Palestra set for warfare

M. Hoops hosts Tigers The hype comes every year. The game itself often gets lost in all the hoopla. When the two dominant teams in the league get together to settle the ultimate conflict, everyone takes note. No, it's not the Super Bowl. There are no 20-point spreads. The game will not be over by halftime. It will be an all-out war. It is Penn and Princeton. Plain and simple. Not much else needs to be said. The two know each other so well. This regular season contest might as well be a championship game. All of the characteristics are there. There will be no surprises. "Whether you're on the basketball court, the football field, in the business world or just in a social setting," Penn captain Jerome Allen said, "and you meet someone and they say they're an alum of Princeton or they go to Princeton, quite naturally you smirk a little. But it's all in good fun. I respect the school. I respect Coach Carril and what he does. But I play for the University of Pennsylvania. That's where my loyalty lies." And that's where the loyalty of most of the 8,700 fans who will be in the sold-out Palestra tomorrow evening rest. For the 190th time, the Tigers and the Quakers will square off on the hardwood. In its 29th season under coach Pete Carril, Princeton will feature its notorious slow-down half-court offense and stymieing defense when it takes the court against the two-time defending Ivy League champions at 7 p.m. (PRISM, WXPN-FM 88.5). So far this season the Tigers (7-7, 1-1) have endured a roller coaster journey. Princeton lost its Ivy opener to Dartmouth and was forced into double overtime before beating Harvard. But the young Tigers also managed to take Syracuse to overtime before losing by two at the Carrier Dome and stayed relatively close at Massachusetts. While Carril owns a 5-5 record against Dunphy, the Quakers (10-3, 2-0) have won the last four contests, including two double-digit victories a year ago. Despite all of Carril's success, Penn remains the only Ivy team against which the veteran coach does not possess a winning record. "If there's anything unique about the Palestra, the lighting is really bad on the court," Tiger senior center Rick Hielscher said. "It's a great place to play, though. It's always a packed house for Princeton. When you're in high school and you think about playing in college, you want excitement and a packed arena like that." Hielscher, who is just 17 points shy of the 1,000-point plateau, heads the Tiger offense in the middle. Joining him in the frontcourt will be Chris Doyal and freshman Steve Goodrich. As if the game needed any more fuel, Goodrich attended high school with Penn's Tim Krug. Sydney Johnson is the key figure in the Princeton backcourt, but freshman guard Mitch Henderson is questionable with a sprained ankle. Taking his place in the starting lineup will likely be Chris Long, who has averaged just 3.0 points so far this year. While the Tigers offense could be considered boring, Dunphy has another opinion. "One of the things that's a little misleading about them over the years is people look at their offense and think they're holding the ball," Dunphy said. "It's more running their offense.Everything's based on timing." With the precision passing game in full effect, the Tiger offense presents a unique challenge to the Quakers' defense. The experienced Penn team has seen more than its fair share of backdoor cuts, and Princeton is dead last in Ivy scoring, but the Tigers' attack is difficult to defend. "Defense is the key for us," Krug said. "We have to play defense for the whole 35 seconds. It's a matter of hard work." On the other end of the court, the Tigers' man-to-man defense leads the Ivies in fewest points allowed. In order for Penn to be successful, the Quakers know they can't rush jumpers early in their offensive sets. While Penn would like to pick up the tempo somewhat, that is always a difficult task to accomplish against a Carril-coached team. "We're competing against one of the finest coaches in the history of the game," Dunphy said. "He deserves a great deal of credit for what he's accomplished." Aside from patience, the Quakers plan to feed off the enthusiasm of the crowd. Krug has consistently come up big against Princeton over the years and the five starting seniors know that this is their last chance to play the Tigers at the Palestra. With all that is at stake, Allen and the rest of the Quakers know what this game means. "I only have 10 games left at the Palestra," Allen said. "I'm not looking forward to March 4 [Penn's final home game]. I'm going to try to go out and not leave anything on the floor." Saturday also happens to be Allen's 22nd birthday. One would think that there would be no more fitting way to celebrate such an occurrence than with a win over Princeton. "It will make it an even more special day," Allen said.