Pardon the interruption

Mark Zoller, Ibrahim Jaaber and Stephen Danley, Penn's senior captains, have played a combined 38 Big 5 games. The 11 players on La Salle's roster have played 48 combined - and only five players had any Big 5 experience coming into this season.

Each team plays its second Big 5 contest of the season tonight as Penn (9-6, 0-1 Big 5) heads to Tom Gola Arena to take on the Explorers (8-9, 0-1).

The game is the first between the two teams not held at the Palestra since a 71-47 Penn win in Jan. 2004.

La Salle is one of the most inexperienced teams in the country. The Explorers start three freshmen -Yves Mekongo Mbala, Rodney Green and Ruben Guillandeaux. The Explorers' five freshmen currently combine for 58 percent of the team's offense.

As such, La Salle started slowly. The Explorers won six of their first eight games, but none were against high-caliber opponents. Then they lost by 13 to Villanova and by 20 to Holy Cross.

Even though La Salle lost five of its next six, the Explorers had turned a corner: All five losses were by fewer than eight points, with three by three points or fewer.

Those losses were not easy games, either: at Rhode Island, at home against Massachusetts and at Dayton since Atlantic 10 play started.

But head coach John Giannini is encouraged by his team's recent performance, including a 78-59 win over New Jersey Institute of Technology on Tuesday.

"We've played a lot better since the A-10 started," he said.

Obviously, as Giannini said, it is a "transition year."

After losing two-time A-10 player of the year Steven Smith to graduation, along with fellow starters Jermaine Thomas and Lewis Fadipe, the Explorers had to rebuild, though they still had anchors in senior Mike St. John and juniors Darnell Harris and Sherman Diaz.

"It's not the results that we want, but as we continue to improve, when we have our best players back [for another year], we'll be winning," Giannini said.

In the immediate future, his team will have to concern itself with a Penn defense that has been on lockdown recently, allowing only 99 points in two games last weekend. Not helping matters is La Salle's turnover average of nearly 17 per game.

Meanwhile, Penn is not without some inexperience in its lineup. Sophomore guard Kevin Egee is expected to make his fourth straight start, and he says he is adjusting well to his new role.

But it's not all easy.

"You're expected to perform in the starting lineup, coming off the bench you don't have as much pressure on you," he said.

He got only praise from his coach, though.

"He's getting in the starting lineup, he's giving us good play," head coach Glen Miller said. "He's gaining confidence with every minute that he's in the game."

Despite their youth, the Explorers are an athletic team, albeit one not as talented as North Carolina and Seton Hall, which Penn faced earlier in the season.

Junior guard Brian Grandieri, along with Egee and Miller, stressed that the Quakers need to contain the La Salle penetration in order to be successful.

"Defense would be our biggest thing," he said. "We have to keep them out of the lane, we have to rebound."

The Explorers are also a balanced scoring team, with eight players averaging between seven and 16 points per game, so Penn cannot just focus on only one or two scoring threats.

In the end, Zoller thinks the Quakers' experience will be a big factor, especially within a competitive Big 5 game, adding, "You want to prove yourself in the city."

But it was the inexperienced Egee that sounded the boldest about tonight's game, at least when he spoke about the Quakers' defense.

"As a unit we're playing real well," he said. "And we're going to get it done tomorrow."

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