In-game updates after the jump.
Good evening from West Long Branch, N.J.'s Boylan Gym, where Penn and Monmouth face off tonight. Penn has never lost to the Hawks (2-5) in two meeting and boasts an 11-0 all-time mark against the Northeast Conference. Check out a preview of the game here, and refresh this page throughout the evening for updates.
50.1, Second half, Penn 62 Monmouth 51: Reilly hit one of two and Grandieri two of two from the line, which should just about ice things.
1:22, Second half, Penn 59 Monmouth 51: Penn took control of this game on a crucial sequence. Eggleston committed his fourth foul, but the Hawks' Alex Nunner missed the front end of the one-and-one. On the other end, Grandieri moved off his man and sank an easy layup. Monmouth could be in foul mode soon.
2:25, Second half, Penn 57 Monmouth 51: Cohen hit a BIG three and Eggleston made two fouls shots. In between, Turley made a big play by drawing an offensive foul call. His reward? Being subbed out for Reilly, who has been getting destroyed on defense all night.
4:59, Second half, Penn 51 Monmouth 47: Grandieri pulls a signature Grandieri move, tipping in his own miss among a scrum of bodies several inches taller than he is. Not sure how he does that so often, but it's a sight to see.
6:44, Second half, Penn 49 Monmouth 47: Some more nice isolation moves in the post by Reilly, but he continues to get hammered on defense. And I'm not sure how he keeps hitting these six-footers, it's the same move -- a power step to his left and a turnaround -- every time. Gotta get some variety in there, kid. A pretty reverse layup by Eggleston ensures that Monmouth doesn't retake the lead for the moment.
10:27, Second half, Penn 42 Monmouth 40: Great job by Bernardini to pick up his team. He got out ahead of the pack for transition layups on two straight possessions. Penn has a lead for the first time since early in the first half.
12:05, Second half, Monmouth 40 Penn 38: Youngblood just confirmed the obvious -- a matchup with Eggleston is going to favor the Hawks. His blow-by gives them a four-point lead, but Eggleston gets to the line and makes both to bring the margin back to two. Penn continues to struggle feeding the post, just like they did against North Carolina.
14:40, Second half, Monmouth 38 Penn 36: Grandieri continues his hot shooting and is now 7-8 from the floor by my unofficial count. Turley had been doing alright but just drew the ire of his coach for taking a step-back jumper from just inside the arc. Neither team has shot well in the last few minutes, although the chances have been there on both sides.
18:46, Second half, Monmouth 36 Penn 32: The Hawks came out with a much smaller lineup after the break, and so far they've been running circles around Penn. Eggleston picked up his third foul and Turley replaced him.
HALFTIME, Monmouth 34 Penn 30: I can see what Grandieri was talking about when he said on Tuesday that the Quakers have a tendency to follow the ball once it goes up. Twice in the last couple of minutes it's hurt them -- they've left someone open under the basket to score the second the Hawks grab an offensive rebound. Cohen was forced to jack up a contested three -- how many times have I heard myself say that this year -- to end the half, and Miller was furious.
Halftime stats:
Field goals: Penn 12-23, Monmouth 14-25
Three-pointers: 3-7 for each team.
Free throws: Penn 3-6 (bad), Monmouth 3-9 (worse)
Cohen played 17 minutes in the half -- over three times those of usual starter Harrison Gaines (5) and more than his per-game average of 16. Grandieri leads Penn with 11 points and hasn't missed a field goal yet.
For the Hawks, Youngblood has been a one-man wrecking crew, with 13 points and four steals.
2:16 First half, Monmouth 30 Penn 26: The Quakers really squandered a chance to tie things up. Schreiber missed two from the line and a Grandieri foul negated what would have been a bucket for Turley. Monmouth is looking good, especially on offense.
4:40 First half, Monmouth 24 Penn 22: Reilly took a step towards redemption after guessing wrong on defense and giving up an easy layup; he drained a short jumper on a pass from -- guess who -- Conor Turley, who looked shocked when Miller called his number. It's Turley, Bernardini, Cohen, Kach and Reilly for Penn.
6:35 First half, Monmouth 21 Penn 20: Schrieber just got himself yanked for turning the ball over on an overly ambitious entry pass. Youngblood hit a step-back three, and Penn has been turning the ball over. They're in a man defense after misses and a zone after makes. The Hawks seem to be drawing fouls every time they get the ball inside, and Penn has 5 team fouls.
9:18 First half, Penn 16 Monmouth 13: Kach hit a three and Schreiber made two free throws to put Penn back on top by five. Monmouth's Whitney Jhamar Youngblood has been all over the place so far. He just scored after working his way open on an inbounds and forced a Gaines turnover to give Monmouth some momentum back. Cohen, Reilly, Kach, Schreiber and Grandieri in for the Quakers. Penn is in a man defense, while the Hawks have been having moderate success with a full-court press.
12:24 First half, Penn 11 Monmouth 9: Cohen and Gaines each misfired offensively -- Cohen got himself trapped driving baseline and Gaines rimmed out a 15-foot pull-up. Kach hit one of two free throws, but the Hawks are making some shots. Still, they've mostly come on isolation plays, and Penn is still in control despite a small lead.
14:21 First half, Penn 10 Monmouth 5: Now the Quakers have Cohen, Gaines, Reilly, Kach and Andreas Schrieber in. Very odd to see both Cohen and Gaines in the game.
15:21 First half, Penn 10, Monmouth 2: Grandieri drove and dished for a shot-clock beating three by Bernardini, Eggleston found Grandieri under the basket for an easy layup, and Grandieri hit an open three. Both sides have been using a zone so far, but the Quakers are moving the ball far better.
Michael Kach enters for Penn, replacing Grandieri.
