AT COURTSIDE: Maloney comes back with a vengeance against Bears

It was one of those nights when everyone seemed to be against him. Matt Maloney was on his way to a one-of-six shooting performance Friday at Yale. He would finish with three turnovers and only one assist. He was even below par from the foul line, missing two of his five shots. Now all the frustration came pouring out. Everything, he decided, must be the fault of the referees. They had whistled him for two quick fouls at the game's outset and were calling the game a little tightly. So Maloney started talking to the official, who had already turned and headed up court. Maloney followed, desperately wanting to be heard. Under the basket, Jerome Allen just wanted to put the ball in play. Maloney had other things on his mind, like the darn official. Allen grabbed Maloney and told him to worry about keeping his head in the game. Everyone seemed to be against him. "When you pick up two quick fouls and you disagree with the calls, that might sometimes mentally affect you," center Tim Krug said. "That took him out of the game a little bit." Twenty-four hours later, no one was more into the game than Maloney. If you are trying to bounce back from one of the worst offensive showings of your career, Brown is the team you would like to have on the opposing end of the court. Yale focused on slowing down the tempo and taking Allen, Maloney and Kegler out of their perimeter games Friday night. Conversely, the Bears opened up the game and tried to run and gun with the Quakers, giving Penn much more freedom on the offensive end of the floor. Penn took 70 shots Saturday night, 23 more than it did against Yale. After missing all four of his three-point attempts in one of the worst offensive showings of his collegiate career the previous evening, Maloney said he just wanted to get into the flow right from the start Saturday. He did. "He struggled last night, and I think it's the sign of a good player that he came back the next night and tried to stay as focused as he could," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. The shots were coming so much easier. Maloney found himself more wide open on the Quakers' very first possession than he had been the entire previous evening. He let fly from behind the arc on the left wing. Nothing but net. Dunphy envisioned nights like this from the moment Maloney transferred from Vanderbilt three years ago. Nights when everything the senior guard touches on the offensive end turns to gold. He drove inside for pull-up jumpers and hit an assortment of shots from downtown. He finished 13-of-20 from the field for 36 points, one short of his career high in December of 1992 against American. It was an all-time points record for the six-year-old Pizzitola Sports Center. The defining moment Saturday night for Maloney came with just under eight minutes remaining in the game and Penn up 71-59. He stole the ball and was heading in for an uncontested layup when he was grabbed by Brown's Joel Koplik. He heard the whistle blow and tossed the ball over his shoulder just before his feet hit the floor. It went in. His subsequent foul shot gave him 32 points and effectively ended the Bears' chances. It also drew more than a few murmurs from the crowd wondering what it would take for Maloney to actually miss. When asked about that shot after the game, Maloney was nonchalant. "It just makes up for one I missed that I should have been able to make," he said. As he walked off the court at game's end accepting congratulations from all around, Maloney couldn't help cracking a smile. No one was against him anymore. His teammates and coaches could not, in fact, have been happier. "He just had one of those nights, and for that I'm really glad for him," Dunphy said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.