NEWARK, Del. -- Senior laden college basketball teams, like the Quakers, are not supposed to be undone by pressure down the stretch. They're supposed to grab the key defensive rebounds in the final minutes. They're supposed to sink a three with 17 seconds left to win the game. They're supposed to know that they need to leave time on the clock to foul the opposition in the waning seconds.
Last night at Delaware, Penn failed to do all of these things.
The Quakers second straight loss was the result.
"I think [poise] is a real good word to use," said Penn coach Fran Dunphy after last night's 60-59 loss to the Blue Hens. "That's a real good thought to have -- poise under fire -- and we really didn't do a very good job of that."
The Quakers let four critical offensive rebounds slip away to Delaware in the final four minutes, including a pair by center Dave Hindenlang. Penn point guard Andrew Toole missed a key three with under 20 seconds left. And Ugonna Onyekwe, though he cut a four-point deficit to one with a three-pointer on the Quakers' last possession, waited far too long to fire the shot, leaving only 1.7 seconds on the clock after the make.
"I thought that as good as that three is, that took too long," Dunphy said. "You have to drive to the basket, try to get a timeout right away and then you have three or four seconds."
These are fundamental errors that the Quakers are making --errors that you would not expect a battle-tested team to commit.
After all, this is a Penn team that showed just how well it can play under fire last season, when it found itself with a 2-3 conference record in early February, dangerously teetering on the edge of elimination from title contention.
The Quakers fought back with nine straight wins, then a victory in the Ivy playoff game and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Heart is certainly not the Quakers' problem.
So, then what is it? Why has Penn lost consecutive games to Drexel and Delaware, teams the Quakers beat last season?
Perhaps it's just that Penn has too much fire, too much heart -- simply put, they're trying too hard.
There's a fine line in college basketball between wanting to win and being overcome by that desire to the point that it actually inhibits your play.
In the last two games, the Quakers haven't just crossed this metaphorical line. They've collectively sprinted over it.
"I think if it's anything, it's wanting to win too badly," Dunphy said. "We're squeezing [the ball] a little too much."
Koko Archibong's turnover after an offensive rebound with just over five minutes left showed, in one play, just how Penn can be undone by its own desire to win.
After Onyekwe missed the foul shot following his game-tying layup, which would have given him a three-point play and Penn a one-point advantage, the Quakers were lucky to snag the board.
Who better to turn to than Archibong, who had scored 18 points so far in the game, on the reset?
But just as the senior forward looked as if he was poised for yet another trademark dribble drive and fadeaway, Archibong dribbled the ball of his foot. Turnover, Penn.
"Koko had a turnover in the second half late, he just dribbled it off his foot," Dunphy said. "He just wants to do so badly, so much."
Dunphy has been down this same road before with a ballyhooed group.
In 1994-95, the two-time defending Ivy champion Quakers -- led by a pair of senior guards Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen -- entered the season with arguably more hype than this year's bunch.
That season, Penn dropped its first game to Canisius and staged a valiant comeback to rally from 15 points down to top Lehigh.
Two months later, Penn beat Michigan and in February, No. 9 Villanova and junior guard Kerry Kittles.
A third straight 14-0 run through the Ivy League was the final exclamation point on the Quakers season.
So easy as it might be, it would be wise not to push the panic button on this year's Penn team just yet.
They've got a surplus of talented and capable floor leaders, a winning coach on the sidelines and an overriding will and ability to win.
Plus with the Ivy opener nearly two months away, they've got more than enough time to work the kinks out.
This column reported that Penn beat University of Michigan two months after losing to Canisius College in the 1994-95 season. In fact, Penn beat Michigan one month after the loss. It also reported that Penn beat Villanova University later that season. In fact, the Quakers lost.
