PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 2 - Unlike Fran Dunphy's return to the Palestra, there would be no need for last-second heroics in Glen Miller's return to Brown Friday night.
Miller's Quakers made sure of that early, building a 15-point halftime lead before cruising to a 77-61 victory at the Pizzitola Center.
For Miller, it marked his first victory over the team he coached for the past seven years and the 200th victory of his collegiate coaching career, which also included four years at Division III Connecticut College.
"I try to keep my emotions out of it," Miller said after beating his former squad. "But I care a lot about these guys. I recruited them, I spent time with them. I want to see them be successful, just not tonight."
"I'd rather win than lose," he added. "But it's not an enjoyable game to win."
Miller's moment came with very little of the fanfare that had marked Dunphy's return to the Palestra as head coach of Temple nine days earlier.
His announcement drew little reaction from the crowd of 2,033, which included few students.
"I'm glad this one's out of the way," Miller said.
As for the game, the Quakers put Brown (7-14, 2-4 Ivy) out of the way pretty quickly.
Penn exploited the holes in Brown's 1-3-1 halfcourt trapping zone and scored 41 points in the first half with seven-for-10 shooting from deep. With the way the Quakers moved the ball, most of the shots were no different than those taken in an empty gym.
"We were pretty well prepared," said senior forward Mark Zoller, who scored a game-high 18 points (16 in the first half) and knocked down three of his four three-pointers. "We knew where the gaps were and where the open man would be, and we executed pretty well."
The main beneficiary of the Quakers' ball movement was sophomore Tommy McMahon, who converted on three easy layups in a row in the first half and then proceeded to do what he does best.
The swingman knocked down three of four from deep and scored a career-high 15 in addition to grabbing five rebounds.
"Any time you play against a zone, it allows to you step into your shot," McMahon said. "So a lot of guys were getting good open looks instead of having to run around and get their feet set."
Despite the open looks, Brown coach Craig Robinson didn't seem to regret sticking with his team's typical zone defense against the Quakers.
"The thing about playing a zone is you're going to give up some wide open shots, you just don't expect them to make them all," the first-year coach said. "I just didn't think we could match up with them man-to-man."
Junior guard Brian Grandieri contributed to Penn's 12-for-20 night in three-point land with three of his own as part of his 17-point game. And senior guard Ibrahim Jaaber dropped in 12, tallied nine rebounds and dished out seven of Penn's 23 assists.
Even after Saturday's loss to Yale, the Quakers rank eighth in the nation with 18.2 assists per game, a statistic in which Miller takes a lot of pride.
"It's a sign of a team that's unselfish, and we've been that type of team the entire year," Miller said.
Friday's game was not without concerns for the Quakers, who find themselves in the thick of a race for the Ivy title following the Yale loss on Saturday.
Senior forward Stephen Danley had his third game in four without a field goal, and the Quakers were shaky on defense in the second half, allowing Brown to shoot 56.5 percent from the floor.
For one night, a great game plan and stellar outside shooting masked those problems. But now that they're staring up at Yale in the standings, the Quakers still have plenty of things to work on at practice this week.
