GAME NOTES: Still in search of their first Big Ten Conference road win of the season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers will try their luck against the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Nebraska has won five straight at home but has lost its last five games as the visiting team. The Cornhuskers hosted Northwestern on Tuesday night and cruised to a 76-60 victory. Beginning with this contest, they will play three of their next four on the road.

Penn State returns home after losing back-to-back road games this past week at Illinois (60-58) and at Maryland (64-58). However, the Nittany Lions have won two straight at the Bryce Jordan Center and will look to continue that recent success. Three of their next four games will be played in University Park.

The all-time series is tied, 4-4, and the teams split last season's meetings. This is the only scheduled meeting between Nebraska and Penn State in 2014-15.

Nebraska's 62.8-percent shooting effort from the field against Northwestern earlier this week marked its best performance in a conference game since Jan. 20, 1999. The Cornhuskers dished out a season-high 17 assists for the game and seized control with a 17-0 run in the second half, with the bench accounting for nine of those points. Defensively, they held the Wildcats without a field goal for a span of 7:34. Terran Petteway (19.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg) knocked down five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 28 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals. Walter Pitchford scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Shavon Shields (16.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg) had 11 points and a career-high seven assists. Shields helped the Huskers put the game away by scoring seven straight points in the final minutes.

Nittany Lions senior guard D.J. Newbill continues to lead the Big Ten in scoring with 21.3 ppg. Junior Brandon Taylor, who is averaging 10 points and six rebounds per tilt, missed two games before returning to action Wednesday night at 17th-ranked Maryland. He made three 3-pointers ining to handed the Hokies a 72-70 loss. Justin Bibbs scored a game-high 19 points and added six rebounds, four assists and five turnovers, while Jalen Hudson contributed 18 points and seven boards and Adam Smith had 13 points for Virginia Tech, which has lost two in a row and nine of its last 10.

This clash between ACC rivals will be the 50th among the programs in history. Florida State owns a 29-20 all-time series lead over Virginia Tech, which includes an 86-75 triumph of the Hokies back on Jan.6 in Tallahassee.

Florida State didn't help itself any on Wednesday, as it committed 17 turnovers, leading to 16 Clemson points. On the other hand, the Seminoles managed to create just two points off of 14 Tiger turnovers and managed to miss nine of 20 second half free throw attempts.

Rathan-Mayes has put up 13.8 ppg, while connecting on 45.7 percent of his shots. Montay Brandon (12.6) and Bookert (10.2) are the only other double- digit scorers for the Seminoles. Brandon is also the team's top rebounder, pulling down 5.4 boards per game.

Tech led by as many as 13 points nearing the end of the game, but was unable to make a field goal in the final four minutes and 45 seconds of regulation. Shane Henry put in a layup with just under five to play to put the Hokies up 65-56, but six turnovers in the final 3:40 of action gave Syracuse all it needed to make a comeback.

Virginia Tech isn't exactly putting up strong offensive numbers this season, but Bibbs and Adam Smith have been the go-to guys. Each player is netting over 13 points per outing for Tech, led by Bibbs and his 13.7 ppg. Smith is just five-tenths of a point behind him, all for a team that is scoring just 67.0 ppg this season on 45.1 percent shooting. The team's defensive woes have been well documented, as the Hokies currently allow opponents to net 67.5 ppg. Devin Wilson sits atop the team's assist category, having dished out 97 helpers.

The Seminoles have shown themselves vulnerable at times, but Virginia Tech has been bad since the start of conference play. Still, the Hokies have played better of late and should get a boost at home.