Plotnick | Perplexed at the Palestra

Call me an idealist.

With the hype surrounding the Penn-Princeton rivalry and the fact that last night’s game came four days after Penn caught the nation’s attention with a win over nationally ranked Cornell, I thought Tuesday’s contest had the potential to be great.

Instead, I left the Palestra feeling empty.

While Penn managed to hang with the Tigers all night, the 221st installment of the basketball rivalry lacked all semblance of excitement.

It was a night with no new story lines. The Quakers once again dug themselves into a hole early, shot below par from the field and failed to mount a comeback down the stretch.

The Tigers jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the initial seven and a half minutes of play, leaving the semi-crowded student section — which was artificially inflated due to the game being a designated Feb Club event — with virtually nothing to cheer about.

The Quakers managed only 22 points in the first half on 8-for-25 from the field and 1-for-9 from the three point range.

Those figures sound more like they came from a high-school team rather than a Division I program, with a storied basketball tradition.

And it was the same story in the second half.

While Penn never let its deficit grow past nine, the team only pulled within three points once — and that lasted for 37 seconds — before Princeton rattled off five unanswered points to put the game away.

Perhaps even more telling was that Zack Rosen, the Quakers leading scorer, netted seven of his 15 points from the charity stripe, and shot 3-for-13 overall from the field.

Not exactly hair-raising stats.

The demographics of the student population are changing. It’s no secret that student interests have diversified since the days of the packed Palestra. With so many clubs and events on campus competing for their attention, they now need a compelling reason to want to come to games.

In order to compel students to free up three hours on a Tuesday night, an events has to be worthwhile.

And unfortunately, the former allure of Penn basketball and the past success of the program no longer holds the same sway it once did.

It’s clear that Penn’s student body wants to feel the excitement. When the Quakers finally cut the lead down to three with 6:02 to go, the action-starved Red and Blue Crew came alive.­

But when it comes down to it, students expect something more. Fifty-one total points — 15 of which were free throws — zero lead changes and only two points off of fast breaks no longer cuts it.

LAUREN PLOTNICK is a sophomore economics major from Potomac, Md., and is Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. She can be contacted at plotnick@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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