It wasn't always pretty, and it wasn't over after 15 minutes like Drexel's blowout. But it was a win in the home opener with coach Glen Miller making his debut on the Palestra's home bench.
Paced by 26 points from Mark Zoller, Penn struggled in the first half before opening up a double-digit lead and easing past Florida Gulf Coast, 97-74.
The Quakers (2-2) and Eagles (0-2) were neck-and-neck throughout most of the first half before an unlikely source spurred Penn to a 19-3 run. Freshman Darren Smith hit three-straight three-pointers, and sophomore Kevin Egee added another during the stretch, which pushed the lead to 10.
"I'm happy for Darren," Miller said. "He's been hesitant offensively, just trying to do the right things.
"Today, for him to hit some shots - we really needed a lift like that."
The Eagles cut the deficit to four at halftime but were unable to get any closer after that as Penn exploded in the second half. FGCU's full-court press disrupted the Quakers' transition offense in the first half, but, after halftime, Penn's execution improved.
As a result, the team shot 21-of-28 in the last 20 minutes, while Zoller poured in 19 of his 26 points and Brian Grandieri had 15 of his 19.
The Quakers' hot shooting, the high tempo of the game and the referees' quick whistle (Penn was in the double bonus for the majority of the second half) made it a high-scoring affair. The end-to-end action, coupled with the Quakers' superior athleticism, wore the Eagles down and allowed Penn to boost the lead up above 20 toward the end of the game.
"We did a great job for 37, 38 minutes," said FGCU coach Dave Balza, whose team got rocked
73-37 by Drexel a few days earlier. "Earlier in the game, when they broke the press, we were still there and able to guard 5-on-5. I thought we stopped doing that over the last couple of minutes."
And once that happened, the Quakers certainly got their punches in. Penn outscored FGCU 17-3 over the last 4:46, fueled by the "we want cheesesteaks" chants sprouting up from the student section as the century mark drew closer. With the game well in hand, the home team pressured the ball and pushed the tempo as if trying to grant the crowd's request.
But on their final possession, FGCU's players contentedly passed the ball around the court and ran out the clock to a chorus of boos. When the horn did sound, Balza was visibly upset with Penn's showmanship and crowd-pleasing at his team's expense.
But if the Eagles lost their grip on the game, it wasn't for lack of effort. FGCU sophomore Landon Adler found himself going head-to-head with Zoller on both ends of the floor and didn't back down from the challenge, scoring 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
The Eagles simply worked harder than the Quakers did in the first half, enabling them to stay in the game and frustrating Miller.
"What I was most disappointed with was to have a team outhustle us," he said. "And getting outrebounded really caused us problems."
The rebounding advantage manifested itself the most on the offensive glass, where the Eagles walloped Penn. All nine FGCU players that saw time grabbed at least one offensive rebound, and, as a team, the Eagles beat Penn 16-6 in that statistic.
"They killed us on the boards," Zoller admitted.
But even for its struggles, Penn left the Palestra on a positive note. The Quakers' late run was emphatically punctuated by Ibrahim Jaaber, who turned in an efficient, 15-point and eight-assist effort. On a fast break with under a minute to go, Zoller made a sudden, one-handed pass to the streaking Jaaber. The senior co-captain elevated until his hand was several inches above the rim and then slammed down an alley-oop as the home crowd roared its approval.
That was closer to what the Quakers and their fans had in mind.
