Three Up, Three Down: Yale Edition

Coming off back-to-back wins against Harvard last Saturday and at Brown last night, the Quakers go for their third consecutive conference victory tonight when they visit Yale. Who's up and who's down as we head into Yale?

Three Up-

Tony Hicks: The freshman guard has been outstanding of late, capturing two consecutive Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards. Hicks averaged 23.8 points per game in the four contests leading up to last night's matchup against Brown. While the Bears were able to limit Hicks to only five points, on 1-for-9 shooting no less, expect Hicks to bounce back nicely tonight against the Bulldogs. The freshman scored 11 points in the first meeting between Penn and Yale on Feb. 8. If Hicks wants to pick up his masterful play against the Ivy League, he will need to limit his turnovers and look for opportunities to get easy points at the free throw line.

Upsets: While the Ivy season developed as most expected it to in January and February, the madness of March has hit the Ancient Eight. On back-to-back weekends, the two teams leading the pack, Harvard and Princeton, were upset by Penn and Yale, respectively. Though the Quakers and Bulldogs have both been eliminated from contention for the Ivy League crown, both have stepped up lately to salvage big wins for their programs and play spoiler. Even though tonight's game may seem like a routine conference matchup, if the past few weeks have taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected.

Penn's defense: The Quakers lead the Ivy League in field-goal percentage defense against conference opponents. In 12 Ancient Eight contests this season, the Red and Blue have allowed scores on only 39.9 percent of their opponents' field goal attempts. Last night against Brown, the Bears did make 42 percent of their shots but were limited to 45 attempts. In the previous matchup between the Quakers and Bulldogs, Yale was limited to 34 percent shooting yet still prevailed at the Palestra. If Penn wants to extend its winning streak, it will need pressure defense and solid rebounding to steal one in New Haven.

Three Down-

Foul trouble: Penn committed 31 fouls in its first matchup with Yale on Feb. 8, and two starters, Henry Brooks and Tony Hicks, fouled out. The fouling trend has dominated Penn's season, as the Quakers consistently commit more fouls than their opponents. Last night against Brown, the Red and Blue were whistled for 18 personal fouls, five more than the Bears. Tonight, the Quakers, especially their starters, need to limit their fouls if they want to move over .500 in conference play.

Darien Nelson-Henry: The tallest player on Penn's roster, Nelson-Henry needs to make his presence known inside against the Bulldogs. Without Fran Dougherty in the lineup, Nelson-Henry is essentially the only interior presence the Quakers have. While Nelson-Henry averaged 6.2 rebounds per game in the 14 contests entering last night's matchup with Brown, the big man only snatched two boards for the Quakers. The 6-foot-11 center only scored four points last night, marking the sixth time in his last eight games that Nelson-Henry has scored in single-digits.

Free throws: For the Quakers, the only thing that matters is free throws. While Miles Cartwright sealed last night's victory over Brown with two shots from the charity stripe, the Red and Blue cannot win when they shoot limited foul shots. The Quakers only took nine free throws last night, a recipe for disaster in most contests. Penn can easily move into sole possession of third-place in the Ivy League tonight if it gets to the line more than Yale.