Glen Miller's Quakers have always tried to play faster than their opponents, but against North Carolina, it was Penn who seemed to have its feet stuck in the tar.
Every time Penn got a big basket, the Tar Heels were bolting down the court for a quick answer.
In the last two years, Penn has shown a penchant for playing up-tempo games, shooting early in the shot-clock and generating a high-number of possessions. The Quakers average 67 possessions per game. That number was 85 last night, while North Carolina had the ball 82 times.
While the Tar Heels technically only recorded 16 fast-break points, it seemed like a lot more than that. The outlets off of inbounds passes happened so quickly that the Quakers were rarely back in time to stop them.
"I want to say 20 out of their 50 first-half points were fast-break points," Penn coach Glen Miller said. "Two of our biggest game keys were transition defense and rebounding the basketball, so we failed there."
A major component of this advantage was the play of swingman Danny Green off of the bench.
Green hustled down the court more than anyone else, grabbing enough short jumpers, five-foot banks and layups to shoot 9-for-12 from the floor last night.
He also added four steals in the first half, two of which he took coast-to-coast for a layup. Even when Wayne Ellington could not convert a steal into two points, Green followed the miss for an uncontested put-back.
If there was something positive for Penn to take from the game, it was that it got to watch a perfectly-executed up-tempo offense.
Miller knows that in order to fix the team's weaknesses it should learn from the fastest.
Penn had some success on offense shooting 56.7 percent in the first half, but turned it over 14 times and was the slower team down the court, particularly after made baskets.
"We countered their pressure a little bit, but . I'd say they're the best fast-break team in the country, and their secondary break really gets the ball inside to some very good players," Miller said.
Players can be reluctant to be satisfied about a learning experience in a loss, but for captain Brian Grandieri, only one thing really matters this season.
"Our ticket to the NCAA Tournament is in the Ivy League, and these guys have to understand that these are all just tests," Grandieri said. "Until that first game comes around, . we just have to buckle down and use this as preparation."
The Ivy League slate won't include teams that even resemble North Carolina, but the Quakers can learn from this game how to improve the transition defense and sure up any holes that an Ivy team could well exploit.
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