Is Penn basketball out for revenge against Rider? Not quite.

A blown 14-point lead. Two missed chances at the game-winning shot. A fifth consecutive loss.

Suffice it to say, Penn basketball’s 89-88 loss to Rider last year was one of the low points in a tough season.

But as the Quakers (0-1) gear up for Tuesday’s rematch against the Broncs (0-1), coach Jerome Allen insists that his team isn’t exactly out for revenge.

“I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he thinks his players still think about that loss. “As a staff, we try to look at last year’s game to see if we can pick up any pointers, but with that being said, we’ll just focus on [Rider’s] first game this year, how they finished last year in terms of tendencies, and that’s it.”

Penn fans should be quite familiar with Rider’s season-opening opponent. The Broncs travelled to Jadwin Gym Friday and fell 64-58 to Princeton, despite receiving 16 points from junior guard Teddy Okereafor in his debut.

Okereafor — who started his career at VCU but sat out 2013-14 due to NCAA transfer rules — is one of three new players in the Broncs’ starting lineup relative to their last matchup versus the Quakers, who have dealt with some significant rotation changes of their own.

Of the 11 Penn players who received floor time in the Quakers’ 2013 game against Rider, only three remain — senior forward Greg Louis, junior guard Tony Hicks and sophomore forward Dylan Jones.

Hicks went off in Penn’s season opener against Delaware State on Saturday, a 77-75 overtime loss at the Palestra. The newly-minted captain dropped in 31 points and hit five three-pointers on 9-of-20 shooting.

But the Quakers couldn’t make the plays on either end of the floor they needed to coming down the stretch that would have closed out the Hornets, making only one field goal in the 8:30 of regulation, and surrendering 12 points in overtime.

“Hopefully from the two-point loss in overtime, [players] really buy in to the fact that it’s a summation of one-possession games,” Allen said. “The opportunities that we have in the first half and we turn the ball over seven times — or at the 17-minute mark in the second half when we don’t come up with the defensive rebound ... those things come back to haunt you.”

Some of the opportunities that ultimately fell into Hicks’ hands on Saturday may become chances for Darien Nelson-Henry on Tuesday.

The junior center received 28 minutes of action on Saturday and grabbed eight rebounds — four offensive, four defensive — in his first game since offseason surgery but missed a pair of layups in the final three minutes of the second half.

Most importantly, though, Nelson-Henry feels that he’s finally healthy, welcome news considering the fact that he missed four games last year — including the Rider matchup — due to injury.

“My wind was better than it had been in previous years, actually,” he said. “I felt pretty good. Obviously it’s something I’m still working on and trying to improve, but physically, my body felt great — no real pain, no nagging injuries. It’s just a matter of working back into it, getting my feet under me and just trying to work back into basketball feel.”

The faster Nelson-Henry gets his legs under him, the better Penn’s offense will be in pressure situations, all the better for eliminating any lingering memories of last year’s loss on Tuesday night.

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