A surprise when the starting lineups are announced -- Aron Cohen is making his second start of the year, having supplanted Harrison Gaines for the moment: The Quakers have Cohen, Tyler Bernardini, Brian Grandieri, Justin Reilly and Jack Eggleston on the floor to start.
While the recap told the tale of Penn getting blown away, I was really impressed with the way the Quakers fought last night against No. 1 North Carolina. For a team that lost to Howard and Drexel at home, Lafayette, Sacred Heart and Colgate in scrimmages, and started the game against Villanova down 28-4, being down 27-24 a third of the way through the game (7:30 left) against the best college basketball team in the United States, that's just about all you can ask for.
The final score wasn't that horrible, even though Roy Williams didn't put the scrubs in until they were up by 39 with 2:31 left, and Williams was coaching hard the enitre time, yelling at his players to play defense in the middle of the half up by 30.
Penn's offense looked miles ahead of any other performance this year, I haven't seen guys cutting anywhere near hard as they did against UNC, and Tyler Bernardini was unreal.
Still, they certainly have a whole lot to learn from this game. The entry passes were still atrocious, the passing along the perimeter was terrible, the transition defense leaves a lot to be desired and Penn still can't rebound.
The boxing out factor I would say is the biggest negative coming from this game. In Penn's last two games now the opponent has grabbed more boards on the offensive glass (41) than Penn has on the defensive end (39). This could be a real concern come time for Ivy play, especially against a team like Columbia with two good big men, or Cornell who sends quick guards to the glass.
In other random notes, the celebrities were out in full last night. Not only was Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell at (what I believe is) his sixth-straight home of the year, Amy Gutman finally made an appearance, La Salle grad and the best college basketball announcer Bill Raftery called the game for ESPN and of course, so was Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson. It was a nice crowd, but last year's game at the Dean Dome featured Presidential candidate and Chapel Hill grad John Edwards. Although until he wins, the Guv is more important.
When Josh Wheeling, who covered last year's game at UNC, told me about how coach Roy Williams had a habit of chastising reporters, I had my doubts. I figured it was just because someone had asked a stupid question or two. After yesterday's press conference, where he did the same thing a couple of times, I think I was both right and wrong.
It had to go down as one of the silliest press conferences I've ever been to. I understand that The Almighty Palestra and The atmosphere and How did it feel to play in this great game in front of these great fans in this great city is good fodder for stories, but when every single question (save a few from the DP and the Philly papers) is about that, the game becomes less about the players than the bricks and the hardwood.
I'm in no position to say my questions were better, since I only got to jump in for three in total. And granted, there were a lot of stringers there last night. But come on. I've never felt so bad for the guys behind the mics; if you're going to put a college kid or a coach on the spot like that, ask him about something he knows about. Don't ask how much it matters what floor you play on -- because it really doesn't -- and then be surprised when he mumbles a hurried response.
So if you were wondering how the DP was able to condense a 35-minute conference into a fraction of that, there's your answer.
On to Roy Williams, who didn't exactly acquit himself well either. He knew the final score of the last time one of his teams -- Kansas, actually -- visited the Palestra; he corrected a reporter who got it wrong, which was fine and impressed me a lot. But he made a point of embarrassing one reporter for pronouncing "Tyler Hansb-o-rough" instead of the correct version, Hans-brough. 50% of the population puts the stress on the second syllable of my last name instead of the first. I got over it around age 7. As long as "Hansbrough" is what showed up on the racks this morning, who cares.
FINAL: UNC 106, Penn 71. In-game updates are after the jump.
Box score
Gill gives a great pass to Monckton, but he gets rejected on his layup. Looks like the Quakers won't reach 80 again against an ACC team. The Quakers sure looked great in the first half, for a change the second was the one that killed them. Bernardini was unreal tonight, but the Red and Blue were killed by turnovers and to an extent rebounding.
2:31, 2nd Half: Penn 65, UNC 104
Finally the subs come in for UNC, and Penn sends in Joe Gill and Dan Monckton.
Nice rollout "Do we still get cheesesteaks?"
3:50, 2nd Half: Penn 65, UNC 101
Grandieri gets an and-1 to go and the lead is 32. Roy Williams is still coaching, and UNC breaks triple-digits.
Respect to the Penn fans for not leaving, the house is still packed.
5:45, 2nd Half: Penn 62, UNC 97
Turley misses a one-and-one, and Green nails a three.
A fan behind me yells "Carolina you can run it up all you want, it won't change '79!" when Penn beat them in the NCAA Tournament.
7:41, 2nd Half: Penn 58, UNC 88
Gaines is having a rough night, misses the and-1 there. It's Lawson's fourth foul though, UNC only has six players on the bench to replace him
Remy Cofield and Conor Turley are now in the game for the first time, as Grandieri hits one from the line.
Governor Ed Rendell keeps his 100 percent attendance record up tonight, getting out of his chair once or twice to yell at the officials.
8:38, 2nd Half: Penn 57, UNC 88
Hansbrough makes Cam Lewis look silly on a turnaround fade. Bernardini makes a tough drive go down, but the lead isn't shrinking.
Ellington eludes Lewis for a sweet layup, and the lanky big man is subbed out. Bernardini is finally looking human, here with a turnover and then a missed finger roll.
Hansbrough takes a rare Green miss for an and-1. Penn can't keep marking Green with a forward - he juked the pants off of Reilly there.
11:45, 2nd Half: Penn 53, UNC 77
Ellington hits what is UNC's fist three of the game (1-for-5), but Penn turns it over twice more.
Reilly fouls Stepheson, but it looked clean to me. It seemed as if Hansbrough got fouled by three guys, but it's called a jump ball. Then the far ref overturns the call, giving him the foul.
The zebras give Penn a makeup call though, as Bernardini gets bailed out, makes 2 FTs.
Penn's in a zone, and Thompson makes it pay down low. Bernardini dives again, and gets "fouled". Hansbrough, once again, throws it down. I think I heard a "send it in!" from Bill Raftery.
