SYRACUSE, N.Y.
As Penn closed out the weekend's tournament against St. Francis, the meager smattering of fans in attendance attested to the fact that this was certainly not the day's feature game.
Going on results alone, this was a matchup between the two worst teams in the tournament, the two that had lost a pair of opening games and were playing for third. And that is why it was so critical that Penn won the game, and did so convincingly.
With the heightened expectations this year for new coach Glen Miller and his experienced team, the two losses to UTEP and Syracuse took a visible emotional toll on the players and Penn supporters. This was the team that many hoped would be the first since 1994 to win an NCAA Tournament game. And here it was, taking a bad loss to a Miners team it was favored against and drawing a second-round matchup against No. 20 Syracuse - the perfect ticket to an 0-2 start.
So while there were not many there to see the Quakers' 86-56 triumph over the Terriers, it was a statement Penn needed to make. Not so much to its fans, the analysts or the tournament selection committee, but to itself.
"I think this one was a little bit more of a must-win," said senior forward Mark Zoller, whose resurgent 22-point performance mirrored Penn's own re-emergence. "We didn't want to come out of here 0-3. I think we just needed a little bit more of a gut check. . It was more of who wanted it more; it was more of a test of heart."
The Quakers showed that sense of purpose from the outset of the game, staking themselves to a double-digit lead before St. Francis could even blink. By the 6:58 mark of the first half, Penn led 36-12 on 68.4-percent shooting, 71.4 percent (5-7) from beyond the arc.
And once the shots started falling and the passes connecting, the strong output only perpetuated itself. Penn showed more of the swagger befitting a two-time conference champ, not an 0-2 team that had been put in its place the night before by a very good Syracuse team.
This confidence did not just manifest itself on the offensive end, but it also did so on defense. The Quakers pressured their opponents into 14 turnovers and 29.2-percent shooting before halftime.
Penn's ability to keep the Terriers down with its defense "definitely showed some character," Miller said. "We discussed before we even played the first game this weekend that we could make some mistakes offensively, but what we wanted to be constant was our defense."
At this point, Penn must accept the fact that the bar has been raised. Maybe that is not entirely fair, with the loss of a heady leader in Eric Osmundson and a strong defender in David Whitehurst, while adjusting to a new coach and learning a new system.
But like it or not, a lot of people are looking to this Penn team, coming off a narrow NCAA Tournament loss to a 2-seed with three returning senior starters, to show that Ivy basketball can still compete viably in the national picture.
There is the distinct impression that, if that does not happen now, with this team, it likely won't happen at all. So notching Miller's first Penn win held special significance.
"It's important - it's very important," Miller said. "These guys have character, especially the seniors, who have had a lot of success. This is their last season, and they have a lot of pride."
The optimism, though, should be held in check for the time being. This was by no means a good St. Francis team, and Penn blew out plenty of bad teams last year. But it was heartening just to see this group do what it does well, perhaps just to be reminded that it still can. Now, the Quakers just have to do it against the better teams in Division I.
Ilario Huober is a junior International Relations major from Syracuse, N.Y., and is sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is ihuober@sas.upenn.edu.
