M. Hoops to 'Explore' new arena

The Penn men's basketball team visits La Salle at the renovated Tom Gola Arena. They may not have the name recognition of city rivals Temple, Villanova, or St. Joseph's, but when members of the La Salle men's basketball team welcome Big 5 foe Penn for tonight's 7 p.m. matchup, rest assured the Explorers will be ready and able to make a name for themselves against the streaking Quakers. "La Salle is playing real well at home, and we expect a really tough battle," Quakers assistant coach Gil Jackson said. "Anybody in the city series is always anxious to play -- you're playing for a lot of pride and a lot of respect." Penn (6-3) has not lost in three games since the New Year, and while the team is far from ready to party like it's 1999, the Quakers feel they are ready for any challenges the Explorers (6-7) toss their way. But with a perfect 5-0 mark at the newly refurbished Tom Gola Arena -- including the program's 1,100th all-time victory on Tuesday over Atlantic 10 foe Virginia Tech -- the Explorers beg to differ. "We're felling pretty well overall. [Tech] was a big win for us, going into a Big 5 game against Penn," La Salle freshman point guard Julian Blanks said. "You've just got to protect your home turf when you play at home, and that's what we're doing." The Quakers won last year's meeting 82-64 at the Palestra and have taken seven straight in the annual series. This historical predisposition towards the 'W' column does not distract either team -- as was apparent when the Quakers snapped a 16-year losing streak to Temple back in November -- because whenever two city teams meet, records are thrown out the window. One key to whether the Quakers can make it eight straight is how well they establish a balanced attack. In Saturday's win over Brown, Quakers tri-captains Paul Romanczuk and Michael Jordan, as well as juniors Matt Langel and Geoff Owens, all netted 14 or more points apiece. Needless to say, with this number of viable options on the court at the same time, Quakers' opponents are in for some trouble defensively. "Balanced scoring? will help me out a lot," Jordan said. "Whereas teams try to key on me and take me out of the offense, and guys like [tri-captain] Jed [Ryan], Paul and [junior guard] Matt [Langel] consistently score 15 a night, then who are you going to stop? What type of game plan are you going to come up with now? Hopefully the balanced scoring will keep going on, so teams won't know how to defend us." Although the home team features junior guard Donnie Carr -- who was sixth in the nation in scoring with 23.9 points per game two years ago -- the Explorers are far from one-dimensional. Against Virginia Tech, all five starters scored in double digits, and all five Explorers starters have reached the 20-point plateau at least once this year. "On any given night, somebody can step up and get 20 for us," said Blanks, who averages 7.6 points per game. "So we just try to keep everybody involved because we've got a lot of scorers on the team? and let whatever happens, happen." Still, the Explorers are a relatively young team with two freshmen -- Blanks and Rasual Butler -- in their starting five. Inexperience can be seen in their shot selection, as the two are combining to shoot only 35 percent from the floor. Against a Quakers team that has every starter averaging at least 41 percent, shot selection is not to be overlooked. Blanks has dished out 44 assists so far in '98-'99, but has turned the ball over 44 times as well. But the Erie, Pa., native -- who faced off against the Quakers' Ryan in high school -- is on fire of late, netting 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from downtown against the Hokies. Inside, a power struggle will likely emerge between the Quakers 6'11" Owens and the Explorers 6'7", 254-pound senior center K'Zell Wesson. The two promise to match up well -- Owens, fresh off a 14-point, nine-rebound, four-block performance against Brown, and Wesson, who came within one rebound of his ninth double-double against Virginia Tech. But if Quakers power forward Romanczuk -- who went to the line 13 times and netted 18 in last year's meeting -- can continue his high-scoring inside play of late, the Quakers may have the edge in the interior. "K'Zell Wesson is a great player inside, and they've got some very good scorers and shooters from the outside," Romanczuk said. "I just have to play aggressive, and keep plugging away, and hopefully I get to the line like I did last year and like I have been doing in recent games." Previous meetings, on-court experience and history aside, the Quakers are content to continue to work hard every day in practice, trying to remain undefeated in 1999. "We feel good about the Brown game, but we're still a little ticked off about Yale," Jordan said. "We didn't do things that we needed to do, and we know that we need a lot of work, so we're just going to get back to work, and hopefully we can sweep the week."

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