14:42, 2nd Half: Penn 48, UNC 71
Roy Williams shouts at his team to run back on D, as they then give up a Bernardini three. Still, UNC always has an answer. Gaines is out, and Egee again is left as the point guard.
Williams subs a bunch. The scoring line is in for the scoring line.
15:53, 2nd Half: Penn 0, UNC 0
Penn can't inbound it again, and it's slowly getting ugly. Egee is getting a lot of minutes, now back in the game.
The Palestra is getting quiet as UNC is taking over.
16:51, 2nd Half: Penn 43, UNC 65
Gaines may start to show up now that it is the second half, as he connects on an open layup, but fouls his man who hits two from the line.
Ellington gets a mid-range J to finally go down. Bernardini actually misses a shot, but causes a travel. He went 8-for-9 in the first half, no turnovers and 16 points. The printer works and the stats are out. Penn shot 56.7 percent from the field in the first half, but had 14 turnovers. Eight players have given away the rock thus far. UNC was way ahead in the rebounding battle, grabbing 21 to Penn's 14, including 12 on the offensive glass. Hansbrough has 17 points (now 19) and six rebounds. UNC has a whopping 10 steals, Green with four.
19:20, 2nd Half: Penn 37, UNC 55
Reilly starts the second half with a missed three, and Thompson scores. The Palestra has gone silent.
The ball is loose, but Hansbrough gets it back and gets an and-1 to go.
HALFTIME: Penn 37, UNC 50
Bernardini is having the game of his life, scoring yet again on a tough jumper. Hansbrough's just a little bit better, as he sinks one going into the half.
I'll get some stats up when they pass them out.
In not as important news, Lee Stetson is here, sitting in the front row behind us. I'd interview him, but I don't read the news section, and don't know what's going on really.
1:05, 1st Half: Penn 35, UNC 48
Ellington connects on the one-and-one, and it's back to 10. Carolina presses and Penn can't handle it. Bernardini gets a transition basket real quick though. Votel makes a horrible pass, and UNC has a legit lead.
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, two more turnovers. Ugh. All without Hansbrough in, but now he's back.
Three fouls on one possession and Penn still isn;t in the bonus. Egee gets to the line on the third foul, but makes only one.
3:44, 1st Half: Penn 32, UNC 40
These Penn TOs are getting to be a major problem. Ellington finally gets a basket. Bernardini destroys Hansbrough on the drive, but Thompson keeps the lead up at 8. A turnover by Grandieri and it's up to 10 now with a Hansbrough.
Bernardini is straight up nasty, here nailing a highly-contested pull-up jumper.
Penn must have 12-15 turnovers so far, and not from aggressive backdoor cuts, by getting plucked or just making a terrible feed into the post or swing along the perimeter. There are a ton of offensive rebounds, by both teams so far, mainly by UNC though.
6:17, 1st Half: Penn 26, UNC 34
Grandieri finally starts the cuts again as he scores for two, Green hits, and Kach, who had the assist before, tips in an easy Eggleston miss. Kach then blocks Ellington from behind, but it's a foul.
Green is killing Penn. He takes a steal for a two, here. He and Ellington must have 20-25 of UNC's 34 points.
7:58, 1st Half: Penn 22, UNC 27
Kach misses a tough drive, and then Schreiber can't convert. Hansbrough scores again.
Bernardini almost turns it over, but gets it back and somehow gets through two guys to convert the layup.
Green is killing Penn from the short corner, hits another J. Schreiber hesitates, but then nails a three from the corner. Then Kach's three goes in and out.
Ellington gets blocked in the lane, but Grandieri now can't hit. Hansbrough was out for a minute, but is quickly back in as Penn closes the gap to five. Thompson misses an easy two, but Carolina gets it back.
11:36, 1st Half: Penn 17, UNC 23
These backdoor cuts are open all day against this aggressive defense.
Egee gets whistled for a charge on what would have been a deuce, but on the other end Lawson is out of control and it goes the other way.
I didn't have time to mention it before because this game is so fast-paced, but the Red and Blue Crew is really taking some shots at Hansbrough. When he shoots free throws they have a poster of him modeling. They then bust out the rollout: "Tyler, can't you put the mask back on?"
13:22, 1st Half: Penn 13, UNC 21
Grandieri gets plucked by Thomas, who gets rejected by Eggleston, but a foul is called. Frasor, now in the game, gets burned by Grandieri for a two. A Thompson offensive rebound, and Carolina has a nice lead going now. Penn just can't do anything in transition or on the boards.
14:23, 1st Half: Penn 15, UNC 11
Cohen draws a charge and the crowd is pumped, but Penn turns it over once again. Reilly, on Hansbrough, gets taken into the air and fouls the big man. Schreiber's in now.
Bernardini hits a jumper past Lawson, but Penn can't get back in transition as Green gets a layup to go, though he definitely travelled.
Grandieri hits a monster three from the corner, but Hansbrough gets an o-reb and dunks it.
Eggleston turns it over now, and Penn's down four. A tough two from Schreiber over Hansbrough, and another Hansbrough two in close makes it 15-11. I swear that was a walk, but seeing as this is an NBA team Penn is playing, they don't call those sort of things.
So far, I overhear that Penn is 5-for-6, with six turnovers. Ouch.
17:55, 1st Half: Penn 4, UNC 6
UNC almost turns it over, and Thompson misses a J. Penn scores first with a nifty pass from Grandieri to Bernardini for a layup, but a Lawson drive and a Hansbrough steal and dunk and it's 4-2.
As the shot clock winds down, Bernardini drains a jumper as the shot clock winds down. He misses a three though, and Hansbrough FTs make it a two-point lead for UNC.
Gaines looks like he gets beat by Lawson, but then blocks him on a pull-up jumper. Gaines then turns it over on a five-second inbounds call, and he's subbed out for Cohen.
