SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Coming to upstate New York for the Black Coaches Association Invitational, the Quakers knew they would be seeing some zone defense. After all, they would be playing one of the three games against Syracuse, a team famous for its 2-3 zone, one that Penn forward Mark Zoller referred to as the best in the country.
Considering how the Quakers played against the zone last season, with Ivy teams consistently abandoning the man-to-man against a poor-shooting Penn team, that may have been a daunting prospect.
But Penn was treated to a pleasant surprise in Saturday night's game against Syracuse - the Orange came out in a man-to-man defense.
The result: a 17-14 Penn lead more than halfway through the first half, and a Syracuse team left wondering how the less-athletic Quakers were able to penetrate its man defense so easily.
Penn is "a difficult team to guard man-to-man," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, citing the Quakers' smart play and quick ball movement. "They got us backdoor a couple of times."
So, despite the protests of his players, Boeheim aligned his team in its familiar 2-3 zone. Syracuse's strength, and Penn's weakness, became apparent immediately.
"There were a lot of us that were frustrated with" switching to the zone, Syracuse forward Terrence Roberts said. "We wanted to stay with our man. We wanted to prove that we could do a good job. But coach knows best; obviously, he did, because once we went zone, we played better and got everybody on the same page."
What ensued was a 23-7 run for the Orange and a game that was really never back in Penn's reach. Once again, the Quakers' three-point shooting was unimpressive, hitting 30.8 percent from long range for the game.
Yesterday, against St. Francis, Penn once again faced the challenge of a zone defense. Like Syracuse, the Terriers came out in a man defense, only to see Penn's motion offense tear it to bits. So, with the Quakers leading by 20 with just over three minutes left in the half, St. Francis switched to a zone.
The first four possessions against the new defense all ended in failure as the Red and Blue looked lost on offense. Meanwhile, the Terriers managed to string some baskets together and pulled to within 16 at the half.
Coming out after the break, there was no reason for St. Francis to abandon what was clearly a beneficial strategy. And, for a few minutes, it continued to stymie the Quakers.
But 10 points was the closest St. Francis would get; as two successive three-pointers - one from Zoller, and one from Steve Danley, the first of the season for both big men - finally got Penn out of its funk.
Miller credited the penetration the Quakers managed to get to the turnaround against the zone defense.
"One of our big keys offensively was to pound the ball inside, whether it be against man-to-man or zone. In the first half, we were looking too much east to west and not north to south, and we need to penetrate the ball through the pass in to our big guys and collapse the defense."
If the Red and Blue can count on the two continuing what they built outside against the Terriers, attacking the zone defense may quickly go from a chore to a relished opportunity.
