Following that loss, junior guard Klarissa Bell among others insisted the Spartans didn’t play their game that night.

MSU shot under 30 percent against Penn State the first time around and only got 15 minutes of work from senior forward Courtney Schiffauer who eventually fouled out.

“We’re really excited. We’ve had two great practices in a row so far. We just did not play our game that first time,” Bell said Friday.

“We just weren’t ourselves that game and so we’re really looking forward to going down there on Sunday.”

Penn State’s lone Big Ten loss came on the road to Wisconsin, a team it previously blew out by 44-points.

One of the Big Ten’s most prolific scorers, Maggie Lucas, leads the league’s highest-scoring offense which is a strength-on-strength matchup with MSU’s defense. The Nittany Lions were the first team the Spartans allowed to meet their season scoring average this year.

Lucas, who averages 19.8 points per game, was held to 12 points in the first contest – seven of which came on free throws. Guards Dara Taylor and Alex Bentley combined for 31 points while center Nikki Green poured in 14.

“We watched the film earlier and looked at ourselves and we did a lot of things that are out of the ordinary for us,” Schiffauer said.

“I think they caught us on our heels when they played us here. But this time I think we’re ready to go down there and attack and be more aggressive and really work as a team like we did against Michigan.”

Schiffauer said she expects a large, energetic crowd considering the national TV broadcast and importance of the game. Penn State averages the fourth-best home attendance in the Big Ten.

Handing the Nittany Lions their second conference loss would keep MSU in realistic striking range of the Big Ten championship – as well add value to its NCAA Tournament resume. Another team would have to beat Penn State before the end of the season to make things interesting.

If the Spartans lose Sunday, it almost assures they are out of the race for first place, and their four-year streak of finishing second or better in the Big Ten likely would snap as well.

“We’re going for obviously the Big Ten title and we’re trying to put ourselves in position to (have) on Monday, March 18th that they call our names (for the NCAA Tournament),” Merchant said. “This would definitely help us, there’s no question in both those categories.”