20:00, 1st Half: Penn 0, UNC 0
I know it's bad to switch up your starting lineup, but three freshmen against UNC isn't a great idea. They usually only show up until the second half in big games.
The Red and Blue crew start an "overrated chant." Could not be more false.
Aron Cohen, after spraining his ankle against Villanova, is in the lineup and not even wearing a brace.
I knew he was a big boy, but Hansbrough is ripped.
Some Penn fans spell out "ESPN2" on their backs.
Penn:
F Justin Reilly
F Jack Eggleston
G Tyler Bernardini
G Harrison Gaines
G Brian Grandieri
Carolina:
F Deon Thompson
F Tyler Hansbrough
G Marcus Ginyard
G Ty Lawson
G Wayne Ellington
________
It's finally here, No. 1 North Carolina visits the Palestra. It may be early in the season, but this team is absolutely stacked. They lose forwards Brandan Wright and Reyshawn Terry, but retain Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Bobby Frasor, Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green, Alex Stepheson, Deon Thompson and, of course, Tyler Hansbrough.
The Quakers do an interesting mix of threes and dunks, you can probably tell who generally attempted which. Meanwhile, Carolina doesn't really know how to miss.
T-minus 20 minutes now, and Penn is still in the locker room. Has been for about 15 minutes now.
I'm pretty star-struck right now - sitting three seats away from the legendary Bill Raftery. I'm sure the Guv will be here shortly, I don't think he's missed a home game so far this year.
Oddly enough the Red and Blue Crew is all here, but the rest of the Penn crowd isn't. There are a lot of Carolina fans here, none of them seem to be making any noise yet, though. The UNC players seem to be having a good time so far, some players serious, but others joking around a bit. They go back into the locker room T-minus 12 mins and finally get a nice cheer from their travelling fans.
Besides a loss, that is.
The DP will have live blogging of the game -- cross my fingers the Palestra's fickle wireless doesn't falter -- along with three stories in tomorrow's paper recapping things. Video of the post-game press conferences in their entirety and a photo slideshow will be on our webiste. I'll also be paying attention to how the prices for scalped tickets move in the hours before the game.
Want some pregame entertainment? Fish a copy of The Walk magazine out of the trash somewhere on campus for a few glamour shots of Tommy McMahon, who's on injury hiatus from the Quakers. Can only imagine how that one's going over in the locker room.
Not much good to say about this game, other than Bernardini's shooting clinic and some improved decision-making on Gaines' part in the second half. Reilly put up a solid 12 points, but grabbed only three boards in 26 minutes; a pathetic number for a forward.
Schreiber's rebounding was excellent (five boards and three blocks in 14 minutes), but he has serious issues being able to stay in games. It always seems like the games where he puts up good numbers are also the games where he can't play big minutes because of foul trouble.
Grandieri was just horrendous, and seemed to be forcing the issue on offense too much. Kach came off a great game at Lafayette by going 1-3 with three turnovers (no assists) in 13 minutes.
Yes, 'Nova is a significantly better team than the Quakers. But Saturday night's performance was very underwhelming. Penn's free throw shooting and 2-PT shooting stunk, and the team still cannot deal with pressure from athletic teams.
Here are the +/- numbers. Minutes played are in parentheses and the season total in on the right:
Grandieri: -15 (27) -37
Kach: -20 (13) -51
Votel: +5 (4) +1
Eggleston: -17 (25) -27
Reilly: -18 (26) -25
Gaines: -11 (23) +11
Cohen: -13 (11) -44
Schreiber: -6 (14) 0
Bernardini: -16 (26) -10
Lewis: -13 (6) -10
Turley: -3 (5) -2
Cofield: -5 (4) -15
Egee: +1 (13) -27
Monckton: -4 (3) -4
Welcome to The Pavillion, as the Penn Quakers (2-5) gets set to do battle with the 21st-ranked Villanova Wildcats (4-1). The starting lineups can be found at the end of this post.
FINAL: Villanova 87, Penn 61
The Quakers played a better second half, but it really didn't matter. Villanova let back on the press and coasted to a 26-point victory.
0:31 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 86, Penn 59
Frank Tchuisi tries to dunk on Bernardini, but gets fouled. Then Fisher hits a three to widen the gap a little more.
Another guy from the depths of the bench, Jason Colenda, comes in and the Villanova crowd goes crazy. They chant "it's all over." It's certainly been over for quite some time now. Now a "hey, hey, hey, goodbye"
David Whitehurst was sitting in the first row behind the bench, and even he is gone now.
4:06 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 81, Penn 56
Bernardini hits a couple from the line, but Villanova isn't going to be stopped on the other end. Gaines fouls Reynolds, and that's his fourth.
5:27 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 74, Penn 54
Gaines hits a three, but Penn is still down by a whole lot. Reilly hits yet another three, though. Villanova took off the press, and Penn has really been able to slow it down on the offensive end.
Schreiber fouls an and-1, and he's gone.
7:10 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 73, Penn 47
Reilly, probably the second-best three-point shooter on this team, hits from deep in the corner.
Former NBA coach Larry Brown is in attendance. Sitting in the front row, he catches an errant pass.
Bernardini, back in the game, finally misses a three. Cunningham is starting to get it going (he didn't score in the first half) as he gets a couple baskets to go inside.
9:39 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 69, Penn 43
Kach has really woken up this half, as he not only started playing defense, but gets a transition and-1. Votel now gets a nice block, and Gaines finishes off a tough layup.
Egee gets pushed in the back, and Penn is nearly in the double-bonus. Egee hits two though, and Penn's down only 22 now. Cunningham takes a nice feed for a dunk, though, and Egee forces up a blocked shot amongst the trees.
The theme tonight is, for some reason, Christmas. The Wildcat mascot has a Christmas hat on, and the "fan of the game" is wearing Christmas lights.
