M. Hoops looks to right its ship

After Wednesday night's debacle at Delaware, it was clear the Penn men's basketball team (3-9) had to try to shake things up. And a 6 a.m. practice yesterday morning might just have been what the team needed. "It was rough," Penn sophomore point guard David Klatsky said. "But I'm hoping this was what we needed, that this is the wake-up call." "I would say that the practice was a reaction to a subpar performance," Quakers coach Fran Dunphy said. "I wasn't going to sleep after the loss, and I don't know if the players were either." Heading north to Easton, Pa., to take on Lafayette (6-9) tomorrow afternoon, the Quakers are admittedly struggling. A pair of confidence-building blowout Ivy wins last weekend are but a distant memory for this up-and-down Penn team. Instead, all the Quakers can think about is a very discouraging 76-66 loss to a beatable Blue Hens squad. Even a traditionally sure win for the Quakers -- the Leopards have won just once in this annual series since 1991 -- is now in jeopardy, given the spotty play of Penn's lineup as of late. "I'm expecting a close game," Dunphy said. "I think Fran O'Hanlon always does a great job of preparing his team for us. They can play a lot of guys, and they can score." The last few contests in this series have been nail-biters, and last year's 80-76 last-minute victory for Penn was no exception. After the Quakers defeated the Leopards a year ago, the Red and Blue went on to win 18 of 19 games and reach the NCAA Tournament. In the midst of perhaps his toughest season ever, Dunphy knows the importance of righting his ship -- and doing it as soon as possible "Last year's win was, I think, a watershed game for us," Dunphy said. "I think that was a key game for us to finish the season strongly, and hopefully it'll be the same for us on Saturday." Neither team is approaching its level of play from a year ago, when Lafayette won 23 games, and Penn won 21. But the Leopards are 4-0 against the Ivy League this winter already, and if the Quakers want to pick up a 'W', their play will have to improve dramatically from their poor display on Wednesday. "The main focus is the little things," Klatsky said. "Getting to the loose balls and picking them up when we get one hand on them. And getting the lay-ups when we're fouled, so that we're going for three-point plays instead of free-throws, because we know we've been struggling from the line." Dunphy doesn't see major changes on the horizon, just better execution of the game plan that is set ahead of time. "I can't say we're shaking up the strategy," Dunphy said. "We're a vanilla-type group on offense, and if we take good shots and don't make mistakes, I think we'll be fine." The Quakers did neither on Wednesday, shooting just 40 percent from the field, with 14 turnovers. A major part of the team's woes came in the paint, where Penn's big guns -- forward Ugonna Onyekwe and center Geoff Owens -- struggled to establish themselves. "We have to get better balance inside," Dunphy said. "We seem to be getting the ball down there OK, but then we're not getting it in." If the Quakers can exploit the Leopards' deficiencies inside -- they are being outrebounded by six boards per game -- Penn may move one step closer to the elusive victory. On a positive note, Onyekwe scored 18 points and pulled down nine boards against Lafayette last season, and he seems primed to go off again this second time around. Owens, meanwhile, sat out of practice yesterday to allow his ailing feet time to recuperate; the senior only saw 15 minutes of action at Delaware. His play in the paint against 7'0" Leopards center Frank Barr -- 12.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 30 blocks -- could be a focal point in this game. "I'm going to need to get an advantage on him if we're going to win. I think it's a big matchup," said Owens, who played against Barr in several pickup games this summer. In addition to Barr, the Quakers will need to be concerned with Leopards point guard Tim Bieg, and sharpshooter Tyson Whitfield. The 6'4" Whitfield is the Leopards' leading scorer, netting 15.8 per night. A year ago versus Penn, the senior scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Dunphy stressed that he "can go off and score 30." The Quakers have only three non-conference games remaining before they hit the meat of their Ivy slate, which means that the time they have to get it on track is dwindling. "I think it's the confidence in each other that we really need to work on," Owens said. "We've done it for stretches, but we have to be stronger for the whole game if we want to win."

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