It looks like Penn has figured out how to make a doctor feel sick.
Intense man-to-man pressure from the Quakers (1-12, 0-3 Big 5) helped close the gap against La Salle (10-8, 1-1), driving Explorers coach Dr. John Gianninni into a frenzy of expletives.
Despite eventually falling 76-57, the Red and Blue displayed an inspiring defensive intensity when they narrowed the deficit to just five with 8:59 left in the game.
“They made us run our offense really far out,” Gianninni admitted. “It’s hard to get the ball inside when Rodney [Green] is getting pressure at 40 feet.”
Through an expanded press and more aggressive individual defense, coach Jerome Allen and the Quakers were able to neutralize a good deal of the height and strength advantages La Salle should have enjoyed.
Sophomore forward Rob Belcore did a great job getting in the faces of the Explorers’ swing players, and Zack Rosen held Green somewhat in check.
In fact, La Salle recorded just 13 assists on 26 field goals, and had 18 turnovers.
“[The Quakers] were aggressive in passing lanes,” Gianninni said.
The Red and Blue definitely get an ‘A’ for effort. But aggression wasn’t enough for the Quakers to take control of the game.
Even after the Quakers closed the gap to 53-48, La Salle kept augmenting its lead.
The Explorers’ ability to score despite being disrupted from their offensive system — in which they move the ball in low and take advantage of a huge front line — was supported by 6-foot-10 freshman phenom Aaric Murray.
Murray, a four-star recruit who chose La Salle over West Virginia, Rutgers and Temple (among others), used his superior size to get open shots on the perimeter.
And he made them, going 3-for-4 from behind the arc in the game.
Though Penn — Rosen especially — poured its heart out on the floor, against a player like Murray, inches and pounds matter a lot more than heart.
“I thought that the guys that we had did a great job of pretty much just leaving it on the floor,” Allen said.
The Quakers left it all on the floor, but still lost by 19, and until Allen can find a way to get physical specimens like Murray on his bench, that could be a common refrain.
ELI COHEN is a sophomore philosophy major from Washington, D.C. He can be contacted at dpsports@dailypennsylvanian.com.
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