CLEVELAND -- Penn coach Fran Dunphy "picked [his] poison" yesterday against Boston College, and the poison he picked -- letting the Eagles beat him from the outside -- was fatal to the Quakers' upset hopes.
Fearing the inside threat of first-team All-Big East forwards Jared Dudley and Craig Smith, Penn tried to double-team the duo any time they touched the ball in the post. In this area, the Quakers were somewhat successful, limiting Dudley and Smith to a combined 33 points, a respectable effort.
But the caveat to double-teaming is that it leads to plenty of open looks from the outside. Penn was hoping that the Eagles would misfire from deep, as they did in their most recent game, a loss to West Virginia in the Big East Tournament.
Instead, the Eagles lit it up.
In the first half, BC shot 62.1 percent from the field, and 70 percent from beyond the arc.
Guards Jermaine Watson and Sean Marshall combined to hit five of their six three-pointers in the half as the Eagles went on a game-deciding 22-2 run that turned a two-point lead into a 22-point advantage .
"There's a real misconception that we can't shoot the ball," head coach Al Skinner said. "It's not that. It's just that our interior game is so strong that it overshadows our perimeter game."
In the second half, BC only took two threes, making one, but was able to score inside and from the foul line. All week, Dunphy has been touting the Eagles' tendency to make more free throws than their opponents take. That held true yesterday, as BC was 17-of-25 from the line, while the Quakers were only 5-of-10.
Another thing that hurt Penn was its lack of depth.
The Quakers only received strong efforts from Tim Begley and Mark Zoller, who had 19 and 16 points, respectively.
Sophomore guard Ibby Jaaber had 15 points, but was inconsistent and was feeling the effects of an illness.
Meanwhile, guard Eric Osmundson was not nearly as recovered from his recent bout with a virus as Dunphy hoped he would be, and was held scoreless in just nine minutes of action.
Forward Steve Danley, who has had a breakout year for the Quakers, had one of his worst games, scoring one point on 0-of-5 shooting from the field. He also had only two rebounds but turned the ball over six times. He was overwhelmed with Smith's power, saying "I'm more excited to get in the weight room after playing against" the Eagles' big forward.
But for a team from a one-bid league to beat a top team from a power conference, as Wisconsin-Milwaukee did to Alabama right before Penn and BC took the floor, everything needs to go right. For the Quakers, very few things went as they hoped, and that is why their season is over.
