Game 18: at Cornell — The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

For the first time since 2007, the Quakers were able to pull off a victory in Ithaca. With the win, the Red and Blue have begun their Ivy season 2-0 for the second consecutive year, but this time the first two wins came on the tough New York road trip.

THE GOOD: Penn’s stifling defense. From the tip, Penn took away Cornell’s best scorers — Drew Ferry and Chris Wroblewski were limited to eight and four points, respectively. The Big Red never got going offensively. The Quakers forced Cornell to take tough shots, resulting in 38 percent shooting from the field for the Big Red, including 18 percent from beyond the arc. The Penn 'D' forced 12 turnovers, resulting in 17 points. After the game, Coach Allen — always a tough critic on defensive play — praised his team’s effort. “A credit to those guys and their commitment to playing with one another," he said.

ALSO GOOD: Penn’s last play of the first half. With 2.6 seconds on the clock, the inbound went to Zack Rosen, who was double-teamed by the Big Red (shocker!), but Rosen was able to get just enough separation from the defenders to find a wide open Steve Rennard at the three-point line. Rennard got off the shot just in time — and nailed it — giving the Quakers all the momentum going into the half.

THE BAD: Miles Cartwright fouling out. The Quakers are at their best when their three top scorers have it going offensively, and that’s not possible if they’re not all out on the court. Cartwright took a couple weak fouls and has to be smarter about his aggressiveness. He also choked up the ball a few too many times, with three turnovers in just 24 minutes.

THE UGLY: Penn at the charity stripe. 8-for-15 from the free throw line isn’t going to help you win too many close ballgames. Luckily for the Quakers, they had this one well in hand. But when it comes time to play the likes of Harvard and Yale, they’ll need every point they can get. The Red and Blue nearly shot better from beyond the arc (50 percent) than they did from the line (53 percent). Cornell struggled as well, hitting only 13-of-24 (54 percent) free throws.