After two difficult road losses to Providence and No. 21 Wisconsin, the Penn men's basketball team should be happy to return to the friendly confines of the Palestra.
Tonight the Quakers will be looking to rebound against Drexel, a team that does not garner as much attention as the aforementioned two, but that is nevertheless dangerous.
For Penn to come away with a victory, there is one key element to the game: the team must improve.
"We need to shoot the basketball a little bit better," sophomore forward Steve Danley said. "And that goes for everybody."
Against Providence last Thursday, the Quakers shot 32.3 percent from the field. The team followed that performance with a woeful 31.9 shooting percentage against Wisconsin.
Despite these numbers, there were signs of improvement against the Badgers.
"In the second game in particular I thought we got much better shots ... which was encouraging," Penn head coach Fran Dunphy said.
Danley agreed with Dunphy's assessment.
"The biggest difference was against Wisconsin we got good shots and didn't make them," he said. "Against Providence that really wasn't the case."
The lone bright spot on the offensive end for the Quakers so far has been senior Tim Begley, who leads the team with 14.3 points and 3.3 assists per game.
However, for the Quakers to be successful, someone else needs to make shots.
Begley "has done just about everything on offense, so he needs to get a little bit of help," Dunphy said.
When asked who could shoulder the load, Begley responded that he and the other guards need to set up the forwards better.
"We gotta get the big guys involved a little bit more," he said. "We gotta get them in positions where they can score."
Danley believes that anyone on the team is capable of stepping up as an offensive threat.
"We have a lot of guys on this team that can score and I know the other guys -- Jan [Fikiel], Mark [Zoller], Ibby [Jaaber], Os [Eric Osmundson] -- I know all those guys are going to step up and hit shots as the season goes on," he said.
While the Quakers certainly have offensive issues they must work out, their defense will be tested by a strong Drexel squad.
Leading the Dragons is 6-foot-6 senior forward Sean Brooks, who averaged 14.4 points per game last season while collecting 5.9 rebounds. Though Brooks is slightly undersized for a post player, his tenacity and ruggedness make up for his physical shortcomings.
"Sean Brooks is a monster down there," Dunphy said. "He creates great space for himself to get shots off."
Danley was quick to praise Brooks as well, but also felt that the Quakers will successfully contain him.
"He's real strong inside and plays real tough," Danley said. "At the same time I'm pretty confident with our big guys."
The Penn guards will get little respite on the defensive end, as Drexel boasts the senior tandem of Jeremiah King and Phil Goss. Dunphy described Goss, who ranked 15th in the nation with 3.2 three-pointers per game last season, as "an outstanding jump shooter."
Tonight's game will be a stiff challenge but also an opportunity for the Quakers to make a statement.
After two bad losses, the team cannot afford to let its morale sink.
"We just lost by a lot of points to two pretty good teams," Begley said. "I think the main thing is staying together and trying to have confidence in ourselves and each other."
