Penn 64 - Princeton 48 FINAL

Penn 64, Princeton 48 FINAL

It wasn't Penn's best performance - 12 turnovers to 11 assists and a fair defensive effort ... but it was more than enough to beat Princeton by a comfortable margin. The 17-for-21 from the line and +7 rebounding margin both look good though heading into the Tournament.

Penn 64, Princeton 48 :14 2nd Half

All the subs come in for both teams. Gill, Cohen, Lewis, Franklin, Schreiber.

Franklin airballs a three from the side. It looked good -- from three feet closer in.

Princeton going for the safety school chant. Not sure who chucks up more threes, Cohen or Franklin, but they each are 0-1 tonight.

Penn 64, Princeton 44 1:30 2nd Half

The student section thrilled to see Justin Conway in on senior day. He's not got any minutes so far, and due to injury hasn't practiced all week.

Penn 64, Princeton 43 3:18 2nd Half

Jaaber an acrobatic layup, that could have been an and-1.

Danley played two minutes in the first half, and hasn't been back in. Word is that his back has tightened up, and Glen Miller's not going to push him tonight.

Man, this game feels long.

Penn 62, Princeton 41 4:37 2nd Half

Penn hasn't scored in over a minute, and the student section starts getting into it a little. The few Penn fans starting to give a few responses, "you're down 20", "last place" and "stop your whining" in response to a response to a foul call.

Buczac hits a layup, why isn't he playing much? O right, he's six inches taller than me (6-9) and only 10 pounds heavier (205). Zoller's arm is the same size as his leg.

Penn 54, Princeton 37 7:36 2nd Half

A tip in attempt each from Jaaber and Grandieri doesn't go, and Grandieri gets fouled but misses the free throw.

McMahon playing some defense, stuffing Schroeder on a short J, subsequently forcing a second shot-clock violation.

Penn 54, Princeton 37 8:35 2nd Half

The 2-3 zone really isn't doing very much good, as Jaaber waltzes in baseline and gets fouled, making both on the 1-and-1.

Strittmatter takes a nice inbounds pass for an and-1. Gunn splits the defense with a great pass to Finley (who beat Reilly backdoor).

Princeton gets a taste of its own medicine as Zoller goes backdoor for yet another layin. On the other end, Egee finally gets a hand in a three-point shooter's face, and it's way off. Savage drains a wide open one short after though. Jaaber was the closest to him, and he was some five feet away. Still, the Tigers have a long, long, way to go.

Penn 48, Princeton 28 11:48 2nd Half

An offensive board for Princeton. Of course on a long rebound.

The Penn transition game is way too much for the Tigers, as Grandieri hits a layup. You don't expect much transition in a matchup with the Tigers, but Penn has done fairly well pushing the rock.

A Jaaber steal and a pass under the basket from Egee to Reilly makes it a 20-point game.
The 25-person Princeton student section proclaims Reilly needs a haircut. They should know.

Thanks to Steuerer, we've got uncontested layup #5. As you can see from the last two posts, Penn's on a 10-2 run.

Penn 38, Princeton 26 15:22 2nd Half

Gunn drains a three over Smith, but Zoller's layin makes it 30-20.

Princeton's matchup zone is still going, but Smith and Zoller get two hard layups against it.

Owings hits a nice hook off of a post-up, but the PA announcer credits it to Finley. All these guys look alike.

Zoller is heating up. He gets trapped under the basket, but powers his way to an and-1.

Penn 28, Princeton 17 HALFTIME

Finley notches the fourth missed uncontested layup. A left hand is a little too much to handle.

Zoller (getting taunted by the slim Princeton crowd, which seems to be purposely mis-pronouncing his name) is having a rough half. He gets caught with the shot clock running down, and gets called for a violation. The Orange and Black miss at the halftime buzzer.

STATS

Zoller leads the Quakers with seven points, while Jaaber and Smith each have six. Savage's two threes lead the home side with six points.
Jaaber has three steals, but also only two assists and two turnovers. The Tigers have four assists, and all of them are from Schroeder. They'd have more if they'd gotten here earlier for layup lines.
The Quakers are out-rebounding their opponents 17-8, with only four of the game's 25 boards coming on the offensive end.

Penn 28, Princeton 17 1:33 1st Half

Jaaber finally gets a rest, and Egee's man subsequently gets open for a layup. Yes, he made it this time.

McMahon hits a contested three, and it's eleven, he's got five. Zoller follows with an airball, but Grandieri pulls down an offensive rebound amongst the trees.

Penn 25, Princeton 15 3:41 1st Half

Jaaber's now taking over. He turns a steal off of a bad pass from Michael Strittmatter into a dunk, then gets another steal and turns it into two, and then rejects Schroeder on the next possession.

Jaaber won't stop the abuse as he hits Smith off of an inbounds pass for an easy layin. Owings keeps it at a double-digit deficit with a missed layup that was way off. So far I've counted three uncontested layups Princeton has missed, and total layup bricks must be well over five by now.

Penn 19, Princeton 15 6:41 1st Half

Zoller can't get out on a three, but fortunately for him Savage can't get it to go. Jaaber gets a layup to go to extend the lead to three, and then another to make it five. Penn only has hit one jumpshot so far, by Zoller on a fade.

Savage then hits a trey in Egee's grill as the shot clock winds down. Not bad defense, just a nice hit.

Lincoln Gunn gets a pass backdoor but Zoller's right there to help, so he decides to just throw the ball out of bounds.

Gunn comes back with one from deep. The Tigers are now burning Penn from downtown, and it's not just Savage doing the damage.

Tommy McMahon, now in the game, follows an earlier layup by getting his left-hand attempt rejected by 6-9 205-pound freshman center Pawel Buczak.

Jaaber is really saving the Red and Blue by getting to the basket with regularity.

Penn 8, Princeton 7 11:57 1st Half

Shot clock violation count: 1
Finley, though makes up for it with a sweet hook.

Tigers go into a zone, looks like one of the matchup variety. With 13:20 on the clock the Quakers get their first foul, to Grandieri. Aka none yet to Zoller.

Savage nails a three to get within one. Just as I say this Zoller gets whistled for a foul.

Penn 8, Princeton 2 15:44 1st Half

Finley starts off the scoring for the Tigers, after a few missed shots by each team, but Zoller quickly ties it. Finley misses another wide open layup for Princeton.

Danley has already been pulled in favor of Brennan Votel. With a little more athleticism in defense following a few lapses, Jaaber deflects a pass that head the other way in transition for a Smith layup.

Both teams seem to be in a man defense, though Penn isn't doing its usual switching off of screens. This means the Red and Blue will let Princeton fire away from deep and try to protect against the backdoor cuts. Probably a smart decision.

_______________

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Welcome to Jadwin Gym, it's about 20 degrees outside so it's nice to be indoors.

The Quakers go for their 13th conference win and try to sure up their NCAA Tournament resume against the disappointing 2-11 Tigers.

Starters:

Penn

G Ibrahim Jaaber 36.9 mpg
G Darren Smith 13.8 mpg
G Brian Grandieri 31.5 mpg
F Mark Zoller 31.0 mpg
F Stephen Danley 29.1 mpg

Princeton

G Marcus Schroeder 38.9 mpg
G Lincoln Gunn 32.4 mpg
F Luke Owings 18.8 mpg
F Kevin Steurer 14.7 mpg
C Zach Finley 12.0 mpg