Wednesday night's victory over Drexel moved the Penn men's basketball team to 4-1 and gave the Quakers their best start in seven years.
However, one of the catalysts of the fast start -- which includes wins over Big 12 and ACC teams -- might be sidelined when the Quakers travel to face American University tomorrow at 1 p.m. Junior point guard Andy Toole is suffering from what the Penn coaches believe is a stress fracture in his foot.
"It appears as though there is a fracture there," coach Fran Dunphy said. "But we need to be absolutely sure of that before we do anything, and then it'll be up to Andy what he wants to do."
Toole scored 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting while leading the team with six assists Wednesday night, but arrived at the Palestra yesterday in a walking cast.
"The MRI is still being read by the radiologist, and we're proceeding cautiously," Dunphy said. "My sense is he's probably going to play on Saturday, but it'll be a day-to-day thing where we evaluate every day over the next week or 10 days."
Toole's injury is much like the one suffered by sophomore center Adam Chubb before the season started. According to Dunphy, Chubb's rehab is coming along, but he's still at least a week away.
"Possibly as early as Villanova, or St. Joe's, he might be ready," Dunphy said. "He's going to run around a little bit today, do some dry stuff, not anything live."
The Quakers are no doubt anxious to get the 6-foot-9 Chubb back in the lineup, as they could use some help in the rebounding department. The Dragons outrebounded the Quakers by 14 on Wednesday, and Penn hasn't outrebounded a single opponent all year.
"We'll watch film again today that will show how guys are just losing their man a little bit too much," Dunphy said of the team's rebounding woes. "We're over-helping [on defense] a little bit.... We've got to identify when somebody needs help and when they don't. That's as much of it as anything."
Rebounding is likely to be a factor again this weekend against the Eagles in Washington, D.C.
"They're athletic, they can rebound the ball a little bit," Dunphy said. "They haven't been hurt by offensive rebounds like we have. They have three guys that are very athletic up front."
Tomorrow's meeting between the Eagles and the Quakers will be the first in seven years. The Quakers lead the series 4-0.
The Eagles (2-2) -- who are coming off a 7-20 season and a double-overtime loss to the College of Charleston Wednesday night -- are led by center Patrick Doctor and guard Steven Miles. Doctor scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Eagles' game against the College of Charleston, and he and Miles are leading the Eagles in scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
"Patrick Doctor is probably their best player," Dunphy said. "He's been their leading scorer over the last couple of years and he's done a very good job. Miles is a very good player as well. Their top five guys are all ready to go."
No matter how good, any team will have trouble beating the Quakers if Penn keeps shooting lights out from outside. The Quakers made 57 percent of their threes Wednesday and are shooting at a 47 percent clip on the year.
"Obviously you can't count on that, but it'd be very nice if we continue to shoot the ball well," Dunphy said. "I'd like to think that our offense is running well and getting us good looks at the basket."
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