The Penn men's basketball team opened last season by playing two games in Philadelphia and another in Delaware.
Their travel bills are a bit more extensive this September.
Taking advantage of NCAA rules that allow teams to go on overseas tours every four years, the Quakers are playing exhibitions against professional European teams in Spain from Aug. 23-29. Through Tuesday the Quakers are 3-0 on the six-game trip. Penn played CB Granada yesterday.
In 1998, a Michael Jordan-led Penn squad finished 1-5 in Italy before the season.
Senior guard Jeff Schiffner led the way for Penn in its first two games, scoring 16 and 28 points respectively. The nation's leading three-point shooter last season, Schiffner connected on six threes in nine attempts in Penn's second game of the tournament, a 75-63 win over Rayet Guadajara.
"Schiff is playing real well so far," Penn Director of Basketball Operations Andy Pogach wrote in an e-mail statement. "He has not lost his shooting touch."
However, Pogach gives reason to temper fan's enthusiasm with "Schiff's" performances overseas.
"The teams over here don't scout us so it's not like they have a plan to take away his game as the Ivy teams will during the season," he wrote.
The first game of the trip was a more closely fought affair as Penn came from behind to defeat Pozuelo de Alarcon, 75-68. In addition to Schiffner's 16, senior center Adam Chubb chipped in 15 points and 13 rebounds while Eric Heil -- a junior transfer from Lehigh -- scored 14 off the bench.
Penn trailed, 44-35, at halftime. However, Heil knocked down back-to-back threes to close the third quarter and cut the deficit to two. Junior Tim Begley's tip-in with 3:23 to play gave the Quakers a lead they would not relinquish.
On Aug. 26, Penn defeated Unicaja Malaga's "B" team, 82-74, behind Begley's 18 points and 11 rebounds. Adam Chubb had 14 points, while Schiffner and sophomore Friedrich Ebede each had 11.
Penn has used a veteran starting lineup on this trip, going with all three of its seniors in Schiffner, Chubb and guard Charlie Copp. Junior guard Begley and junior forward Jan Fikiel fill out the lineup. However, despite being an old group for collegians, they have been faced with much more experienced units overseas.
"The teams in Europe so far have been pretty good," Pogach wrote. "They can all shoot the ball and being that most of the players are older than we are they are more physical."
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