That was fun.
On Monday, Penn men’s basketball took down Saint Joseph’s 83-74 to notch the Quakers’ first win in Big 5 pod play. The Hawks had no answer for Penn senior guard/forward Ethan Roberts down the stretch. Roberts notched 24 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, scoring with ease.
“It was just a fun experience, probably my favorite college game ever,” Roberts said after the game. “I love this team so much, and it almost brings me to tears how special this place is to me.”
Going into Friday’s contest at Drexel, Penn controls its own destiny. If the Quakers get the win, they will advance to the championship game in the Big 5 Classic.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. Like I did last week, I’m back to break down some of the overreactions from Penn’s electric win over St. Joe’s.
TJ Power has arrived.
Overreaction: No.
Start spreading the news.
Junior forward TJ Power did a lot of waiting, moving from bad situation to bad situation, but now he has arrived and is playing to his potential.
The former five-star high school recruit took over in the first half, recording 18 of his career-high 23 points in Penn’s first frame. While Roberts took over in the second half, Power did not disappear, helping seal the game with a game-winning block in the final seconds of the matchup. He also corralled a game-high 15 rebounds.
I have now watched Power play live for a third time (and once on a laggy ESPN+ stream), and the 6-foot-9 forward does not move like other Ivy League bigs. His movements are fluid. In a conference chock-full of stiff post play and power forwards who struggle to create, Power is an anomaly.
This team has an edge that last year’s didn’t.
Overreaction: No.
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Penn men’s basketball earns first win over St. Joe’s since ’19, besting former coach Donahue
Smith | Overreactions from the first weekend of Penn men’s basketball
I’m not at practice day in and day out, so I can’t tell you why Penn is playing more inspired basketball than last year.
It could be new coach Fran McCaffery, the rest of his coaching staff, or the team’s six new players. It could even be the team’s new brand of basketball — a fast-paced, guns-blazing offense paired with a swarming press defense.
Whatever it is, it’s apparent this team is playing with emotion. Of course, the shoving match following the Hawks’ busted final play is the clearest example of this. Sophomore guard AJ Levine and Power played into the audience’s reaction quite a bit, egging on the Palestra crowd and waving “goodbye” to St. Joe’s.
Penn needs more from guys not named “TJ” or “Ethan.”
Overreaction: Yes.
This is one of my least favorite takes I’ve seen, because it’s not even an overreaction — it’s just wrong.
If you are saying this, I doubt you have been keeping up with Penn before Big 5 play opened up. Before tonight, senior forward Michael Zanoni was the story for the Quakers, scoring 20 points against American and 30 against Providence. The former Mercer guard did not score on Monday as the Hawks face guarded him.
This defensive strategy, though, cleared up more room on the court for Power and Roberts to operate.
Second of all, Penn did get meaningful contributions from the rest of its roster on Monday. After struggling to start the year, Levine scored the game’s first four points and played pivotal defense down the stretch. In his first game back, senior guard Dylan Williams was a spark plug and seemed to fit right into McCaffery’s style of play. Meanwhile, senior guard Cam Thrower logged nine points and three assists.
With junior forward Augustus Gerhart continuing to struggle, freshman forward/center Dalton Scantlebury impressed again — logging eight points, two blocks, and two steals off the bench.
Donahue’s Hawks are in trouble.
Overreaction: Yes.
If the fan base of any team tends to overreact, it’s St. Joe’s.
That’s not a shot. Most of my downtime (to the dismay of my family and friends) is devoted to mindlessly scrolling “Hawks Twitter,” especially since former Penn coach Steve Donahue was promoted to head coach at Hawk Hill.
Now, the same fan base that quickly fell in love with Donahue seems ready to burn it all down after a close Big 5 loss. I’m not in the position to tell fans what to think, and of course, not to expect them to support mediocre or losing basketball.
What I am going to point out, though, which the Hawks’ fan base already knows, is that Donahue inherited a team that is significantly less talented than last year’s. To make matters worse, after former St. Joe’s coach Billy Lange’s shocking departure, Donahue had just over two months heading the program.
On the other side, as this column has hopefully made clear, Penn is a better team than it was last year. It was never going to be another 86-69 drubbing.
CONOR SMITH is a College senior from Mount Royal, N.J. studying communication. He currently serves as deputy DP Sports editor. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.
