Penn is ringing in the New Year with a win.
On Wednesday, Penn men’s basketball defeated NJIT 80-61 in the team’s last non-conference game before an all-Ivy slate the rest of the way. The Quakers were down six players on Wednesday, but they were able to get it done behind the heroics of senior guard Michael Zanoni and sophomore point guard AJ Levine.
Zanoni scored a team-high 23 points while Levine acted as a spark in the second half, powering a commanding 17-0 run to start the final 20. Levine ended with a career-high 19 points, four assists, five rebounds, and seven steals.
“[I was] just being aggressive knowing that I could shoot the ball, and being confident in myself,” Levine said. “There's a lot of times where I pass up shots because I'm not confident in myself, but I know I can shoot, I know I can score. [It’s about] just having the guts to do it.”
Here’s what we saw from Penn’s final game of non-conference play:
Six out for Penn
On Wednesday, a lot of the focus was on who was not on the court for the Quakers.
After suffering an undisclosed injury against Villanova in the Toyota Big 5 Classic, senior guard and forward Ethan Roberts missed his fourth consecutive game. Through nine games played, Roberts is averaging a team-high 18 points per game.
Roberts was not alone. Freshman center Dalton Scantlebury, freshman guard Payton Kamin, and senior guards Cam Thrower and Dylan Williams were also out. Additionally, freshman guard Ryan Altman, who has not made his debut due to injury, continued to sit.
Coach Fran McCaffrey declined to comment on the nature or extent of any of the injuries.
Zanoni picks up where he left off
Against George Mason on Sunday, Zanoni scored a team-high 23 points for what was his third 20-point outing of the season. He picked up his fourth on Wednesday, and it started early.
With just under seven minutes to go in the first, Zanoni converted a turnaround fadeaway jumper on the baseline for two, tying the game 24-24. Zanoni, who is known for his elite spot-up shooting, has routinely created for himself this season.
With the plethora of injuries, a lot of emphasis on offense was placed on Zanoni and junior forward TJ Power – who ended with 13 points, five assists, and 11 rebounds.
“It causes guys like TJ and I to be more aggressive,” Zanoni commented on Penn’s six inactive players looking to score but also create. I think our guys stepped up and scored the ball well. AJ [Levine] had a career night, so that was good to see.”
NJIT point guard David Bolden was the story early for the Highlanders. The stocky, 6-foot point guard came into today’s matchup averaging a team-high 11.4 points per game. Through the game’s first 10 minutes, he had already logged 10.
Levine, who was Bolden’s primary defender for the majority of the game, was able to prevent Bolden from converting another bucket in the first half. He finished with 18 points.
“He’s a good player, but he was talking trash, and I don't really go for that,” Levine said about Bolden. “If someone's gonna talk trash to me, I'm gonna work even harder to make sure he doesn't do anything, especially because he's a freshman. I just had to put him in his place a little bit. But I think he's a good player, and I like his fire.”
The Quakers ended the first half with two consecutive three-pointers which gave them a 35-33 lead going into the locker room.
Strong start to the second
After sputtering to start, Penn carried their end-of-half momentum right into the second.
After NJIT got on the scoreboard first to start the second, Levine found Zanoni with a bounce pass to the corner. Zanoni promptly hit a corner three. On Penn’s next two possessions, the Quakers scored two more times from beyond — one courtesy of sophomore forward Lucas Lueth and the other from Levine.
Levine poured it on after a Highlander timeout, scoring another three followed by a steal-turned-layup. Penn scored once more off a Zanoni three-pointer before NJIT put an end to Penn’s 17-0 scoring run — the longest of the season for the Quakers.
After trailing for the majority of the first half, Penn now led 52-37 with just over 14 minutes to go.
“I thought it was a result of our defense. We started getting some consecutive stops, and our ball movement wasn't bad in the first half, but it was way better in the second half,” McCaffery said.
From there, Penn was able to run away with the game with little cause for concern. McCaffery kept his starters in until the final whistle, to the excitement of the Palestra crowd.
Penn will look to break their 13-game losing streak to Princeton on Monday in the team’s first Ivy matchup.
