Dragons' big man tamed by M. Hoops forwards down low

Joe Linderman was unable to get his game in rhythm against the Quakers Tuesday night. Joe Linderman entered the post-game interview room looking like it was the last place he wanted to be. Drexel's 6'9" center seemingly shrank a few inches as he walked, never lifting his eyes from the floor. What he couldn't shrink away from, however, was his abysmal first half of play, which contributed to Penn's early domination of the Quakers' 79-65 win Tuesday night at the Palestra. Before being rendered impotent by the Quakers' defense Tuesday night, Linderman had been the center of the Dragon's offense all season, leading Drexel with 17.4 points per game. The undersized Quakers matched its 6'7" big men, Paul Romanczuk and Jed Ryan, against Linderman. Entering the game, Drexel thought taking advantage of this height mismatch would be critical to its offensive philosophy. Yet Penn coach Fran Dunphy had other plans for dealing with Drexel's offense. The Quakers constantly double-teamed Linderman, forcing Drexel's other players to step up and make the outside shots. "We decided to help off of the other forward they had in the game," Dunphy said. "We were trying to minimize the damage." Drexel coach Bill Herrion seemed intent on exploiting Linderman's height advantage from the opening tip-off. The Dragon guards passed the ball down low to Linderman, who backed in versus either Ryan or Romanczuk. But Linderman's shots were not met with his usual success as the Penn defenders flew from all over the court to meet him. The Drexel center saw his first two shots sent back in his face by Romanczuk off of the double-team. One minute later, Ryan joined the block-fest as he rejected Linderman's third shot. In the game's first four minutes Linderman took three shots without a single one hitting the rim Linderman seemed frustrated by his constant rejection. "Coach tells me all the time the other teams are going to double-team me," Linderman said. "I have to learn how to keep my composure." While Linderman struggled to have a shot go more than one foot in the air, the Dragons stumbled to a 17-2 deficit early in the game. The Drexel offense was completely out of sync, and Linderman, who averages one assist per game, was not able to set-up his teammates for open shots. Dunphy even gambled by drawing his guards to double down low on Linderman. Dunphy eventually had enough confidence to leave freshman center Josh Sanger alone against Linderman. The frustration grew for Linderman as he missed his first seven shots before finally hitting a lay-up with 6:28 left in the first half. "You could see what happened," Linderman said. "I wasn't exactly keeping my composure." While the Quakers' 48-24 halftime lead was mainly a product of their 60 percent shooting in the first half, the Penn defense was equally impressive. Linderman's 1-for-8 shooting had far-reaching effects on the entire Dragon offense. Shooting guard Mike DeRocckis was able to set-up for only three shots as the Drexel inside game faltered. With their two weapons effectively neutralized, the Dragons struggled to 10 of 30 shooting in the first half. While DeRocckis and Linderman combined for 23 second-half points, the first-half deficit was too much to overcome. Linderman picked up his points mainly after the game was decided, and his 15 points had very little effect on the outcome. After the game, Linderman, visibly distracted, seemed to miss most of what his coach was saying although he was only one foot away. No doubt he was still thinking about the humbling game the Quakers' defense handed him.

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