11:58 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 64, Penn 37
If only the Quakers could shoot free throws... Reilly is fouled, but misses the one-and-one. Yes, it's seven minutes in and Villanova has as many fouls.
Egee hits Votel inder the basket, but gets rejected by Pena. Egee returns the favor, though, by rejecting Reynolds on the other end of the floor.
It is absurd how many contests the Pavillion has during each break. There was a half-court shot for a 2-year lease on a Range Rover, a few more shooting contests and even a golf contest. The winner of the golf event got a free Taylor Made driver and bag. Good stuff.
13:55 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 64, Penn 37
Reynolds makes a nasty move in the lane, but Reilly answers with a nice pass from Gaines.
Kach gets blown past by Fisher, but Schreiber throws the weak shot into the second row. He's been replaced int he starting lineup by Reilly, but is still a valuable piece on the inside for his defense.
Now, Bernardini hits a fourth three in a row, but Reynolds answers with one of his own.
15:54 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 55, Penn 31
Gaines twice drives and twice hits Bernardini for a wide open three, one in each corner. These two have hooked up a bunch in the second half of previous games this year.
The Quakers stayed in the locker room for a real long time, perhaps a nice little tongue-lashing.
Grandieri gets blocked real bad bu Cunningham, but Bernardini hits yet another three, he's drained three now in the first three minutes of the half.
Cunningham finally ends the scoring drought for the Wildcats with a two over Reilly.
______
Halftime Stats
Penn is shooting 6-23 from the field, and 2-10 from beyond the arc. The Quakers have 20 turnovers, compared to Villanova's 10. The leading scorer for Penn is Grandieri, with 6 points. Bernardini has 5, and Gaines has 4. Eggleston has played 18 minutes, more than anyone else on Penn. Gaines and Cohen have each played 10 minutes, Kach has played 8 minutes, Bernardini also played 10 minutes, Reilly played 12 minutes, and Grandieri played 14 minutes.
Villanova is doing everything right, shooting 18-30 from the field and 6-11 from beyond the arc. Scottie Reynolds put up 14 in the first half in only 10 minutes of action, while Corey Fisher had 13. Pena chipped in 9 points and had 5 boards.
Also, in a shocker, Harvard came away with the victory at Michigan, 62-51. Quite a homecoming for Amaker. And the brilliant security at Villanova has finally decided to close the gym doors, meaning we're back to a normal temperature. This game was pretty much over from the minute it tipped off. Let's see if Penn can close the margin a little bit here in the 2nd.
Halftime, Villanova 53, Penn 22
Just for fun, Jay Wright put Corey Fisher back in at the end of the first half, and he swished a 3 immediately. When he was in the game this half, he played outstandingly, as did Pena, Scottie Reynolds and Malcolm Grant. There are simply no weaknesses in this Villanova team, and it has demonstrated incredible depth. We'll be back in just a bit with the halftime stats - they're not going to be pretty to look at if you're a Penn fan.
1:48 to go in the 1st, Villanova 48, Penn 22
At this point, it's worth noting that Villanova is playing a lot of its reserves right now. Penn has Remy Cofield in the game to provide some much needed athleticism - Cofield just went up strong for a tough layup to cut Nova's lead to 26. Still, Nova's lead is 26 without Reynolds out on the floor, and it looks like the Wildcats bench could beat up on just about anyone in the Ivy League. Where are Mark Zoller and Ibby Jaaber when you need them?
3:47 to go in the 1st, Villanova 44, Penn 20
Brian Grandieri is starting to get the Quakers going a little bit. With Kevin Egee in the game, Penn finally managed to set up the offense successfully, and Egee found Grandieri wide open in the left corner for a 3. At the other end, Grandieri stole a pass and took it the other way, drawing the foul. Penn is still having a very tough time rebounding the basketball, but it's starting to play a bit better. The Quakers' interior defense hasn't been terrible in the past few minutes either.
In other news, Harvard is giving Michigan a good game in Tommy Amaker's return to Michigan, and Drexel got destroyed by Creighton.
7:19 to go in the 1st, Villanova 44, Penn 15
Even when Penn plays well on defense, Villanova still manages to get to the basket and score. After Bernardini blocked Fisher, Villanova got it right back off the inbound, set up a play, and got to the line for a pair of free throws. Harrison Gaines can't get much going for Penn right now - again, no one on Penn is showing any signs of life. Malcolm Grant is starting to heat up for Nova. He just had an absolutely ridiculous crossover dribble move and drove the lane for a reverse layup. There's a reason Villanova's ranked 21st in the country. They are playing outstanding basketball right now. We might have cheesesteaks before the end of the 1st half at this rate.
On a separate note, Penn's band is here, but they're isolated in the rafters of a packed Pavillion. You can barely hear them. It's also absolutely freezing in this gym, as they've left the doors open on what is a very chilly night in Philadelphia. Penn certainly isn't making it any warmer in here.
10:00 to go in the 1st, Villanova 35, Penn 10
Penn is playing terribly, and Villanova is playing unbelievably. Corey Fisher has been lighting it up from downtown, hitting two consecutive threes to extend Villanova's lead. Penn just can't get set on the offensive end, and defensively, it is no match for the more athletic and talented Wildcats. Penn has now gone to a press of its own and managed to force a turnover and score off of it to get into double digits. Nobody is stepping up for Penn, and the Quakers are turning the ball over left and right, from bad passes to a carrying violation on Aron Cohen.
13:01 to go in the 1st, Villanova 21, Penn 4
Cam Lewis had a nice block inside, but then he couldn't handle the ball in trying to break Villanova's press, turning the ball over. Now Antonio Pena is taking over for the Wildcats. He just threw down an emphatic dunk in Cam Lewis' face to give the Cats a 20-4 lead. This is getting ugly. On the previous possession, Pena knocked down a 3 - he can play inside and outside. After the dunk, Miller called a timeout to talk things over. Penn is really struggling with Nova's press. Now Scottie Reynolds is back in the game, and Andreas Schreiber is in for Cam Lewis.
