Third top-10 team on tap

M. Basketball heads down to Baltimore to face the Maryland squad that just beat Wake Forest. Judging by Penn's 12-1 all-time record against tonight's opponent, Maryland, it would appear as if the Quakers have thoroughly dominated the Terrapins in recent years. But this is not the case at all. The last time Penn faced off against Maryland was December 1952. The Atlantic Coast Conference was not the powerhouse it is today -- in fact, it was five months from even being formed. Needless to say, Maryland was not national powerhouse it has been recently. Twenty-five years since that last meeting, the Terrapins are the seventh-ranked team in the nation. On Sunday night, they slipped past then-No. 2 Wake Forest, 54-51, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Maryland's record stands at 15-2 and the Terrapins boast one of college's most exciting players, Keith Booth, who is likely to be chosen by an NBA lottery team in July. In addition to Booth, who leads the team with 19.8 points per game along with 7.7 rebounds per game, sophomore Laron Profit chips in with 13 ppg. All five Maryland starters average double figures in points, and the Terps have their second-leading rebounder, Rodney Elliot (7.1), coming off the bench. Already the Quakers have faced off against two other teams sporting top-10 rankings and each time have fallen hard (Villanova, 89-62, and Arizona, 93-51). Unlike Maryland's dynamic starting five, Penn's lineup at game time tonight will only include two upperclassmen and even if 6-foot-11 Geoff Owens starts, the average height will equal 6-foot-2 (a solid 2 inches less than Maryland's). What is even more troubling for Dunphy are the mental lapses his team has experienced in recent weeks. In contests versus Rice, Brown, Drexel and St. Joseph's, Penn was unable to put together a solid 40 minutes, and only Brown was defeated. "We are going to have play hard for the entire game in order to be anywhere close at the end," Dunphy said. "Maryland is obviously an outstanding basketball team, so this is a great game for us to play, and hopefully we will respond with an effort that will put us in the game in the closing minutes." In particular, two categories which have plagued Penn's younger squad have been turnovers and shot selection. Over the past two weeks the Red and Blue have averaged 15 turnovers per game while their shooting percentage has dipped to just under 40 percent. The lack of concentration and mental breakdowns is something Dunphy mentioned he would like to see erased, starting tonight against the Terrapins. There is not one area which Dunphy can pinpoint as the reason why Penn has suffered these tendencies. "I don't think you can put your finger on any one aspect of our game," Dunphy said. "One thing is that we have turned it over way too many times. Our decision making has been suspect at best and we haven't shot the ball well either." On the offensive end, impatience has become a concern. The coach also believes Penn has chosen to take shots which are "too difficult to make and are not high-percentage." While the offense continues to go through growing pains on the defensive side of the ball, George Mboya's aggressive play on the boards has made him a new force. The junior transfer from Rice has averaged seven rebounds per contest over the last three games, and according to Dunphy "is doing better each and every game he plays with us." Mboya who started the first two games of the season, seemed to get lost in all the hype surrounding freshman offensive stars Michael Jordan and Matt Langel. Over winter break his game time action fluctuated from 27 to two minutes on the Quakers' 10-game road trip, but since Penn returned home he has raised his game to another level. "I know I have not played my best basketball in the first 11 games," Mboya said. "I know I need to play tougher defense and be more aggressive when I get the ball on the offensive end." The forward from Bethesda, Md., went on to reinforce that as long as Penn wins, he has no problem coming of the bench. For Dunphy that is music to his ears as he plans to stay with an eight-man rotation. For the Terrapins, coach Gary Williams, tends to stick with a six man rotation, but forward Brian Watkins and guard Matt Lovarik have also seen action in 14 games. Besides Booth, who will be a nightmare for Penn to guard with his 6-foot-6 frame, another player that has Dunphy particularly concerned is point guard Terrell Stokes who strokes 40 percent of his three-point attempts. It has been a while since Penn traveled down to Baltimore to take on the Terrapins. And unless the Quakers can find a way to shut down a team that Wake Forest and future millionaire Tim Duncan could not, it would be hard difficult to see Penn extending its winning streak over Maryland to 13.