A FRONT ROW VIEW: Trice, Krug must step up

There was a time last year when the best player on the Penn men's basketball team was not Jerome Allen. It was not even Matt Maloney. It was senior forward Shawn Trice. Although most of the campus did not witness Trice dominate the U.S. West Cellular Air Time Tournament in Seattle last December, let me assure you he was indeed the best player on the floor for two nights. Hard as it may be to believe, Trice scored 42 points on 18-of-21 shooting. He grabbed a total of 14 rebounds against Washington and Georgia. But where has he gone in 1994? In the season opener against Canisius, he had nine points while the man he was guarding, Michael Meeks, torched him for a career-high 36 points. Trice followed that performance up with a 1-for-10 shooting night in Bethlehem during the Quakers' overtime win against Lehigh. Even in Penn's coming-out 20-point victory over Ohio State on Saturday, Trice was conspicuously absent. In 25 minutes of action, he took just three shots. If Penn expects to be a top-25 team, Trice will have to produce. He's heard it all his career, but the Quakers' future success rests on his shoulders. Allen and Maloney obviously must produce from the outside, but there must be an inside game to compliment one of the best backcourts in the country. And although Eric Moore is tearing apart opposing defenses now, his production will inevitably drop off as the Quakers begin the tougher part of their schedule. There is no way Moore will continue to pour in more than 15 points per game against the likes of Massachusetts' Marcus Camby and Temple's 6-foot-11 William Cunningham. Moore is not an extremely gifted athlete, but he gets the most out of his abilities. Trice has been inconsistent throughout his career. He performs best in Penn's biggest games, but he seems to lose his focus and drive in other contests. The Quakers cannot afford for this trend to continue. They need consistent production from the senior. It is time for Trice to step up his play, take better shots and help Penn on both ends of the floor. If Trice does not start playing up to his capabilities, the team will be in severe trouble in the long run. In the meantime, someone will have to fill the void while Trice tries to find himself. Moore has been playing admirably so far, but he needs help in the post. If it's not Trice, then Tim Krug will have to produce. Krug, like Trice, unfortunately has been plagued by inconsistency throughout his career. He can score more than 20 points one night, then come out and go scoreless the next. In 1994, more often than not, it's been closer to the latter. Against Canisius, he scored just two points on 1-of-8 shooting, including 0 for 2 from the free-throw line. Then, after instrumental contributions in the OT thriller over Lehigh, he connected on just 3 of 11 shots against the Buckeyes. To make matters worse, Krug consistently has been beaten on defense. He must start playing for the win rather than the highlight film. Too often, he goes for the blocked shot from behind his man instead of maintaining good defensive position. There comes a time when a player must place the success of the team above his statistics. That time has now come for Tim Krug. Joshua Friedman is a College senior from Beverly Hills, Calif., and Sport Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.

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