Before Ohio State's first meeting with Penn State in late January, Chris Holtmann was emphatic in his conviction that the Nittany Lions were an NCAA Tournament team.

Though that prediction may wind up unfulfilled, this Penn State team (7-10, 4-9 Big Ten) is far from a Big Ten bottom-feeder.

After taking over the program one month before the Nittany Lions' season-opener, Jim Ferry coaches a competitive, hard-playing group that has suffered more than a few heartbreaking losses this season.

One of those oh-so-close contests came at the Schottenstein Center in late January, when Penn State forced 17 Ohio State turnovers and connected on nine 3-pointers but couldn't put it together late, leaving Columbus with a four-point loss in what was one of Ohio State's ugliest games of the season.

Even for a team as scorching hot as the No. 4 Buckeyes are right now, Thursday night will be far from a cakewalk.

With that being said, let's go behind enemy lines with Nate Bauer of BlueWhiteIllustrated to find out more about this Penn State team and how Ohio State matches up with the Nittany Lions in round two between these sides.