All throughout the Big 5 season, Penn has played a smooth, up-tempo, non-traditional game. Last night, the Quakers finally learned how to play ugly.
Against a Princeton offense that is the slowest in Division I (53.1 possessions per game), Penn accepted that it couldn't run up and down the court. In the end, the Quakers' physical, methodical play ground out a sixth conference win.
In the first five-to-10 minutes, the Penn starters played like they were using an NBA shot clock. But as a wide-open three from Kyle Koncz struck nylon to cut the lead to 12-10 some eight minutes in, the home side realized that it could no longer dictate the pace.
As a man who's played Princeton numerous times while at Brown, Penn coach Glen Miller knew all along that the transition game wouldn't win out.
"You just have to realize that you're going to be in a low-possession game," Miller said. "I'd rather focus on the preparation, on the discipline that it takes, both offensively and defensively to be successful against them, rather than forcing tempo."
And so once the Quakers learned how to play Princeton's game, they used size and skill to take control.
The Red and Blue fed the post inside, drew fouls, and by slowing it down were able to get back on defense and shut down the Tigers on that end.
On offense, Penn got to the free-throw line 22 times (making 14) in the final 32 minutes (compared to Princeton's six attempts). In addition, the Quakers got 17 points from forward Mark Zoller - the only player on either team to shoot above 50 percent - mostly on the inside.
"On the offensive end we just had to pick our spots and pound the ball inside, and get to the foul line and get easy layups," Zoller said.
After blowing a 10-point lead midway through in the second half to make it 29-all, Penn's nine-for-10 free-throw shooting gave it a major lift.
When the forwards and most reliable free-throw shooters, Zoller and Stephen Danley, got to the line, they hit a combined nine-of-10.
And slowing it down helped out a defense that has had trouble with an up-and-down pace.
Throughout the game Princeton passed into the low post, got doubled, and turned it over. The Tigers were rarely able to find an open shooter outside of the first eight minutes due to Penn's pressure in the half-court. In fact, Princeton had more turnovers (17) than field goals (14). It was the first time since 1972 that Penn held an opponent to 35 points or less.
Penn's interior defense got better as the night went on. With an open lane, Princeton forward Justin Conway blew by the four-inch-taller Danley to cut Penn's lead to one, but shortly after, Conway tried a post move on Danley and got his shot rejected out of bounds.
In all, Penn's approach was a shock to Princeton coach Joe Scott, who thought he would only have a chance to win if he didn't see a pretty game.
"That was one of our concerns, coming in I told them we really had to control this game, and we did that," Scott said.
But against a Tigers squad that held the highest-scoring team in the nation (VMI) to 68 points - even fewer than they scored against No. 2 Ohio State - playing pretty basketball was not an option for the Quakers.
It may not have been fun to watch, but if it gets a win over Princeton, they'll take it.
Josh Wheeling is a junior Economics major from Philadelphia and is former Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail
address is jw4@sas.upenn.edu.
