Penn Basketball drops Allen's final game

For once Jerome Allen wasn’t dressed in his trademark Italian threads. Instead, as he graced the sidelines for one final time as the head coach of Penn men’s basketball, he donned his old varsity sweater.

Allen led the Quakers on to the court in his maroon top, with a navy block “P” in the center, excited for the team’s matchup. His team accompanied him with a wardrobe change of their own: plain blue shirts with their coach’s old “53” pasted to the backs.

Unfortunately for the Red and Blue, a change in clothing did not lead to a wildly different result against Princeton on Tuesday, as Penn fell to the Tigers, 73-52.

After the game, Allen said he was not expecting the warm response that arrived from both his players and a sympathetic crowd.

“If I would have known or if I had my choice I definitely would not have let them wear those shirts,” Allen said after expressing the gratitude he had for the gesture.

But the Quakers (9-19, 4-10 Ivy) clearly wanted to send a message about the appreciation they had for their coach. Allen reciprocated with kind words for his team after the game, most notably the freshmen.

“I think Antonio Woods played the best out of any freshman this season. Sam Jones is, if not the best, one of the best shooters in this league. Darnell [Foreman] fights, Mike Auger fights,” he said of his rookie class.

And the beginning of the game featured that rookie class prominently. The squad burst out of the gate with two deep triples courtesy of none other than Jones and junior guard Tony Hicks.

But Penn’s eight straight points to start the game proved to be its largest lead and only momentum of the contest.

From there, things turned quickly for the Quakers, who had trouble controlling the ball and getting shots to sink.

Seniors Cam Crocker and Greg Louis snuck into the starting lineup in their final games as Penn athletes. However, they were unable to boost Penn’s chances against a superior Princeton squad (16-14, 9-5), who would at one point lead the Quakers by as much as 27.

While Penn only trailed the Tigers by six at the half, an 11:30 field goal drought at the start of the second half squandered any hope of a third-straight upset for Allen’s young group.

Thus, it turned out to be a night to forget for the Red and Blue, who dropped their 19th game of the season Tuesday on Senior Night.

One highlight that Penn did put together was the product of sophomore Matt Howard’s high-flying athleticism. The guard provided the oop to freshman Antonio Woods’ alley on an explosive dunk that brought the Red and Blue faithful to their feet towards the end of the first half.

Unfortunately for the Quakers, Tuesday night’s rivalry game featured few other notable plays. As a result, Allen’s final game was more about him than his team.

But, heading into the matchup Allen had tried to block out the ongoing distractions.

“My faith in God was the only thing that was able to allow me to keep my peace and keep me smiling and keep my posture right,” Allen said about rumors and conversations that played out over the season before adding that, “The chatter outside of the 94x52 that I control, I didn’t allow it to affect my posture or my belief.”

Allen, who attended the press conference alone, spoke fondly about what he anticipates will be a bright future for the inexperienced Quakers.

“They’re on their way,” he said, “At the end of the day I said we always challenge ourselves to leave it better than we found it and not throw anybody under the bus or name names but I changed the culture.”

As time ran out on the Quakers, Allen saw his time at Penn click down as well. When the clock hit zero and after handshakes were exchanged, Allen walked off of the court briskly, without taking time to soak in the Palestra atmosphere.

However, he couldn’t avoid a smile when he locked eyes with a few faithful fans who were cheering his name as he exited the court.

“This has been awesome,” Allen stated.

Allen’s squad may have fallen flat during his final game at the helm, but he stood tall as the band played him off to ‘The Red and Blue” one last time.

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