Smith an unsuspecting foe for Harris

By David Bernstein

Staff Writer

davidkb@sas.upenn.edu

Freshman guard Darren Smith's torn labrum wasn't supposed to derail Penn's game plan against La Salle last night, but it almost did.

He had missed several practices after suffering an injury to his shoulder against Seton Hall last month, and didn't log any minutes in the first half after being labeled day-to-day by coach Glen Miller.

While Smith says he is dealing with the daily treatment, he is "going to play through it."

But Smith may have been the unsung hero last night. He made the most of his 18 second-half minutes, quieting La Salle guard Darnell Harris, who scored 20 points against Penn sophomore guard Kevin Egee after he matched up to Harris for much of the first half.

When Smith entered the game, the sharpshooter went cold - while he did score 12 in the half, most of his points came against the Quakers' big men on defensive switches.

But what led Miller to think that a young reserve who had been riding the bench all game would be able to stop a proven veteran scorer?

"It was a hunch I had," Miller said. "I really wasn't counting on him, but we had such a difficult time defending the first half . so we decided to give him a try, and he came through big time, to say the least."

Smith's matchup with Harris was part of Penn's man-to-man defense, which they stuck with for nearly the entire game.

Smith was anything but nervous when he was called upon to slow down Harris.

"It came naturally," Smith said. "Coach put me in, and I knew I had to stick with him throughout the game. It wasn't really a big thing."

The stat sheet tells a different story.

In a game where Harris alone hit over two more three-pointers than his entire team's previous average (8 to 5.6), Smith played an integral role in quelling an outstanding performance from the perimeter and taking the shooter out of his element.

Harris made just two out of six from three-point land in the second half, compared with six of eight in the first. While his field-goal percentage remained a solid 50 percent in the last frame, the fall-off the Explorers' star experienced helped the Quakers get back into a highly-contested game.

And especially considering his two trifectas on the offensive end, Smith may have helped himself as well - Miller may be more apt to give the newcomer minutes in a guard-heavy rotation that includes several veterans, even during the team's stretch run.

He seems to be up for the challenge.

"Now with a few games under my belt," Smith said, "I pretty much see what it's like and what it's going to take to play in the Big 5 and get prepared."

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