Prior to Saturday's matchup against Siena, Penn coach Fran Dunphy told his players not to wear headbands on the court, a fad that had been catching on among the Quakers.
"They can wear anything they want as long as we play well," Dunphy said, noting that if his team hit their shots, they could wear 11 headbands or women's underwear for all he cares.
"Let's focus on other things," the 16-year coach added. "The headbands, to me, are distractions."
Whether it can be attributed to a lack of cranium attire -- or, more likely, to the Quakers improved field goal shooting -- things finally began to seem normal for Penn as it trounced Siena, 89-62, on Saturday.
The win was a relief for the Red and Blue (5-7), which broke a five-game losing streak and earned its first road victory of the season. The Quakers had not won since Dec. 4 against La Salle and had fallen in all six of their road games.
Penn came out like this was the most important game of the season, and to some extent it was. A loss would have made losing the final eight games leading up to the Ivy League season a very real possibility for the Quakers.
But the Red and Blue came out on fire, hitting seven of its first eight shots from the field. Penn also added five steals during the game's opening six minutes en route to a 21-6 lead.
Guard Eric Osmundson, who only averaged 3.7 points through the Quakers first six games, continued his scoring tear -- the senior had come on strong during Penn'sfive-game losing streak, averaging 10.6 points per game.
Osmundson hit his first four shots, three of which were from three-point range.
"I knew that we needed a win and the rest of us knew that we needed a win and we wanted it really bad and we came out real pumped up, real fired up," Osmundson said. "We wanted to jump on them early and get out of the gates well and I was fortunate enough to hit some shots and help my team out."
Penn not only hit its shots, it hit almost all of them. With 12:30 remaining in the first half, the Quakers went up 26-6. They only scored 26 points during the entire first half of their previous game against Rider.
The large lead gave Penn the opportunity to rest its starters, particularly its guards, who are all averaging well over 30 minutes per game. Dunphy expressed little confidence in his bench guards after the Rider game, playing David Whitehurst and Friedrich Ebede for a combined eight minutes during the contest.
But the duo had a chance to redeem themselves in Albany, N.Y., and appeared to begin to do so.
Ebede had seven points on3-of-4 shooting from the floor, five rebounds and an assist in 21 minutes. Whitehurst added three points and two rebounds in 11 minutes.
"It's obviously something we need. We need guys coming off the bench to give us consistent performances," Dunphy said. "If we're going to be a good team and going to be a consistent team we certainly need the bench to help us."
Ebede and Whitehurst still showed their inexperience combining for five turnovers. But the turnover bug seemed to hit the entire Penn squad as they relinquished the ball 19 times.
"You're always looking to turn it over on a very limited basis during the course of a game no matter what type of games it is," Dunphy said.
Although the guards off the bench seem to be improving, it is something that will not necessarily continue into the Ivy League season.
"I don't think there is any difference between the way I played before and the way I have played now, the only difference is that now I am getting more opportunities," Ebede said.
Mark Zoller led the Quakers with 18 points in 20 minutes, as he continues to fight through a bum ankle.
The Quakers finished shooting 58.2 percent from the field, but continued to struggle from the free throw line hitting only 15 of 22 attempts.
"I'm just hoping we can get good shots during the remainder of our 16 games," Dunphy said. "That's really what were looking for is to be consistent and get good shots."
