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Point guard David Klatsky, shown here playing last weekend against Columbia, will lead the Quakers tonight as they look to extend their current win streak to three games. (Theodore Schweitz/The Daily Pennsylvanian)

History will be on the line tonight for the Penn men's basketball team when the Quakers take the court in Newark, Del. Seven schools in history have won 1,500 games. If the Quakers (3-9, 2-0 Ivy League) defeat the Delaware Blue Hens, Penn will be the eighth member of that illustrious club. More importantly, a win would be the third in a row for the Quakers, who captured three of four after an 0-8 start. It won't be easy for the Red and Blue, however, as Delaware (9-7, 6-2 America East) has won four consecutive games. First-year coach David Henderson's team has good balance, and seems to be finding its stride with forward Ajmal Basit and guard Austen Rowland leading the way. "[The players] have listened and the hard work has paid off," Henderson said. "I'm happy with our progress, but I'm never satisfied." The same can be said of the Quakers, who opened up Ivy League play last weekend with convincing back-to-back victories over Columbia and Cornell. "I think we're getting better," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "I was pleased with a lot of the defensive play over the weekend." In both of the weekend's games, the Quakers held their opponents under 50 points. Penn's recent winning ways seem to be the best cure for the problems of inconsistency that plagued the Quakers in their season-opening eight-game losing streak. "We're getting there as a team," Penn forward Koko Archibong said. "Every game we go out there, and we overcome some of the early-season difficulties. It's a learning process." Penn center Geoff Owens, who led the Quakers with 17 points against Cornell, believes that his team has turned a corner. Tonight's game, though, will be a tougher test, as Delaware is a much stronger team than Columbia or Cornell, teams which have combined for fewer wins this season than the Blue Hens. "I think if we continue to come out with the same intensity, and not make the same silly mistakes and have confidence in each other, we're going to be okay," Owens said. "They're a team that matches up very similar with us, and we have to go down to their place, which is a real tough environment to play... We're going to have to play really well in order to win." They will indeed. Delaware has lost just once in six games at the Bob Carpenter Center this season, dropping a 74-68 decision to conference rival Maine (12-4, 5-2) on December 9. Average attendance at the 5,000-seat arena has been 4,965 so far this season, which means that even though Newark is as close as a SEPTA ride away, there will be extremely limited space available for visiting Penn fans tonight. The large part of the reason that Delaware enjoys such a homecourt advantage, though, is that the Blue Hens have a strong team. Three starters average 10 or more points per game, while sixth man Ryan Iversen chips in 9.5 per contest. "I think they're a real good basketball team, as evidenced by their record and some of the games that they have won," Dunphy said. "It's going to be a great atmosphere down there. Apparently they sell out all the time. I think it's going to be a very difficult game for us, but we're looking forward to it, and hopefully we'll continue to play well." News and Notes Tonight's game will be a homecoming of sorts for Penn team manager Andy Pogach, who hails from Newark. "Pogach was bugging us like crazy to play this game," Dunphy said. "He finally wore enough on us -- actually, we've talked to their coaches a number of times over the years to get down there and play and have them come back to us."... This will be the first meeting between Penn and Delaware since 1988, when Dunphy was in his first year as an assistant with the Quakers.

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