Steve Pikiell is not here to burst their bubble. But he will do his best to take most of the air out.

Three unexpected letters - NIT - have become the buzz around town following Rutgers’ stirring road upset of Iowa. Pikiell knows fans are excited about the possibility his young Scarlet Knights can turn this last-season surge into the first winning season in 13 years and a surprise berth in the National Invitational Tournament, and he knows his players are hearing it all as well.

So how will Rutgers attack it all, starting with Wednesday’s home finale against Penn State at the RAC?

“The same way," Pikiell said, staying on his gregarious even-keel. "We have one game, Penn State at home. Senior Night. They’re playing the best basketball in the league, another huge challenge for us. We have never swept anybody in the conference. We take it one game at a time.

“Everyone else is talking about that stuff. I want to talk about Penn State, how good they are and what we have to do to beat them. The problem is our guys are on those phones all the time, and that does nothing to help us win the Penn State game."

The Scarlet Knights are 14-14 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten, holding onto ninth-place in the conference (and the first-round bye in the league tournament that comes with it) for dear life. They have won two straight and a third consecutive win would push them to the brink of clinching the bye. It would also be a major step toward a potential above-.500 finish and strengthening their NIT bubble resume.

“We hear the noise around us, but we control our own fate," freshman forward Ron Harper Jr., who was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after dropping 27 points on Iowa, said. "We’ve just got to finish strong. Coach Pikiell preaches taking it one game at a time, and that’s exactly what we have to do. We have to go 1-0 on Wednesday, and then we’ve got to move on. We’re going to give ourselves a pretty good opportunity for a postseason bid.”

Added redshirt freshman forward Myles Johnson: “We definitely look at it, but we have to take it game by game. We can’t look ahead. If we do, we’ll start to lose focus of where we are.”

Getting to 1-0 this time around won’t be easy, though. The Nittany Lions (12-17, 5-13) are in 13th place in the Big Ten, but they’ve won four of their last six, including wins over ranked Maryland and Michigan teams. Penn State looks nothing like the team Rutgers beat in Happy Valley in January during what was an eight-game losing skid for the Nits.

“We’re just trying to go 1-0 that night,” Pikiell said. “I know people don’t like hearing that, but we have six guys who it’s their first go-round in this league. One game at a time. We’ll continue on that same mission.”

James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.