15:59 to go in the 1st, Villanova 13, Penn 3
Scottie Reynolds has been nothing short of dominant in the early going, scoring Villanova's first seven points. Penn is having a tough time putting up with Villanova's constant pressure, and the Quakers are turning the ball over frequently. The only bright spot thus far for Penn was a nice dribble move by Harrison Gaines, who freed himself up to hit a midrange jumper . Mike Kach just got stuffed by Dante Cunningham. Aron Cohen is now running the point, and Cameron Lewis is in as well.
Penn
G Tyler Bernadini
G Harrison Gaines
G Brian Grandieri
F Jack Eggleston
F Justin Reilly
Villanova
G Scottie Reynolds
G Corey Fisher
G Reggie Redding
F Dante Cunningham
C Casiem Drummond
With a team as young as Penn -- starting five freshmen at one point or another -- playing in any building other than the Palestra will be tough.
The Red and Blue started their away schedule off on a sour note, getting blown out by Loyola in Baltimore. The Quakers then fell to Lafayette earlier this week, in a game they probably should have won, but one that it is hardly a surprise that they didn't.
After edging the Quakers in overtime at the Palestra in the season opener, Drexel coach Bruiser Flint knew the Red and Blue would be two different teams on the home and road this season.
"[If I was coaching Penn, I'd know] my team is going to be really good at home, I just have to get them to play pretty good on the road, because they're young," Flint said after the win. As a young team they can sneak some home wins, but they just have to be able to play well on the road. "As a young team, [they] have to be able to play with some poise on the road."
Penn's game against No. 22 Villanova will no doubt be a tough one. But even if the Quakers lose (and they likely will) this is an instance where a moral victory does, indeed count. Penn has always had trouble playing on the road, for whatever reason, and staying with a borderline top-25 team would be a big step in being able to win games down the road away from the comforts of 33rd street.
It's been a while since the DP beat this particular dead horse, but both the Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated do a good job of picking up the slack today. Props to them for showing all the hypocrisy surrounding the Ivy-football-playoffs debate.
Lots of good Big 5 stuff from the Inquirer today, too: Frank Fitzpatrick waxes nostalgic on the Palestra of yesteryear, Joe Juliano recaps another St. Joe's-Gonzaga squeaker, and Mike Jensen does the same for Temple's win last night while Mike Kern offers a sidebar.
A couple thoughts after last night's game at Lafayette:
I am really starting to think that Harrison Gaines is the most important player on the Quakers. Grandieri might know the offense inside and out, but Gaines is the spark that gets everything going. Moreover, he practically cannot be subbed out -- at least not until Kevin Egee and Aron Cohen prove they can play defense and control the offense without turning it over. It seems that Gaines' play -- more than that of any other player -- is very closely correlated with the Quakers' success.
Last night, Lafayette tough perimeter defense and good interior help gave Gaines a lot of trouble. He wasn't able to pass the ball inside with ease and he wasn't able to use his quickness to get inside. He had an awful game -- got beat on defense a few times and made some very poor decisions on offense -- but experience is a good teacher.
Just look at Mike Kach. The senior had to face the same perimeter defense that Gaines did and is probably just a little more athletic. But he made the right decisions and was crafty enough to have a great game. He had to create his own shot all game, and when he wasn't able to, he found the open man and crashed the boards. A great all-around game from him.
Here are the +/- numbers from last night. Minutes played are in parentheses, and the season total is the last number:
Grandieri: -13 (35) -22
Kach: -3 (25) -31
Votel: 0 (3) -4
Eggleston: -8 (31) -10
Reilly: -4 (13) -7
Gaines: -6 (28) +22
Cohen: -3 (15) -31
Schreiber: -2 (6) +6
Bernardini: -4 (25) +6
Lewis: -4 (5) +3
Cofield: -6 (6) -10
Egee: -5 (8) -28
FINAL: Penn 69 Lafayette 81
The inability to take care of the ball and to make meaningful defensive stops again sinks the Quakers. Kach had a nice game for the Quakers with 17, and Grandieri played well too, but the rest of the guard play and perimeter defense was terrible.
0:31.7 2nd Half, Penn 69 Lafayette 81
Eggleston converts inside on a stop-and-go move. Gruner drives inside and gets fouled, continuing the theme of Penn being unable to make any stops or score when they do. The lead is stuck at 12, and this one is just about done. Lafayette is killing the clock and Penn is not fouling.
2:19 2nd Half, Penn 65 Lafayette 80
Cohen hits a trey behind the Grandieri screen, but the Leopards again respond with one of their own. Penn has been unable to stop the three in the second half. What Lafayette missed in the first, it's making in the second.
3:18 2nd Half, Penn 62 Lafayette 76
Kach hits a nice pull-up in the lane and Penn is somehow still in it, though it's slipping away with every stop the Quakers fail to make. Gruner hits a two as time on the clock expires.
5:34 2nd Half, Penn 57 Lafayette 73
Yet another easy inside bucket for Lafayette extends this seemingly-endless (because of all of Miller timeouts) run to 18-2. Gaines scores off a third chance, but Brown shoots over him with a Dirk-like semi-spin at the top of the key for two. Grandieri hits a three, but again, Brown answers back.
8:02 2nd Half, Penn 52 Lafayette 65
Bernardini stops the bleeding with a lay-up and-1 on the fastbreak. A missed assignment and Cummins gets open from 23-feet on the wing for a three. Two missed threes by the Leopards, but they get both offensive boards.
9:50 2nd Half, Penn 50 Lafayette 62
Detmer throws down a vicious dunk on the fastbreak after Lafayette picks off a Penn entry pass. Miller is forced to call another TO. 13-0 run now for Lafayette.
