CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Had the outcome been different, Cameron Lewis's sudden transition from liability to asset would have been reason to celebrate. But the fact that he was perhaps the top option wearing red and blue last night just served to show how muddy and confused the picture has become for the Quakers.
Like all of Penn's bright spots this year, Lewis's performance came with plenty of dark strings attached. He scored 13 points and could have had more if not for yet another bad night at the free-throw line, but picked up his third foul at maybe the worst possible time and sat on the bench as the Hurricanes turned BankUnited Center into their own personal slam-dunk contest.
Where were Jack Eggleston (15 minutes), Justin Reilly (who didn't start) and Tyler Bernardini (23 minutes)? What happened to investing in your youth? What happened to the adage, often called upon in baseball but just as meaningful here, that if they're going to beat you, make them beat your best?
More pressing, if Glen Miller isn't going to call on those three underclassmen when the chips are down, what was the point of starting them up to this point?
It's not unreasonable to think that the lack of confidence Miller showed in his stars was part of the reason they didn't assert themselves on the floor. Instead, Lewis was left to. That's not to say that his toughness shouldn't earn Lewis minutes, but no way should a player who simply isn't a scorer be asked to score that much.
You can't quibble with Miller's choice to give Lewis minutes over the players he's been cultivating for the long haul (Eggleston and Reilly). What happened at FGCU demanded some response, some change, especially with plenty more tune-ups still available before February. As Miller said after the game, he went away from his bread-and-butter because Penn lost by 30 to a fledgling program a few days before, and something had to give. He also owed as much to Eggleston and Reilly, if only to prove that Penn's chances of making it to March rest primarily on their shoulders.
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"This team is struggling," Miami coach Frank Heith said of the Quakers.
"They had some outings where they looked really good. they can cause problems," he continued. "They played really hard, a lot like when we watched them on tape against North Carolina and Villanova."
There's truth to that, but what do those two Penn games have in common with this one? They were all lopsided losses, not exactly the kind of examples you want to see an opposing coach using in a press conference. Unfortunately for struggling teams the world over, working hard doesn't turn a team into something it's not, no matter the lineup.
It might not show up in the stat box, but there is a difference between playing minutes off the bench or as a starter, at least in terms of confidence. Kevin Egee, thrust into a 30-minute night because of Harrison Gaines's balky hamstring, played hard and did a respectable job, but he could barely bring himself to push the ball ahead of the Hurricanes until the final play of the game. That's to be expected.
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If Eggleston and Reilly each think that they're The Man through thick and thin, they'll play like it.
It was "just time to change the lineup, mix it up a little bit" last night, Miller said. "If anything, hopefully it gives us a little spark."
Miller got that spark out of Lewis, and it's unfortunate that it came in a losing effort. But change for change's sake always has a short shelf life, and this one shouldn't last more than a game or two. If they're going to beat you, let them beat your best.
Andrew Scurria is a Political Science major from Wilmington, Del. and is Senior Sports Editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is scurria@sas.upenn.edu
