Three Up, Three Down: Yale Edition

The past week has been full of ups and downs for the Quakers - an upset win over Columbia to a disappointing defeat to Cornell to the reemergence of Miles Cartwright to the likely season-ending injury to Fran Doughterty. Here are some predictions for the ups and downs likely to happen when Penn takes on the Yale Bulldogs on Friday at the Palestra:

Three Up-

Jerome Allen: If there was ever a time for coach Allen to step up, this weekend is it. Allen has been criticized often this season for his team’s lack of discipline and costly mistakes, but he has the chance to prove his doubters wrong if he can pull off a victory or two this weekend without Fran Dougherty and Steve Rennard.

Patrick Lucas-Perry: Over the season, the diminutive sophomore guard has slowly but surely made his claim to be a more integral piece in coach Allen’s plans. The Penn offense needs a spark from somewhere, which is exactly what PLP can provide. His fantastic three-point shooting cannot be ignored, and PLP should at the very least be the Quakers’ first option off the bench.

Camryn Crocker: The sophomore guard has put together a string of solid performances (25 assists to just seven turnovers in his past eight games) to prove that he should be Penn’s main ball handler. Against Cornell, Crocker put together his best game of the season (six assists to only one turnover), and was a great example of the kind of composure that the team needs right now.

Three Down-

Penn assists: Against Cornell, the Quakers dished out a season-high 24 assists. That number should come way down on Friday, as Yale only allows its opponents half of that (12.0 assists per game). Also, with two of their leaders in Fran and Rennard out, the Red and Blue will likely have scoring troubles.

Jamal Lewis: Through the end of December, Lewis looked like he had firmly established himself in the starting lineup for the Quakers. However, his recent scoring slump and tendency to turn the ball over resulted in fewer and fewer minutes for the freshman guard. The emergence of players like PLP, Hicks and Crocker has contributed to this decline, and Lewis remarkably went from starting last Friday versus Columbia to not playing at all Saturday against Cornell.

Penn rebounding: One of the main weaknesses of Allen’s team this season has been the lack of presence on the boards. The Quakers have been consistently outmatched in the rebounding category, currently holding an abysmal rebounding margin of -4.7 on the year. That weakness should be exposed by the Bulldogs, who lead the Ivy League in rebounding margin (+3.5).