Bowman is Hofstra concern

Flying Dutchmen coach says shutting down the Penn guard is top priority Ira Bowman knows what he will be facing when the Penn men's basketball team travels to the Nassau Coliseum tonight to face Hofstra at 8 p.m -- the entire Flying Dutchmen defensive unit. Hofstra coach Jay Wright has declared stopping the senior swingman to be his team's top priority. But Bowman isn't worried. In fact, he is looking forward to the challenge. "What are they going to do?" Bowman asked. "Shut down my scoring? Shut down my passing? I don't have just one thing that I'm going to do. I don't think there's one thing they can do to stop me." Bowman has stepped out from the shadows of graduated guards Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen to lead the Quakers (6-6) this season. The team he and center Tim Krug inherited is very different from last year's squad. Instead of a cohesive unit of five seniors, Penn is struggling to replace players lost to injury and academic and personal problems with former benchwarmers and junior varsity call-ups. But the team has been compensating for the departures better than anyone could have expected. Many preseason publications predicted doom-and-gloom for the Quakers, including the end of the Ivy League winning streak. The team, however, had other opinions. "What questions?" Bowman wondered, following the Quakers 80-78 loss to USC on November 27. "When you take the floor, you don't search for anything. We're more concerned with going out and performing well and beating the opposition, instead of looking for something." For guard Garett Kreitz and swingman Donald Moxley, point guard Jamie Lyren's absence to recover from an broken foot has provided an opportunity to step into the spotlight. Kreitz has responded, becoming Penn's designated long-range bomber. The sophomore has hit on 42 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Moxley leads Penn from the free-throw line, shooting 65.4 percent, and nailed the game-winning layup Saturday against La Salle. "You give the people a chance to play and they're either going to respond or they're not," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "At this point I think they're all responding very well. Hopefully, we're going to have Ira, Tim, Donald and Garett in double figures and [freshman forward] Paul Romanczuk close to that." According to Dunphy, Romanczuk and fellow freshman forward Frankie Brown should see at least 20 minutes apiece tonight. And junior varsity call-ups Phil Smith and Jeff Goldstein may even get an opportunity to step into the spotlight. Hofstra (7-9) has a patchwork squad as well. The biggest threat is guard Darius Burton, who leads the North Atlantic Conference in steals and is ranked second in assists. According to Wright, the 5-foot-9 Burton will be matched up against Bowman, giving the Penn star a definite height advantage. However, Hofstra hopes to be able to exploit Burton's quickness against the 6-foot-5 Bowman. The Quakers plan to counter with a variety of defensive strategies. "[Burton] is very good from foul line to foul line," Dunphy said. "We're just going to have to match up to him quickly. It may be three different guys over three different possessions. We're really going to have to communicate in our transition defense." As for Bowman, he is willing to vary his role in order to help Penn win the game. "It's important for me to get other people on the team shots, set the tempo of the game, to get everybody involved," Bowman said. "When we need to score, I'll try my best to get us baskets." Tonight's game is the second half of the 1996 ECAC Basketball Challenge. As a result, it will be played at the Nassau Coliseum, site of Penn's 1994 NCAA Tournament triumph over Nebraska and later loss to eventual Final Four team Florida. Krug, Moxley and forward Cedric Laster are the only active players remaining from that team. Bowman spent that year on the bench, sitting out after transferring from Providence. The ghosts of past Penn success are present. And along with them goes the pressure of playing in a large arena once again. The Quakers believe they have been prepared by their experiences in the Palestra and the Spectrum. Hofstra, on the other hand, is used to much smaller gyms. "This is going to be a special trip," Bowman said. "There are a lot of expectations. People see the standard that people before them have set, and they want to go out and try to set their own mark. Playing in large arenas is something you'll look back on when you're finished playing basketball and really appreciate." And as for the challenge of facing down the Hofstra defense, Bowman responded confidently, "It's not a problem."