GAME NOTES: The Penn State Nittany Lions take aim at their sixth straight win when they visit the Cam Henderson Center for a non-conference matchup with the Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday evening.

Coach Patrick Chambers guided his Nittany Lions to a 61-58 win over Virginia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday to improve the team to 7-1. Penn State's only unsuccessful outing of the campaign was a 106-97 double- overtime loss to Charlotte in the Charleston Classic. The Nittany Lions downed Bucknell, 88-80, on Nov. 28 in their only other true road game. Penn State has not had seven wins through its first eight contests since the 2008-09 campaign, which ended with a postseason NIT Championship. The Nittany Lions' average scoring margin (+5.4) is ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten, partly because three of their wins came by one possession.

The Nittany Lions rely heavily on senior guard D.J. Newbill, who leads the Big Ten and ranks third nationally in scoring with 24.1 ppg. The 6-foot-4 off- guard is also grabbing 5.4 rpg, while pacing PSU in assists (2.9 apg) and steals (1.4 spg). Newbill has a new partner in the backcourt in freshman Shep Garner, who is tallying 11.1 ppg and converting 92.3 percent at the charity stripe through his first eight career games. On the interior, Brandon Taylor has overcome his 6-foot-6 frame to post 10.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg and a team-high 1.6 blocks per tilt. Senior big man Ross Travis is PSU's top rebounder with 7.8 caroms per contest.

The Nittany Lions are 6-0 versus Marshall in the all-time series, including a 90-77 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center last season, which marked the first meeting between the schools since PSU visited Huntington on Jan. 16, 1992.

While the Nittany Lions attempt to gain more momentum, Marshall will try to stop the bleeding. The Thundering Herd's 77-59 home loss to South Carolina marked their fourth setback in a row overall and third straight at the Cam Henderson Center. Dan D'Antoni returned to his alma mater this past off-season after spending nearly a decade as an assistant to his brother and fellow Marshall alumnus Mike D'Antoni in the NBA. D'Antoni began his head coaching career with three consecutive victories before the losing slide began.

The Thundering Herd have already hoisted up 170 shots from beyond the arc in seven games, giving them the most 3-point field goal attempts of any team in the Conference USA, despite the fact that multiple teams have played more games. Marshall has connected on only 30.6 percent of its tries from behind the 3-point line. The loss of star point guard Kareem Canty, who transferred to Auburn, has certainly hurt the Herd, but they still have a solid go-to-guy in Ryan Taylor, who is ranked sixth in C-USA in scoring (16.0 ppg) and also third in rebounding (6.3 rpg). Marshall has played its last two games without senior starting forward Shawn Smith (12 ppg), who could be out for an extended period of time with a shoulder injury.

D'Antoni returned to Huntington to take over a program left in poor condition by the previous coaching staff. Although PSU is not quite a threat to compete for a Big Ten title just yet, it has plenty of depth up front to dominate Marshall on the glass. The Herd allowed USC's Duane Notice to net 27 points on Monday, and Newbill is a much more polished player offensively.