M. Hoops Notebook: Outburst on defense comes at the right time

Penn's three-game winning streak has by no means been pretty. The Quakers have not run anyone off the Palestra floor, and they have played sloppily for stretches on both ends of the floor.

But three wins are three wins, and they have vaulted Penn back into sole possession of first place in the Ivy League at 6-1.

However, the offense has struggled lately, shooting only 43.7 percent from the floor and 21.9 percent from three-point range. Penn averages 47.8 field-goal and 36.7 three-point shooting percentages.

"We rushed ourselves trying to make some plays," head coach Glen Miller said of his team's output against Princeton, where Penn shot a miserable 37.4 percent from the field, a season-worst.

There is no doubt, though, that as the offense has waned, the Quakers' defense has improved, holding Dartmouth, Harvard and Princeton to a total of 141 points, including the 35 to Princeton that was the fewest Penn has allowed since 1972.

"Our mindset once we got in the league is that we wanted to focus on defense," senior Mark Zoller said.

The Quakers have done a good job challenging shots and it has shown in the opponents' shooting percentages. In its last three games, Penn has held teams to 33.5 percent from the field and an even better 21.4 percent on three-point shooting.

Last season, Penn held nine teams to under 40 percent shooting from the field. This season the Quakers have pulled the trick seven times in 23 games.

New faces. Over the weekend, Miller seemed to be making a concerted effort to play as many players as possible. Against Dartmouth, the five starters played 65 percent of the minutes, with only Ibrahim Jaaber playing more than 30.

Against Harvard, in a slightly closer game, it was 72 percent. But against Princeton Tuesday night, the five starters played 82 percent of the minutes.

It was the five starters, though, who were on the floor for the decisive 12-0 run by Penn that put the game away.

Miller said he is trying to experiment to get more players to be more consistent, but he still has to win the game, and therefore in crunch time puts in the players who have been playing well.

"Ideally we'd like a better balance with our minute distribution," he said.

Freshman guard Darren Smith has been the fifth starter in the last three games, and has performed well, especially on defense.

Smith said that while his confidence is always high, he gets into a better rhythm when he is a starter.

"Of course starting makes it a little easier," Smith said.

Into the books. Penn's win over Princeton Tuesday was the Quakers' ninth in the teams' last 11 games, and clinches a sixth straight year with at least one Penn win over Princeton.

That streak is the longest since a seven-year run without Tigers sweeps from 1976-77 to 1982-83.

Penn's 11-game run over its rival is tied for the Quakers' second best ever (with a 9-2 run between 1906-1911) behind only an 11-game win streak from 1933 to 1938.

Princeton's best stretch is a 12-1 run between 1963 and 1969.

Spread the love. Miller said he had no special plans for Valentine's Day yesterday, saying only that he bought his wife a mug from Starbucks that she can then give him while he watches hoops film. But Miller said that Valentine's Day, like any day in his family, is better after a victory.

"She really likes it when we win because everyone in the family's happier," he said.

Smith had no plans for last night other than "practicing hard today."

Meanwhile, Zoller said that he was "going out" for the holiday, another blow to his many female admirers on campus.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.