The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Penn basketball vs. Princeton

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Well, that was unexpected.

The Quakers (3-10, 1-0 Ivy) managed to stun the Tigers (11-3, 0-1) —who had previously been dreaming of a potential NCAA Tournament at-large bid — in their Ivy opener, 77-74 .

But a dominant frontcourt performance by Darien Nelson-Henry and Fran Dougherty here, some big time free throws by Jamal Lewis to lift a backcourt depleted by foul trouble and injuries there, all mixed with some surprisingly effective shooting... and the Red and Blue had managed to crush Princeton's at-large dreams and erase the memories of ugly losses to La Salle, Rider, and Marist.

The Good: Darien Nelson-Henry's performance

Welcome back. Receiving his first action in over a month after suffering a concussion, the 6-foot-11 sophomore played like he hadn't missed a moment, scoring 17 points on 6-12 shooting, collecting eight rebounds and earning himself a new nickname from coach Jerome Allen: "The Big Hyphen." No Tiger could contain DNH on the block. Not Will Barrett. Not Hans Brase. As Princeton coach Mitch Henderson put succinctly: "He killed us."

The Bad: Unforced Penn errors. Again.

Some things never change. In what was Penn's best played game of the year, an old foe nearly did the Red and Blue in when it mattered most. The Red and Blue turned the ball over 18 times, including a string of three consecutive possessions that ended with turnovers that allowed the Tigers to tie the game at 71 late in the second half. Allen was adamant about Penn's need to improve after the game, saying : "Some things just blow my mind, the unforced errors."

The Ugly: Not gonna find that here.

Aside from the turnovers, it was hard to find a flaw in Penn's game Saturday night. The rebounding margin? In Penn's favor, by a 42-25 margin. Fouls? Tony Hicks fouled out, but all of Penn's bigs managed to stay in the game and tear apart the Tigers on the low block again and again. Offensive efficiency? The Red and Blue shot 49.1% from the floor. Simply put, this was the Quakers' most complete game of the year, a truly impressive performance against an elite Ivy team coming at a time when the team could just as easily have folded and packed it in for the rest of the season after a dreadful nonconference slate.