Penn may have finished off a weekend sweep with Saturday night's 67-53 victory over visiting Harvard, but it wasn't one-sided. The Crimson walked away with a better three-point showing, shutting down the Penn players who shot from beyond the arc. All but one.
It was Brennan Votel, the sophomore who came off the bench to contribute a career-high 11 points. Votel's minutes not only lifted his team's spirits, but also their stats, pulling the Quakers' three-point shooting percentage just above a big fat zero.
"We had a few contributions off the bench," head coach Glen Miller said. "Brennan did a good job for us, gave us a big lift."
"It was just fun to be out there on the court," Votel said.
Votel's contributions helped lift Penn (14-8, 5-1 Ivy) over the visiting Crimson (10-12, 3-5), and the ripple effect of Penn's win goes even further.
This weekend's conference sweep, combined with Yale's 60-59 loss at Cornell on Saturday night, secures first place in the Ivy League with conference play almost half over.
With his team leading the conference, Miller isn't too worried about the lack of three-pointers from his players, who, he says, didn't really get the looks they wanted.
Even without those looks, the Quakers managed to pull ahead of the Crimson after a 10-point run late in the first half. With the confidence of a 26-32 lead at halftime, Penn returned to the floor to dominate the second twenty minutes of play - a second half that seemed to be all about correcting mistakes that contributed to its sluggish start.
In the first half "we forced our fast break, tried to make things happen when we could have just let things happen," Miller said. "So our focus on getting the ball inside was much better in the second half.
"We made an adjustment, refocused, and got the ball inside."
In the second half, the Quakers shifted efforts to dominate the inside, bringing their second-half shooting percentage to 52.6 percent. Scoring was led by senior forward Mark Zoller, who racked up 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Senior guard Ibrahim Jaaber took advantage of a fatigued Harvard lineup, which arrived at the Palestra coming off a double-overtime loss to Princeton on Friday night. Jaaber stole the ball six times out of the hands of the Crimson, making life miserable for Harvard point guard Drew Housman.
"Jaaber's one of the best kids to ever play in this league," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. "He's got pro hands and pro quickness. It's no fluke that he's as good as he is defensively."
Despite his impressive performance, Jaaber's quick hands didn't solve all of Penn's defensive troubles. Led by Brian Grandieri's nine rebounds, the Quakers outrebounded Harvard -- but only by two boards. And according to Miller, the team's rebounding skills are still not quite up to par.
"We still didn't rebound the ball like we'd like to. It cost us a little bit," Miller said. "But our defensive execution has been much better the last two nights."
Miller may be hard to please when it comes to his team's rebounding performance, but for once the coach didn't voice any complaints about Penn's efforts from the free-throw line. The Quakers sank all of their free throws in the first half, and went 15-18 in the second.
"Tonight we focused in and stepped up and made those foul shots," Zoller said. "And it definitely helps everyone's confidence when you're making foul shots."
