M. Hoops | Still searching for answers

There's that old sinking feeling again.

Though desperate to notch its second win of the season against a perennially mediocre Navy squad, Penn was still dominated on both ends of the floor en route to a 76-65 loss at the Palestra on Friday.

After losses to Albany and Villanova in their last two contests, the Quakers put forth another underwhelming effort.

Despite the Midshipmen's small roster and four-guard sets, Penn was outrebounded. Despite coach Glen Miller's attempts to get his team out in transition, the Quakers were outrun. Ultimately, despite Navy's historic futility at the Palestra, it came away with the victory, ending a drought of 49 years to the day since its last 'W' in Penn's home gym.

"The cheesesteak is going to taste a lot better on that bus ride back to Annapolis than it did the last time we were in here," Navy coach Billy Lange said.

The Quakers (1-6), on the other hand, are going to want to cleanse their palate.

The Red and Blue were called for 28 fouls in the game, and couldn't get anything going on either end of the floor.

Hounded by Navy's Kaleo Kina, sophomore guard Tyler Bernardini shot just 2-for-12 from the field and netted six points, his season-low. But while he felt he was being keyed in on, Bernardini chalked up his performance to a simple off-night.

"I was open," he said, "and I missed a lot of shots."

The Midshipmen (7-1) converted 22 of their 27 free throws, and made a habit of finishing their dribble-drives strong. Kina paced the Midshipmen by penetrating Penn's man-to-man and zone defenses at will and pouring in 28 points on 9-for-18 shooting.

Complementing Kina, sharpshooting guard Chris Harris drained three three-pointers on the way to an 18-point night.

According to Miller, Navy was able to turn broken plays into points.

"They did a great job of making plays," he said. "They'd just space the floor and they had guys that made plays off the dribble."

The Midshipmen are known for being undersized due to the Naval Academy's height restrictions. Still, the Quakers were unable to carve out a significant presence in the paint.

Forwards Brennan Votel and Jack Eggleston led Penn in scoring with 14 and 13 points respectively, but it is becoming apparent that there is a distinct lack of depth in the frontcourt.

Forward Andreas Schreiber, who is still recovering from a torn labrum, was ineffective in his brief appearance ("He really doesn't know what he's doing," Miller said), and Cameron Lewis did not see action yet again. Freshman Larry Loughery played 11 minutes, but has not yet rounded out into an offensive presence.

"We've got some inconsistencies at the big man position," Votel said.

These difficulties meant that the pressure was on Bernardini and Penn's guards. But the Quakers finished just 5-for-16 from beyond the arc.

With a three-week break ahead, the Quakers clearly have their work cut out for them.

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