10:44 2nd Half, Penn 50 Lafayette 58
Gaines back in for Cohen, and he beats his man in the set all the way from halfcourt for a tricky layup. Eggleston hits only the second three for Penn. Things are starting to go a little more the Quakers' way, but their good play goes to their heads and they start to rush things and commit a few bad fouls. Brown hits Lafayette's first three in a while and Cummins follows it right up. Brown triples up again with a pull-up over Egee to cap a 9-0 run in a little over a minute.
15:34 2nd Half, Penn 37 Lafayette 40
Gaines hits a little pull-up from the baseline to start off the half. More penetration and easy dishes for the Leopards, though. A pair of little floaters by Bernardini and Grandieri at the baseline gives Penn its first lead since it was 5-4. Cohen checks in for Gaines, and the Quakers turn it over on offense.
HALFTIME: Penn 29 Lafayette 34
In my opinion, the Quakers are lucky to head into the locker room only down five. Their offense has been completely impotent, and players are having to try really hard to get shots. Nothing easy is coming around the perimeter -- everything is coming off the surprisingly good free throw shooting (10-12) and putbacks. Meanwhile, Lafayette is creating turnovers and getting high-percentage shots.
0:23.4 1st Half, Penn 29 Lafayette 34
Nearly one half has elapsed and Penn still cannot disrupt Lafayette's offense, and the press is giving the Quakers problems as well. Luckily, a foul sends Reilly to the line, and he makes both. Reilly picks up his second foul bumping his man in the lane. Kach gets another two from the line, but fouls his man on the other end.
3:37 1st Half, Penn 17 Lafayette 30
A nice putback by Grandieri off the Lewis foul line miss. Yet another open three for Lafayette, as Penn cannot fight around the picks and movement. Eggleston misses from downtown but crashes the glass to put in his own miss. Grandieri rolls off his man in post for the easy lay-up. Lafayette goes to a full-court press after an inbounds.
7:43 1st Half, Penn 11 Lafayette 21
Without any good motion going, the Quakers are having to generate their own shots. Kach's athleticism gets him to the line for two. Gaines, Grandieri and Bernardini check back in. More defensive trouble, as the Quakers are again a step too slow.
8:54 1st Half, Penn 9 Lafayette 19
Lewis and Cofield check in for Penn, but Cofield scrambles to try and stop the open three for Gruner -- he's too late. The Quakers continue to struggle on offense, and are unable to get any open shots or cuts, and they turn it over again, the fifth turnover in as many possessions.
11: 09 1st Half, Penn 9 Lafayette 16
Grandieri gets a tough baby hook in the low post. Brown hits a contested trey at the wing for Lafayette. Penn is getting sloppy on offense, turning it over three times on three straight possessions.
12: 44 1st Half, Penn 7 Lafayette 9
Lafayette is using a lot of picks and movement around the perimeter. Penn can't get anything going on offense, as the Leopards are shutting down the passing lanes and double-teaming effectively on the inside. Mike Kach and Aron Cohen check in. Kach immediately pays off as he goes baseline for a nice pull up and kiss off the glass.
16: 07 1st Half, Penn 5 Lafayette 9
Schmidt takes it inside and gets his own board to open the scoring. Penn moves the ball well in its own set but Bernardini forces up a three that hits the backboard and nothing else. Another offensive board for Lafayette and Cummins tips it in for two. Bernardini gets open for three in the corner and hits it, and then Reilly hits Grandieri on a cut for an easy lay-in. The Quakers are in man defense on the other end, but some miscommunication and Gaines can't get over to his man in time to stop the three.
Out in Easton, Pa., the Quakers get set to take on the Lafayette Leopards.
Starting lineups:
Penn:
G Brian Grandieri
G Harrison Gaines
F Tyler Bernardini
F Jack Eggleston
F Justin Reilly
Lafayette:
G Michael Gruner
G Paul Cummins
G Andrew Brown
F Everest Schmidt
C Matt Betley
Was I the only person left wondering why Remy Cofield only saw three minutes of action against the Midshipmen after putting up 20 points in 19 minutes against Virginia? I wasn't expecting him to start -- after all, you can't really replace Gaines, Grandieri, or Bernardini at this point -- but I did think he would get 12-17 minutes again.
I'm also a little baffled by Andreas Schreiber's brief appearance. The starter has been yanked early in the past due to foul trouble, but he wasn't in any on Saturday. However, he only saw four minutes, and had zero shot attempts, zero turnovers, two boards and a block. And while Reilly was playing well and deserved to stay in, Miller seemed to be avoiding Schreiber, subbing in combinations of the ineffective Votel, Lewis, and Turley.
At this point, though, I'm just going to have to trust Miller on these two. But it was nice to see an unheralded and relatively unpolished recruit (Cofield) show so much early promise.
On to the +/- numbers. As usual, parentheses indicate minutes played and the final figure is the season +/-.
Grandieri: +5 (38) -9
Kach: -9 (15) -28
Votel: -10 (11) -4
Eggleston: +10 (21) -2
Reilly: +11 (31) -3
Gaines: +21 (29) +28
Cohen: -12 (7) -28
Schreiber: +1 (4) +8
Bernardini: +6 (32) +10
Lewis: +1 (3) +7
Turley: +1 (2) +1
Cofield: -5 (3) -4
Egee: -5 (4) -23
Many preseason tournaments are played at a neutral site, and for Penn, the Philly Hoops Classic at the Palestra was no exception.
Over the course of the weekend, the two Penn men's games drew 5,083 and 3,871 to the Virginia and Navy games, respectively.
Philadelphia native Sean Singletary received a bigger cheer before the opening tap than any Penn player, and the Seton Hall crowd may not have been as big as the Penn contingency, but it was certainly louder.
