After just two games, the men's basketball team realizes that wins will not come as easily as they did last season.
"Our seniors bailed us out at times [last year]," guard Mike Kach said. "This season we don't have that individual talent. We need to play hard as a team every minute."
The young squad is still learning how to play together with intensity, though, and the results thus far have not been pretty.
But Penn (0-2) has had a week to practice and digest its opening weekend. Now it gets set to face an unfamiliar opponent with a familiar face.
Saturday's Philly Hoops Classic home game against Howard (0-2) is the first-ever meeting of the two squads. It's also the first time the Quakers have played anyone from the MEAC.
However, Penn seniors like Kach and captain Brian Grandieri know the man on the other bench pretty well: Before taking the head coaching job at Howard in 2005, Gil Jackson spent 16 years at Penn and recruited the Quakers duo.
Neither player believes that will be in their mind on the court, but they do agree the game will be a good experience.
"I haven't seen him in three years," Grandieri said. "He's a great guy, a great coach, always open to talking to players. It will be a nice homecoming."
And without pause, he added: "...but hopefully we'll get our first win."
Winning won't be easy. Despite Howard's unimpressive record last season, it played well in its tough non-conference games before injuries to key players struck the team.
The experienced team features a tough duo of junior guards in Eugene Myatt and Jeron Smith. Combined, they average nearly 30 points a game.
"They're also very athletic," Grandieri said. "We're not, so that's something we'll have to try and control."
However, Quakers coach Glen Miller said that at this point in the season, he's "more concerned with our own execution than with our opponents'."
The Quakers said that practice has been hard this week and focused on getting into the proper defensive sets.
Grandieri added that Miller has also been trying to get players to "think less and just play basketball."
"A lot of people said we've been looking like robots out there," the captain said.
While there aren't many positives so far for Penn, one bright spot has been forward Andreas Schreiber. He scored a career-high 13 points against Loyola-Maryland last Sunday.
With Miller tinkering with the lineup trying to find the right mix, Schreiber is one overlooked player who could see some minutes and maybe make an impact.
That right mix, though, is still not clear. Miller and his players acknowledge that the team is a long way from its potential. But they aren't worried by that fact.
"Our problem is just chemistry," Kach said. "We're . on our way to becoming a good team. Our problems are correctable."
