Spartan tipoff: No. 20 MSU women at Penn State

• When: 1 p.m. today

• Where: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pa.

• Radio: WVFN 730-AM

• TV: None, but game will be on a pay-per-view stream at BigTenNetwork.com

• Records: MSU is 11-6, 2-4 Big Ten; Penn State is 12-4, 4-2.

• Coaches: Suzy Merchant is 56-30 in her third season at MSU and 257-150 overall in 15 seasons. Coquese Washington is 36-40 overall in her third season at Penn State.

• Series: Penn State leads 23-9 and 13-2 in State College, but the Spartans have won three straight including a 70-59 win on Jan. 18, 2009, in East Lansing.

• Last game: MSU lost Thursday at home to Wisconsin, 48-45. Penn State won Thursday at Iowa, 68-62.

• Projected lineups

MSU

Pos. Name PPG

G (20) Brittney Thomas (5-10) 6.5

G (32) Kalisha Keane (6-1) 8.8

F (30) Lykendra Johnson (6-1) 10.1

F (22) Aisha Jefferson (6-1) 7.6

C (41) Allyssa DeHaan (6-9) 12.7

Penn State

Pos. Name PPG

G (20) Alex Bentley (5-7) 10.2

G (1) Tyra Grant (5-11) 19.5

F (11) Julia Trogele (6-2) 7.1

F (33) Meredith Monroe (6-1) 5.9

C (54) Nikki Greene (6-4) 6.9

• MSU update: If MSU has done one thing consistently, it's to talk about the need to play consistent basketball. That's one of Merchant's big issues with her players - right now, they're talking more than they're doing - and she's promised to shake things up today. Things have reached a tumultuous din for the Spartans, losers of two straight, and Merchant was brutal in her appraisal of the loss to Wisconsin. "I'm going to make major changes at this point. It's at the point where I think the team needs some fire and some toughness. ... It's interesting, people will talk but they don't do. You know what I mean? They say all the right things, but then they don't perform it. I think there's a lack of communication there." She went on to assail the team's inability to listen to each other and a "lack of leadership and lack of ability to have a doer out there at this point." She also called her bench unproductive and labeled some of her starters as "offensively negligent." Only Johnson, who also averages a team-best 8.7 rebounds, has been somewhat consistent in recent weeks. Despite playing one of the nation's toughest schedules and owning one of the best RPI ratings, the Spartans are tied with Northwestern for eighth in the Big Ten standings. Still, MSU's six losses have come by a combined 23 points - with only two by more than a possession (five points vs. Indiana, eight at Wisconsin).

• Penn State update: How the Nittany Lions play starts and ends with Grant. With MSU's Johnson guarding her last season in East Lansing, Grant scored just seven points. This year, the all-conference guard has scored 20 or more points in six of Penn State's last seven games and is tied for second in scoring in the Big Ten, the same as her team ranks in the league standings. But coach Washington has surrounded her star with some young talent. Bentley scored five straight in an 11-0 run to start the second half against Iowa, and fellow freshman Greene can add post scoring, rebounding (6.2) and shot-blocking (1.9). A win today would equal the most in a season under former Notre Dame star Washington.

• Prediction: It's almost pointless to try to predict which MSU team will show up - the one that looked like a Final Four contender in wins over North Carolina and Xavier or the one that looked like it could struggle to make the WNIT in losing double-digit leads at home to talent-inferior Indiana and Wisconsin. Not even the Spartans know from game to game. The surging Nittany Lions are 6-1 at home this season, and MSU has historically struggled there until recently.

• Make it: Penn State 64, MSU 60