Josh Wheeling: Wanted: A helping hand for the usual suspects

HANOVER, N.H.

As Darren Smith's second patented three-pointer from the right corner struck nylon, it looked like Penn had yet another Ivy road blowout in the bag.

Five minutes in, the Quakers were up 17-5 against Dartmouth Saturday night after blowing out Harvard in a game that was over by halftime. Inexperienced players scored at will in that game - Smith was two for five for six points, and Mike Kach dropped 14. But Dartmouth kept Penn on its toes all game, falling by just two.

The win is a huge one for the Quakers, and they should no doubt be thrilled about it, especially considering Yale's puzzling 18-point home loss to Columbia.

But still, the win exposed the inconsistency of the supporting cast, and how vital those players are to the team's success.

Thanks to a quick whistle from the referee, Mark Zoller sat the last 17 minutes of the first half - playing 16 in total before fouling out - and Stephen Danley picked up four fouls as well. This put a whole lot of pressure on the bench, and it could not neutralize a Big Green squad that played its hearts out for 40 minutes.

Veterans Ibrahim Jaaber, Brian Grandieri and Danley brought their 'A' games, but the rest of the team did not.

Smith went 0-for-3 after his two surprising threes, and he had no assists or rebounds and four fouls.

In 27 minutes the athletic Kach only produced four points on one-for-four shooting, two boards and no assists.

The Penn offense is certainly not centered on the supporting actors, but they play a key role. When Jaaber or Zoller drives, Danley posts up, or Grandieri fits into a spot baseline, they all get doubled and have a teammate wide open. Smith has destroyed Ivy opponents by hitting the open jumpers, but if any of the younger players aren't hitting, the team struggles.

And when they're not an integral part of the offense, the team's aggressiveness suffers.

In 86 total minutes against Dartmouth - including Tommy McMahon (16), Kevin Egee (9), Justin Reilly (9) and Brennan Votel (8)- the non-big four got to the line seven times and combined for only five boards. That's 43 percent of the minutes but 21 percent of the free throws and 21 percent of the rebounds.

Rebounds played a key role in the game, especially with Dartmouth grabbing 13 offensively. In their seniors' final chance at beating Penn, the Big Green were outjumping opponents for the ball, but it wouldn't have come down to that if the Quakers hit someone and checked out.

That also translated to the defensive end.

There are no stats to tell whether someone played well defensively - and some were solid at times, like Smith when he had a chance one-on-one with Dartmouth scorer Leon Pattman, but the team defense was certainly lacking.

"Guards have been exploiting our guards on the perimeter and our help defense hasn't done that well," Jaaber said. "If you have to guard a team who has shooters, it's hard to help those guys."

And Dartmouth shot magnificently - hitting 52 percent by getting into the lane against the man defense, and quickly exploiting the holes in the 2-3 zone Penn threw at it.

The Quakers have a lot of talent on the bench, and it has shown in the Ivy season. But if the team hopes to win its third-straight conference title, it won't come from Jaaber's steals or Zoller's rebounding, but Smith's shot, Kach's rebounding and Votel's defense.

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.

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