It was the last thing Dominick Mejia was expecting to hear.
Just three minutes into Drexel's matchup with Penn last night, Dragons coach Bruiser Flint got in the face of his star player.
"Get the ball!" he said after the 6-foot-5 swingman coughed it up on Drexel's first possession.
Mejia may have heeded the advice, but his teammates did not. The battles for turnovers - of which there were plenty - and rebounding, thought to be Drexel's strengths, came back to bite the Dragons all night.
No one, least of all Miller, expected the game would be decided that way.
"I was very concerned about our turnovers," Miller said. "I didn't think we could win the game if we had high turnovers."
The opposing frontcourt also figured to be a sticking point, with shot-blocker Chaz Crawford as well as Frank Elegar and Randy Oveneke looming large for the Dragons.
Compare that to the results: a 35-29 rebounding advantage for Penn, two assists out of the Drexel frontcourt and a particularly bad performance - eight turnovers and eight points - by Elegar.
The Dragons were able to notch 13 takeaways on the night, compared to seven for Penn. But the Quakers were able to take advantage of their opportunities, notching 24 points off of turnovers to Drexel's 16. Penn also scored eight points in transition, twice as many as their cross-city foes.
That can mainly be attributed to the Quakers' transition defense, which proved adept at denying the easy buckets that Drexel needed to keep pace.
"We missed every layup, man," Flint said. "We can force as many turnovers as we want - when you miss every shot, fumble every ball, you're not going to win."
And when Penn was forced to foul to prevent an easy two, Drexel simply could not convert, going 10-for-17 overall from the line.
In their last game, the Dragons were all over the place against Vermont, taking advantage of 20 Catamount turnovers and eight blocks by Crawford to pull a 59-46 upset.
Penn, meanwhile, was outrebounded by a Division II team just a few days ago.
But the battle for who could get the ball most made the difference in a game filled with sloppy play on both sides.
With just under 14 minutes to go in the second half and Penn sporting a thin lead, Mark Zoller drove inside but missed a tough layup in traffic. Sophomore Tommy McMahon - no bruiser at a lanky 210 pounds - alertly tipped the ball away for an offensive rebound.
Two misses and two more offensive rebounds by Brian Grandieri later, and Penn had a clean look inside. Grandieri's ensuing three-point play gave Penn a 10-point lead, and Drexel's yellow-clad student section was motionless. Their Dragons could not get the ball.
