverines and Lions certainly represent two ships passing in the night. Behind CollegeHoops.net's national player of the week honoree, Talor Battle, Penn State is streaking to its best record in years while Michigan is plummeting after a hot start, dropping five of its last six conference games, and in the unfamiliar role of spoiler against the Lions.

To add insult to injury, two of John Beilein's players have suffered flagrant-foul ejections in each of its last two contests (both losses) against Ohio State and Purdue. The Wolverines' leading scorer, Manny Harris, was tossed out of the team's game against the Boilermakers early in the second half after an vicious elbow delivered to the face of Cris Kramer. While Harris has avoided a suspension, teammate Zack Novak wasn't as lucky after his ejection for an excessively hard foul against the Buckeyes earned him a one-game benching.

This is a dangerous time to catch the Wolverines, as it will be as desperate a team as the Lions will face all season. Penn State has only won once in 14 trips to Ann Arbor, but the Nits broke winless streaks of 15 games at Indiana and 16 games at East Lansing already this season.

The first time these two teams met this season, Penn State led by as many as 26 points on its way to a comfortable 15 point win. The Lions shot 58% from the floor that night and were led by Jamelle Cornley who left Michigan defenders absolutely dumbfounded. Don't expect it to be that easy in Ann Arbor, but this is a game the Lions must have to sustain momentum and keep pace with the upper crust of teams in the conference.

The four-game winning streak that the Lions are riding is the team's longest in 13 years. As a matter of fact, Thursday's game has a little extra meaning for those of us old enough to remember that team 13 years ago and what happened when it took on the Michigan Wolverines.

The Nittany Lions basketball program had never had its stock rise so high. Not only did Penn State have a competitive basketball team in just it's fifth season in the Big Ten, but the school had just cut the ribbon on the brand new Bryce Jordan Center, moving the team's home games across campus from venerable Rec Hall in mid-season.

The Nittany Lions had one of the best back courts in the nation with sharpshooter Pete Lisicky playing the two-guard and current assistant coach Dan Earl running the point. Inside were forwards Glenn Sekunda and Matt Gaudio and the shot blocker extraordinaire, Calvin Booth.

Remarkably, all five starters were averaging double figures as the Nittany Lions raced out to a 13-0 start, the best in school history, and a #14 national ranking. Penn State had everybody wondering if they were for real and were granted a huge stage to showcase their talent on when CBS made the Lions' game against Michigan a national broadcast in late January.

Simply put, the Lions choked.

Penn State was down by as many as eleven in the first half and committed 21 turnovers in the game, rarely looking like the team that had played so efficiently all season. Still, trailing by one, the team had a chance to keep the perfect season alive when Earl's runner in the lane was swatted away by Maceo Baston at the buzzer.

Sure, there were excuses as to why the Lions came up short:

Lisicky was nursing a bum ankle that had kept him out of the team's last game and wasn't as effective as he usually was...Sekunda claimed after the game that he was wide open on the last possession and Earl should have passed it instead of trying to loft a teardrop shot over the Wolverines' center...and many more could havea, would haves and should haves.

The bottom line was that Michigan had cracked the Lions confidence and the team would drop six of its last fourteen games before a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament to Arkansas, the victim of a classic 12-5 upset.

Nobody wishes that kind of ending for this year's team, but the 2008 Lions could learn a valuable lesson from that 1996 squad. It only takes one bad game, one momentary lack of focus for all your momentum to disintegrate and there's no telling if you can get it back again before it's too late. Battle and company must play just as sharp against Michigan as they did against Michigan State, and continue to show why this team refuses to be identified with any of the underachieving teams that came before it.