The Penn men's basketball team has not won a game this year.
The Quakers' last victory came on Dec. 4, 2004 against La Salle at the Big 5 Classic.
Five consecutive losses have followed, most recently a disappointing overtime defeat against Rider on Wednesday.
The Quakers attempt to break that streak Saturday afternoon against Siena (3-11) at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y.
Rider's triumph was even harder to swallow because the Red and Blue (4-7) had the ball on the final possession of regulation, but Penn senior guard Tim Begley failed to convert a difficult jumper as time expired.
Several games during the losing streak came down to the final few minutes, including a 52-51 heartbreaker against Temple on Dec. 8.
Penn coach Fran Dunphy, however, does not believe the team possesses a crippling deficiency at the end of games. Rather, he looks at the 40 minutes of basketball as a whole.
"You take each possession as it comes, and if we had done better a couple possessions in the first half and a couple more possessions in the second half, then it wouldn't have come down to the last play of the game," he said.
Though Dunphy stresses consistency throughout the game, he does not have the luxury of resting his guards too much. Against Rider, both Begley and sophomore Ibby Jaaber played over 40 minutes.
With a thin bench, Dunphy believes that adjustments have to be made by the players who see the most action.
"I think that our guys have to pace themselves a little bit better, those guys who are playing a lot of minutes," he said. "Maybe make an extra pass or don't take it to the basket one extra time."
Senior forward Jan Fikiel also believes the team must look inward to correct its flaws.
"I think we played pretty well the past five games. We always had a chance to win but we gotta get over the hump and win one.
"I feel like we always beat ourselves," he said, pointing to Penn's 20 turnovers and Rider's 30 free-throw attempts.
Fikiel has been a recent bright spot from the reserve corps, coming off the bench for the first time this season against Rider to score a career-high 21 points.
Jan "gave us a great spark last night," Dunphy said. "If he does it again on Saturday, that would be great."
Fikiel does not see any difference in his new role and said he would prepare in the same way.
"Last game was pretty much the same as any other game," he said. "I just got some open looks and made some shots."
Penn will need a strong performance from Fikiel as well as the other forwards, as Siena boasts 6-foot-6 forward Michael Haddix as its leading scorer and rebounder.
The Vineland, N.J., native has been out since Dec. 11 with a fractured left tibia, but returned to action Wednesday against Fairfield.
The junior forward is averaging 16.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game and will surely garner much defensive attention.
"He's a real good player, talented guy," Dunphy said about Haddix, who had been recruited by Penn. "He knows how to play and has a great feel for the game."
The Quakers' oft-fatigued guards will have to contend with Siena freshman guard Jack McClinton, who is second on the team with 10.1 points per game.
"McClinton is a very good basketball player," Dunphy said. "We have to really focus our efforts on him but they've got other kids that can really hurt us too."
If the Quakers can contain Haddix and McClinton, they will give themselves an excellent chance of securing the team's first victory away from the Palestra this season.
Fikiel, for one, believes that stat is meaningless. "Once we win one [on the road] no one will be talking about it," he said.
For Dunphy, the key to breaking the losing streak is to maintain a confident attitude and a consistent style of play.
"I think that when you suffer adversity you always are testing the waters and questioning yourself and I think that comes with not winning games," he said. "If we get back on the right track I think the attitude will improve greatly."
