M. Hoops looking for two in a row

Michael Jordan will be called upon to hold Bucknell's leading scorer J.R. Holden in check for the Quakers. This Saturday, the Penn men's basketball team will try to do something they have not been able to do all season long -- win two games in a row. The Quakers (5-8) will get their chance as they face Bucknell (6-9) at Pottsville, Penn., for the first time in over 20 years. With a 74-68 victory against Lafayette Monday, the Quakers started the spring semester on a positive note. Playing through a grueling non-conference schedule, the Quakers have had a difficult time to this point building confidence and consistency. "It has been frustrating," Penn forward Jed Ryan said. "We have lost a lot of close games. Right now we are just trying to find a way to win. It is important that we go down to Bucknell and play well. If we can win a couple games, things will become positive as we go." Although receiving their first Ivy League loss only two games into the conference season, the team seems very optimistic about the rest of their season. Knowing they are probably going to have to beat the 12th ranked Princeton Tigers twice, the Quakers spirits are still up. "We can still win the league with one loss," junior forward Frank Brown said. "All we have to do is win the rest of our games, and that is our goal." The Quakers, in the middle of a brief non-conference stretch, are hoping to get out the final kinks before making their stretch run at the Ivy League crown. Along with two Patriot League teams, Penn will play inter-city rivals Drexel and St. Joseph's at the Palestra in the upcoming week. Although losing to Bucknell 66-64, revenge does not seem to be the key motivation for the Quakers, as that game was played December 3, 1975. This season, the Bison have had little success against the Ivy League, losing to Brown by two points and to Princeton by 12. Bucknell did earn one Ancient Eight victory, but it was against 2-10 Cornell. Coincidently, the Bison are also coming off a 91-77 victory against Lafayette Wednesday. Guards J.R. Holden and Martin Gilliard had impressive games for Bucknell. Holden scored 22 points and added four assists, while Gilliard scored 23 points and led the team with 9 rebounds. As they were in the Lafayette game, the Bison will again be led by senior guard Holden, who is averaging 17.9 points and 3.7 assists per game. The assignment of containing Holden's explosiveness belongs to point guard Michael Jordan. "Holden has good speed, good quickness, can make the jumper and can make plays," Penn basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. "Michael will probably match to him often. Mike has the speed and quickness to stay with him. That doesn't mean he is going to shut him down, but hopefully we can minimize what J.R. can do." On paper the size match-up should not be that great of a disadvantage for Penn. Under the basket, 6-7 Croatian forward Valter Karavanic and 6-8 forward Dan Bowen have had a combined average of 17.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. Also seeing time in the game will be 6-10 centers Tom Hauser and Terence Skyrm, who have not been out on the court much this year. "I think their overall size is much better than ours," Dunphy said. "I am not going to dispute the fact that they are big. I think they are big, but so is every team that we play against. It is no big deal. We will just have to play." In the upcoming game, guard Lamar Plummer and forwards Josh Sanger and Jeff Goldstein should have opportunities to increase their playing time. Dunphy was impressed with Sanger's play in the Lafayette game and admires Goldstein's work ethic and dedication to the team. In placing more effort on his defensive game, Dunphy believes Plummer is coming around in the right direction. Although the Quakers showed inconsistency throughout most of their non-conference games this season, they have been able to bring it together thus far in their two previous games against Patriot league opponents. With a two-point win against Lehigh and the close win against Lafayette, the Quakers are hoping to make it a clean sweep Saturday. "We played Lehigh, and the game went down to the wire," Dunphy said. "We played Lafayette and the game went down to the wire. I am assuming that we are going to play Bucknell, and the game will go right down to the wire."

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