Big 5 opens up with M. Hoops and Explorers

The Quakers head to 20th and Olney to meet city rival La Salle. Last season, when the Penn men's basketball team eked out a 62-58 victory at La Salle, then-senior Paul Romanczuk led the Quakers with 24 points on 11-for-13 shooting. Tonight at La Salle's Tom Gola Arena, the Explorers (4-1, 0-0 Big 5) will be challenged by new faces in the Penn frontcourt who share at least one thing in common with the graduated Quakers captain -- they have tongue-twisters for last names. "I can't pronounce their names," said La Salle coach Speedy Morris of Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong. "But they're going to be terrific. It's going to be a formidable task. They're young and they'll get a lot better, but they're not intimidated. A lot of freshmen -- even good ones -- take some time, but these guys have been thrown into the fire and fared very well." After becoming the first freshman duo to start in its Palestra debut since Jerome Allen and Shawn Trice in 1991, Onyekwe and Archibong now face their first Big 5 game. In taking the place of Romanczuk and Jed Ryan on the frontline, the pair have big City Series shoes to fill. "It's not going to be exactly the same," Archibong said. "But we're going to bring the same intensity that they did last year and try to come away with a win there." Since the Explorers' greatest defensive strength lays on the perimeter with senior guard Donnie Carr, the onus will be on Penn's interior players to perform well on offense. That does not mean, however, that the Quakers (1-2, 0-0) can live without their backcourt. In the two losses so far, Penn senior co-captain Michael Jordan has shot a combined 3-for-26 from the floor. "I don't know what it is in the games," Jordan said. "But I've abandoned the mid-range game and tried to settle for threes and they're just not falling. [I've] just got to go out there and play. The shots will fall, I'll make some shots." Jordan was more successful against Army on Friday night, going 5-for-6 from the floor for 10 points in Penn's lone win so far this season. The next day, however, the senior guard went 1-for-12. "He struggled Saturday," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "[But] he had an excellent shooting game on Friday night, and all of the makes were mid-range jumpshots as opposed to threes." Playing in the Big 5, though, may just be the cure for whatever ails Jordan's game -- last season, the Philadelphia native scored 18 points per game in the City Series. "I'm looking forward to playing those guys at La Salle," Jordan said. "You know them from summer league and it's like neighborhood rivals out there." Carr, a senior on the other side of the ball and like Jordan a Philadelphian, may also be refreshed by playing in the Big 5. Since he exploded for 28 points in the Explorers' opener, Carr's scoring has declined in each successive contest. "For whatever reason, Donnie hasn't played well," Morris said. "But guys like that bring a lot to the table, and when the game's on the line, they want the ball and make tough shots. Jordan and Langel made two tough shots to ice the game last year, and you expect them to do that. They're clutch players, Carr and Jordan and Langel. They're the guys you want to have the ball in a big situation." The Quakers will not only have to worry about Carr making a personal turnaround in this Big 5 opener. Victor Thomas, Garrett Bragg and Rasual Butler has been vital to a La Salle frontcourt that has led the Explorers to their four wins. "Victor Thomas can burn you and Rasual Butler can burn you for 25 to 30 points just like Donnie Carr can," Dunphy said. "If it was only a Donnie Carr issue, we could concentrate all our efforts there, but we've got to take care of their five guys. They won't go real deep, though." Depth should be an advantage for the Quakers tonight. While only La Salle's starting five sees considerable action, 10 members of the Red and Blue are part of the regular rotation. In addition to possessing greater depth, Penn has played a much tougher schedule than the Explorers have thus far this season. La Salle's toughest opponent so far was Alabama, but the Explorers have really not had any quality wins -- Northwestern is the laughingstock of the Big Ten and although Mount Saint Mary's was in last year's NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers were a Cinderella story even within the realm of the tiny Northeast Conference, winning their conference tournament out of the fifth seed. La Salle has not beaten Penn since 1990 and Dunphy is now 8-2 against his alma mater and his former boss. "If Penn played the guys we played, they'd be 3-0," Morris said. "We're going to have to play better than we've played in any of our wins to win this game." So will the Quakers.