Penn versus Princeton: Round 1 at the Palestra

The Penn men's basketball team hosts rival Princeton in a Palestra showdown of Ivy unbeatens. It's time. For the fans of the Penn men's basketball team, no other introduction to tonight's 7:30 p.m. matchup with Ivy League co-leader Princeton is needed. A quest that began two and a half months ago for the Quakers -- to win the Ivy League and reach the post-season for the first time in four years -- has finally reached its first critical juncture, P-Day: Princeton at Penn in the Palestra. "A major part of the season is tomorrow night," Quakers junior point guard Michael Jordan said. "We want to go to the tournament and we know that the road to the tournament goes through Princeton, because they're the defending champs, and we have to go out and beat them." The Tigers have taken the last five from the Quakers, including two in a row at the Palestra. But if the Quakers' season finale last year -- a 78-72 overtime loss to then No. 8 Princeton -- is any indication, tonight's game should be a long, close and especially loud fight to the death. "[The Penn fans] are right on top of you. That is what you play basketball for," Tigers senior guard Brian Earl said. "You can really tell if you are a basketball player if you can win in [the Palestra]." The Quakers (14-3, 6-0 Ivy League), undefeated in '99 and riding an 11 game winning streak, are determined not to let the Tigers come into their home court and steal a victory again. But the Tigers (15-4, 6-0) are on a 10 game roll of their own, they are also undefeated since the New Year, and they have not lost in 34 Ivy contests under coach Bill Carmody. "That's amazing," Penn junior guard Matt Langel said when informed of Carmody's perfect Ivy mark. "But hopefully there will be a loss for him as of tomorrow night." As always, this game has Ivy title implications -- the two 'P's have accounted for 27 of the Ivy League's last 29 NCAA appearances. The relative ease with which these two have run through the Ivies in '99 is staggering. The Tigers have upended their Ivy foes by 17.5 points per game; the Quakers by 19.0 per contest. "We've had an outstanding start to the season, no question about it," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "We want to finish up as strongly as we can, and Princeton is a team we need to beat -- there's no question about it. We need this game badly." The two squads meeting tonight at the Palestra bear little resemblance to the teams that faced off last March 3. The Tigers lost three All-Ivy starters to graduation; those slots are now filled by two freshman and a sophomore. Yet Princeton is still led by two All-Ivy selections in Earl and senior forward Gabe Lewullis. Each are three-year starters, averaging 15 points and 38 minutes per game. The Tigers have been bolstered by the strong play of their center, four-time Ivy Rookie of the Week Chris Young -- who averages 10.6 points and 1.8 blocks per game. In addition, Tigers reserve forward Mason Rocca exploded for 25 points Saturday against Harvard. Still, the hallmark of the Tigers' play is an almost painful slowed-down approach to the game -- allowing a measly 50.2 points a night that leads the nation. On the other side of the court, the Quakers have the highest scoring offense in the conference at 70.5 points per game, and lead the Ivies in three-point percentage at 38.3 percent. Impressively, in each of Penn's last five wins, every starter has scored at least eight points. Senior tri-captain Jed Ryan has been a catalyst during this period, hitting 15-of-30 three-pointers in those victories. "They're all experienced, they're a great shooting team, they defend well, and they're not greedy," Carmody said. "Both teams are playing well and are relatively healthy." But all is not well in West Philadelphia. Senior power forward Paul Romanczuk was injured coming down from a rebound late in the second half of the Harvard game and needed six stitches to close a gash over his left eye. While Romanczuk will start, his Horace Grant-like goggles may limit the range of his court vision. The Tigers are inexperienced inside, though, and two Tigers freshmen will be faced with the heavy responsibility of guarding the Quakers' Owens and Romanczuk -- who each shoot better than 56 percent. Tonight is the ultimate test for the top two basketball programs in the Ivies -- the winner remains undefeated and in the driver's seat to the NCAAs, while the loser is relegated to playing catch-up. "It's a big game, it'll be packed, it'll be loud, and to me it's really something to look forward to," Langel said.

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