M. Hoops is ready to play

Penn wants to avenge loss Most of the Penn men's basketball team will be in the company of loved ones enjoying one of the best meals of the year tomorrow. In the back of his mind, however, every player and coach will be thinking wistfully about Madison Square Garden. Had Penn not lost a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes of its season-opening 81-78 loss to underdog Canisius last Wednesday, the Quakers would have been just one win away from tonight's Preseason National Invitation Tournament semifinal round. They would have been on ESPN last Friday at the Palestra against George Washington in the quarterfinals. A victory there and it would have been on to New York. Instead, Penn (0-1) will be home for Thanksgiving in the middle of a 12-day layoff between games. Twelve days to concentrate on ridding itself of some of the kinks that led to the late-game collapse against Canisius. Twelve days to ensure what happened last Wednesday does not come close to happening again. Twelve days to think about its next game Monday at Lehigh's Stabler Arena. Twelve excruciatingly long days. "It's a killer," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "You have to wait with that loss on your mind for all that time." Difficult as the unwanted vacation may be for the Quakers, it could mean serious trouble for the Engineers. Lehigh coach Dave Duke breathed a sigh of exasperation along with the 3,500 fans in the Palestra last week when Penn guard Matt Maloney's desperation three-pointer fell short at the buzzer. He knew it meant an already daunting task for his team had just gotten harder. "Penn's a Top-25 team as far as I'm concerned," Duke said. "Now we have to really worry about matching their intensity. Their losing was the worst thing that could have happened to us." The Engineers, who open their season at home against Cornell two nights before hosting Penn, are no Top-25 team, but they return four starters and hope to challenge for the Patriot League crown. Lehigh is similar to Penn in that its scoring punch comes primarily from its backcourt. Second-team all-Patriot League shooting guard Rashawne Glenn tossed in 19.5 points per game last season for the Engineers, who finished the 1993-94 season with an overall mark of 10-17. This game basically went unnoticed as Penn headed into the season, with all the Ivy League games, the Big 5 showdowns, the Preseason NIT and games at national powerhouses Michigan and Massachusetts. Now the Quakers have a virtual eternity to focus all their energies on Lehigh. Don't tell Dunphy there is now less chance than ever his team can lose. "Hopefully, what the [Canisius] game means to our guys is that everybody on our schedule is going to be a tremendous challenge for us," Dunphy said. "Anybody can beat us at any given time. We can be a good team, but we don't have any margin for error." With all the hype leading up to the season opener and all the expectations of making a mark in the NIT, the Canisius loss was close to shattering. These 12 days are about recovering emotionally and keeping the energy level as high as possible. The five Penn seniors organized a meeting on The Day After to give everyone the chance to talk about what happened and what needs to be done in the future. The Quakers have to stay focused and avoid the lapses of concentration that helped Canisius to victory. The offense needs to be run with more precision. The transition defense must be shored up. Penn needs to remember that when it is on its game, it is, as Duke said, one of the better teams in the country. "I think if we go out and play our game like we did last year, we usually wind up winning," senior center Eric Moore said. Tomorrow, the Quakers take time off to give thanks for all they have been given in life. Friday, they are right back on the court trying to make up for what was so cruelly snatched away from them a week ago. · Backup center Tim Krug suffered strained muscles in his lower back against Canisius, according to Dunphy. He practiced last Thursday, but has been out of action since. Dunphy said Krug's status is currently day to day, but he should be able to play against Lehigh.

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