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Mens Basketball vs. Ryder Credit: Ilana Wurman , Ilana Wurman, Ilana Wurman

Home sweet home.

By the time Penn basketball finishes its game at the Palestra on Saturday, it will likely feel comfortable playing in front of a friendly crowd. But it better not get used to it.

After two straight disappointing losses to begin the 2014-15 season, the Quakers (0-2) are hoping to use this weekend’s matchup with Lafayette to not only notch their first win, but also generate some positive takeaways from an early three-game homestand.

After all, following Penn’s matchup with the Leopards (1-1) on Saturday, the Red and Blue will seldom play at the Palestra over the course of the next month. The squad faces eight of its subsequent nine opponents through Jan. 17 on the road.

Despite its winless record, Penn has played well in stretches throughout its first two games this year.

In the team’s season opener against Delaware State, junior guard Tony Hicks led the Quakers with 31 points while freshmen Antonio Woods and Mike Auger combined to contribute 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists off the bench. Penn led at halftime and had a chance to win the game at the buzzer before falling short in overtime, 77-75.

Hoping to build off their opening performance, the Red and Blue instead fell flat in their matchup with Rider on Tuesday.

Due in large part to early foul trouble among its starting big men, Penn was unable to respond to a surge by the Broncs late in the first half. The 16-point defeat marked the first time in coach Jerome Allen’s tenure that the Quakers began a season with two consecutive losses.

“I didn’t think we played with the right sense of urgency... [nor] with the right sense of selflessness,” Allen said after Tuesday’s defeat. “It’s unfortunate that we wasted this opportunity.

“But for some of these younger guys, [the first two games] have been an important learning experience, and we need to get better.”

Allen has relied heavily on his highly-touted freshman class in the early portion of the season. Rookie Darnell Foreman has started both games at point guard, while five of the eight players to see double-digit minutes on the court in Penn’s matchup with Rider were freshmen.

“I think it’s a good learning experience to be thrown into the mix this early in the season instead of being thrown in later on in the season with less experience,” Auger said after Tuesday’s game.

Against Lafayette, the Quakers are facing a team that is almost completely opposite in its composition. Unlike Penn, the Leopards feature four upperclassmen in their starting lineup, including three seniors.

Lafayette kicked off its season in impressive fashion last weekend, scoring a 27-point win over Robert Morris, but the Leopards fell by an equal margin to West Virginia in their first true test.

Saturday’s contest marks the second of three consecutive games against Ivy League opponents for Lafayette. After taking on Princeton on Wednesday and Penn three days later, the Leopards will travel up to New Haven, to do battle with Yale next week.

If the Red and Blue are able to grab their first win of the season, it will likely stem from how well the squad shuts down Lafayette senior forward Dan Trist. The Australian leads the Leopards in both points and rebounds this season, averaging 16.5 points and 6.5 boards per contest.

It’s safe to assume that, given the Quakers’ schedule and Trist’s talent, if the 6-foot-9 forward manages to get Penn’s frontcourt into foul trouble as it did on Tuesday, it could be awhile before the Red and Blue faithful see a victory in person.

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