M. Hoops: Increased minutes please Pettinella

In Penn's Nov. 21 season-opener against Wisconsin, three of Penn's four freshmen -- Ibby Jaaber, Mark Zoller and Steve Danley -- all received significant playing time.

Danley logged eight minutes, Zoller got nine minutes of playing time and Jaaber tallied 12.

But it wasn't until Penn's third game against Michigan State that the team's fourth freshman, big man Ryan Pettinella, stepped onto the court.

Since then, Pettinella has played in five of the Quakers' last eight games, logging significant minutes against Lafayette and Rider -- 10 and nine minutes, respectively.

Pettinella says that his early-season dearth of playing time was due to his lack of knowledge of Penn's complicated offense.

"One of the big reasons was that I didn't know the system well," he said. "I'm starting to learn the plays a little more and develop everything in practice."

Coach Fran Dunphy has been pleased with Pettinella's progress since joining the team.

"He's a very active guy. He's the quickest guy we have to the basketball," he said. "He's earned those minutes. He's been patient."

"We gave him an opportunity against Lafayette and he rewarded us with some very good minutes," he added. "He did the same thing against Rider the other night. When you get an opportunity to play and you play well, you get more time."

At McQuade Jesuit High School in Rochester, N.Y., Pettinella was both a scoring threat and the team's main rebounder. He is adjusting to his new role on the Quakers, which has him as more of a rebounder and defensive stopper.

The freshman has scored 12 points and grabbed a dozen boards in his 28 minutes this season.

Still, Pettinella jokes that there are many aspects of his game which need improvement.

"Believe it or not I still need to run the plays better," he said. "I need to work on my jump shot and just keep on being more aware on defense."

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The Quakers have only two games scheduled over the next 17 days -- a Jan. 14 Big 5 tilt at La Salle and then another Big 5 game against Temple on Jan. 21.

The reason for this lack of games is due to the start of NCAA conference play. However, due to final exams at Harvard and Princeton for the next two weeks, Ivy League play slows down.

"There's not much we can do about it," Dunphy said. "We're just very fortunate that La Salle and Temple will play us at this time."

The only Ancient Eight matchups scheduled over the next two weeks are between travel partners. Brown will play Yale and Columbia will face off against Cornell.

Penn's travel partner, however, is Princeton.

Rather than take two weekends off, Dunphy suggested to the other Ivy League schools that the Quakers take on Harvard's travel partner, Dartmouth, over the next two weekends.

"That wasn't met with great joy and enthusiasm," he said.

The Penn coach says that he is not pleased with this lack of games, but knows that there is nothing he can do about it.

"There's nothing to like," Dunphy said. "Why would you like it? It's what it is, and you deal with it."

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Penn's win over coach Fran O'Hanlon's Lafayette squad on Jan. 7 was the first of three matchups this season against teams coached by Dunphy's former assistants.

The Quakers square off against Cornell twice this season, Feb. 14 and Feb. 27, which is coached by former Penn coach Steve Donahue.

Dunphy said that while it's "not an easy job" to coach against his former assistants, he doesn't try to do too much to fool his ex-teammates.

"You might throw a different player or set in there," he said, "but they're going to know what the strengths and weaknesses are, because not only do they know how we coach here but they also have great interest in watching our team. They know what's going on."

Dunphy -- a former assistant at La Salle, American and Army -- says that he stays in close contact with O'Hanlon and Donahue throughout the season, but he doesn't need to give them any pointers.

"They don't need my advice even a little bit," Dunphy said. "They gave me a lot advice when they were here and I learned a lot from both of those guys."

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