Mboya and Ryan's defense was Penn's key

The Penn men's basketball team low-post duo was able to shut down taller Rice players. The story isn't always in the numbers, believe it or not. Five points and five rebounds is not typically a line for the star of the game. Against Rice last Saturday, George Mboya was key to the Quakers' victory, and that was his line. His play in the low post was crucial, as Penn posted a 78-73 victory. Mboya didn't even start the game. The Owls' imposing frontcourt made Penn coach Fran Dunphy choose another path for his team. Without a true center, due to the loss of Geoff Owens for the year, Dunphy chose to start his biggest body in the vacated slot. Mboya had to wait his turn, as that body took the form of 6'8" freshman Josh Sanger. "I thought he did terrific, to be honest with you. I think we are all happy that he made that first jump shot," Dunphy said of Sanger. "He needs to get some more understanding of how to get some more rebounds, but I think that will come." Sanger's role was one that no one in the Palestra envied. The freshman inherited the task of defending 6'9" forward Jarvis Kelley Sanni, a dominating low-post player. As the focal point of the Rice offensive attack against No. 4 Kansas, Kelley Sanni racked up 25 points while collecting 11 rebounds. Pre-season All-American Paul Pierce was the guy who couldn't handle him that night. "We stuck him on Kelley Sanni to start the game," Dunphy said. "That's not an easy job for him, and I thought he did terrific." While Sanger's performance may have been promising, it wasn't enough to stop Kelley Sanni from going about his business. In the first five minutes, 50 seconds of the game, Kelley Sanni came up with 10 points on five quick field goals. Sanger, while he had hit the jumper, racked up two fouls. "They need to use their speed and quickness by getting in peoples' faces a little more on their turnaround jump shots," Dunphy said. "I think they did a much better in the second half on that. Kelley Sanni is a pretty nice player." Kelley Sanni was showing the Quakers' just how nice a player he was. So Dunphy elected to go with Mboya in the low post when Sanger got into foul trouble and Kelley Sanni on the verge of dominating the game. A minute after the substitution, it seemed Kelley Sanni would continue his ways. The Owls' forward took advantage of Mboya, a transfer from Rice, this time. He put an easy layup off the glass. Kelley Sanni had 12 of Rice's first 22 points, as the visitors opened a 22-14 lead. "We really tried to contest the shots," Mboya said. "Sanni gets really high on his jump shot, so I just tried to get a hand up there in his face." After Penn called a 20-second timeout, Mboya swung the momentum in his favor. Two possessions later, the 6'6" senior forward brought out a little something from his offensive low-post repertoire, just to even the matchup. After converting a three-point play, Mboya seemed to own the low post, and Kelley Sanni. "A lot of the times the focus was on all three big guys, they are all three inches, maybe 4 inches, taller than us," Mboya said. "I just felt l like every time they got the ball, I had to get a hand in their face." The rest of the way, Kelley Sanni looked anything but dominating. In the final 23 minutes, he was able to rack up only another eight points, putting together no rhythm in his game. "The Penn defense, they played hard, they gave a great effort," Kelley Sanni said. "I think that they played just as hard as Kansas. Kansas just has taller guys." Junior forward Jed Ryan played a prominent role in this containment as well. The 6'7" small forward handled the task of guarding Rice's tallest man, Alex Bougaieff. At 6'10", Bougaieff was easily the tallest man on the floor, and a threat down low. "I thought in the first half, we weren't contesting the turnaround jump shot real well," Ryan said. "But as the game progressed, we understood more that we had to get really into the shot to disrupt it, not necessarily block it, but disrupt it." Maybe not, but Ryan still came up with three blocks on the stat sheet, including a crucial block on Kelley Sanni late in the second half. While his shooting touch was undeniable, nailing four of seven treys in a 17-point effort, his denial of the low-post games was equally important to the Quakers' success. The one arena in which the Quakers failed was in keeping the Owls off the glass. Rice racked up a total of 45 boards, to Penn's 30. More upsetting was that the 15-rebound discrepancy came completely on the offensive glass. The Quakers were only able to pull in six offensive boards. The Owls put on a clinic, reeling in 21. The Quakers' equal numbers in defensive boards tells another story, though. So many rebounds mean missed shots by Rice. Kelley Sanni and Bougaieff were both below 50 percent shooting, even playing what was supposed to be high percentage post-up basketball. Kelley Sanni finished 8-of-17 (47 percent) from the floor, and Bougaeiff was 5-of-13 (38 percent). Once they could not make up for the inches on the boards, Mboya and Ryan shifted plans to getting the big guys off the block and keeping the second shots tough. "We went through a stretch where we got way too perimeter-oriented," Rice coach Willis Wilson said. "Part of being a good offensive basketball team is learning how to make defenses collapse, and we didn't do that." Point guard Michael Jordan had 21 points, eight assists and a buzzer-beater. Mboya and Ryan's defense was the key, though. Mboya only had five points and five rebounds. But he taught his old teammates a lesson, and for Penn, it was worth the wait.

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