FINAL - Penn 97, FGCU 74

Penn opens its home slate tonight against Division II Florida Gulf Coast, and the student sections are reasonably full with Red and Blue Crew members in brand new T-shirts. They have reason to expect a good show. FGCU is a year away from the move to D-I and just a few days removed from a 73-37 whooping at the hands of Drexel. Check out a preview here, and refresh this page for updates.

FINAL Penn 97, FGCU 74

Terrible. FGCU runs out the remaining time instead of playing hard. No cheesesteaks tonight, but Penn had enough flashes of brilliance to take something away from this one. Up next: Drexel on Tuesday, a much more familiar opponent.

:27 Penn 97, FGCU 74

Grandieri hits two free throws! A three-pointer will do it. The crowd is going nuts.

:27 Penn 95, FGCU 74

It's all over. Grandieri hits a layup and Zoller a mid-range jumper. It's just a matter of time. The one remaining question: Cheesesteaks?

Jaaber goes a long way towards that end, throwing down a monster dunk. But it's gonna be close.

4:20: Penn 82, FGCU 71

Danley has fouled out of the game, but Zoller has been stepping up in a big way. He hit two free throws, another trey, and a layup.

Smith has also put in his share tonight too, but has been maddeningly inconsistent. He missed a wide-open layup after a perfect entry pass, but on the next possession he split two defenders to score and then makes a nifty pass to Brennan Votel in the key, which helps restore the lead to double digits.

7:51: Penn 72, FGCU 58

The last few minutes have been an endless trip to the free-throw line for Penn, and it's paying off, apart from Cameron Lewis' four misses in a row.

Some other odds and ends:

Jaaber took it coast-to-coast for the first time tonight, and boy was it pretty. Danley also worked his way open inside and threw down a dunk. But on the next possession, he picked up his fourth foul and will ride the pine for a good while.

11:59: Penn 63, FGCU 48

Danley just corralled an offensive board and made a tough layup out of it. Penn is firmly in control for now, and FGCU already has 9 team fouls.

15:46: Penn 51, FGCU 41

This is more like it. Some nifty passing to cutters has resulted in a couple of pretty layups for Penn, and Brian Grandieri scored in the post and hit a trifecta, his first of the game.

Zoller hits a pair of free throws to put the Quakers up by 10. The five on the floor right now: Grandieri, Jaaber, Zoller, Smith, and Danley.

Halftime: Penn 39, FGCU 35

This has quickly turned into a shootout. Smith hit two more three-pointers iin a row, but FGCU answered with a pair of their own. Turnovers are still hurting Penn as they head into the locker room with a four-point lead, but getting the ball inside has helped open up some shots. We'll see if Penn can make this lead a little more comfortable.

2:40: Penn 33, FGCU 25

That was quick. Freshman Darren Smith hits back-to-back threes and Kevin Egee hits another on the next possession.

Meanwhile, although 5-6 guard Cecil Avant has been giving Penn all sorts of trouble, his teammates aren't backing him up all of a sudden.

7:04: Penn 20, FGCU 19

Calm down, Penn. The Eagles picked off a couple of passes and took them to the house, to go along with plenty of points at the free-throw line. Penn is scoring in transition well too, just not often enough. Airballs by Aron Cohen and Justin Reilly won't help.

My friend Jason Ginsberg, the head of the Red and Blue Crew, told me yesterday that he was having trouble coming up with rollout ideas, but the first one isn't half bad: "FGCU, Thanks for making us Penn's 2nd worst opponent. --Dartmouth." Funny, but the Quakers heven't proved that statement correct just yet.

11:50: Penn 13, FGCU 8

The Eagles are going to have to get better shots. Forward Landon Adler tried his best Mark Zoller impression on a baseline drive and got rejected by no fewer than two Penn players. Ibrahim Jaaber, who was honored in a brief ceremony before the game for passing the 1000-point mark, has been making life miserable for whoever has the ball in their hands for the Eagles.

But Penn has also played a bit sloppy, with Zoller and Brennan Votel each with an offensive foul to his name. The Quakers have five overall, in addition to a couple of ugly turnovers. No need for that.

Jaaber just scored in transition and was fouled. He will go to the line when this timeout ends.

15:46: Penn 11, FGCU 6

After Tommy McMahon was wide open under the basket for yet another fast-break layup, Eagles coach Dave Balza was forced to call a timeout. FGCU's Casey Whollheb opened the scoring with a reverse layup, but Penn soon went on a 9-0 run to open up an early lead.

The Eagles have shown a full-court press, but Penn has had little trouble working through it so far.