I understand it is Thanksgiving break, but this overall showing was pretty sad - I'd at least think there'd be some Philly basketball fans who just wanted to see a Big 5 team play a ranked opponent or a local All-American point guard play.
But what was even more depressing was the abscence of the men and women in the burgandy polos.
The band was at the Virginia game on Friday night, but somehow not there against Navy on Saturday. How are people back at school the day after Thanksgiving but not two days after? What if Penn beat No. 23 Virginia and was in the championship game on Saturday, would the band have showed then?
Brian Grandieri could find the positives in a bleak situation.
"I thnk the younger guys can realize what Ivy League play is all about, Grandieri said. "A lot of games probably have similar attendence. We missed the band tonight, but we really have to create our own energy, especially on the road. I hope guys remember this and hopefully we come out a little faster than we did."
And it was one thing to go through a game at the Palestra with a sparse crowd, but to hear the fans sing "The Red and the Blue" at the end of the game a capella? Truly a sad sight.
FINAL: Penn 71, Navy 67
The Quakers eke out a second win of the season, as the offense clicked in the game's final 35 minutes and the Navy offense couldn't seem to finish around the basket. In-game updates can be found after the jump.
0:01 2nd Half; Penn 71, Navy 67
Kach almost makes it interesting by missing the first, but the second makes the lead six. Grandieri gets the rebound, and Penn can start the celebrations.
Navy hits a desperation three, but with a second to go, Eggleston's one FT makes this one over.
0:16 2nd Half; Penn 69, Navy 63
Grandieri hits two, but Bernardini shoots his team in the foot, getting beat, and then fouling for an and-1.
Kach gets grabbed around the neck, but no flagrant is called. He gets the shooter's roll on the first, makes the second.
Like in the Seton Hall game yesterday, Navy allows a small lead, and then hits a few threes in the final minute.
Wow, Eggleston turns over the inbounds pass, but Sprink misses from point blank range, would have made it a 1-possession game
Kach collects a few misses, and Penn almost has it wrapped up...
0:57.6 2nd Half; Penn 64, Navy 58
Reilly gets stripped, though, and Kina scores the other way. But Bernardini hits a runner to keep it at five. That is real big.
Navy for some reason fouls Gaines with 1:08 to go, and Penn is up seven. A foul the other direction, though but the Middies only convert one. Grandieri now is at the line.
2:14 2nd Half; Penn 60, Navy 55
Harris hits both, and takes the lead. But Gaines makes a great skip pass to Bernardini who hits a long two. The freshman then gets some help from a fellow first-timer Eggleston: pressuring the ball, Eggleston intercepts the pass and goes coast-to-coast to put Penn up three.
Then Grandieri gets a great steal and throws it ahead to Bernardini for another layup.
3:14 2nd Half; Penn 54, Navy 53
Now Penn is starting to get some solid execution on offense. Reilly hits Grandieri on a seal in the post, and the captain hits two from the line. But Sprinks takes the lead right back with an easy two.
Reilly absolutely rejects Kaleo Kina, and Gaines takes that for a nice finish. Right before he travels, Gaines tosses it up from a few feet away and gets all nylon.
Kach misses two tough layups, and the lead is still one. Navy goes to the line for a one-and-one.
5:33 2nd Half; Penn 50, Navy 51
Gaines misses badly on a J, and Navy gets a nice pass inside for two.
Reilly gets fouled on the other end, and hits two from the line. Navy is going crazy with the fouling, mist not even on jump shots. Sprink hits on a nasty hook on the other end. Can't play much better defense than that.
7:05 2nd Half; Penn 44, Navy 47
Gaines gets blocked, but muscles up a fantastic layup to cut the lead to three. That, as you can see by the scores, ends a 12-0 run by the Midshipmen. Ouch.
7:57 2nd Half; Penn 42, Navy 47
Richards scores over Reilly, and it's a four-point game.
Eggleston now gets beat on a drive, and Navy cuts it to two. Grandieri is back in for Eggleston, and Navy picks up the three-quarter defense. A Cohen turnover, and Navy has a chance to tie.
That's ugly. Kach seemingly turns it over, but gets it back while falling out of bounds, only to throw it off of a Middie's leg, and right to another guy for a wide open layup. A foul later and Penn has officially blown this lead.
Kach misses a three, that turns into a triple on the other end, and an eruption from the Navy contingency as well as a timeout for Miller.
10:21 2nd Half; Penn 42, Navy 35
After going 0-3 from the line last night, Grandieri hits both from the line in the one-and-one situation. Navy has been one of the most hacking teams Penn ever sees. Two years ago at the Palestra, fouled the Quakers 35 times. It's not quite that, but we're well clear of 20 tonight.
There are so few Penn fans here that there isn't even an "airball" chant. Sad.
Eggleston gets rejected badly off of an offensive rebound, but makes up for it with a three.
12:37 2nd Half; Penn 35, Navy 28
Bernardini forces one up, but Navy's Adam Teague commits an offensive foul (his third) and they can't cut the lead.
Votel can't get out on a corner three, and all Miller needs to say is "Jack!"
15:03 2nd Half; Penn 35, Navy 28
(After an internet delay)
I don't know what it is about the second half, but once again the Quakers come out of the gates with some blistering offense. But this time they play solid on the other end as well. Justin Reilly starts it off with a three, and the Red and Blue have a lot more up their sleeves.
Bernardini takes a kick and hits the wide open three in the corner. Gaines takes a nice drive to the basket, a Bernardini finger roll in transition, and the Quakers are up seven just like that.
HALFTIME; Penn 23, Navy 26
Bernardini makes a great feed to Grandieri under the hoop. Grandieri takes a feed for a corner three from Gaines driving the baseline, and puts up one of the ugliest airballs I've ever seen. You have to hope that slipped out of his hands, that was a good foot or two short.
1:01 1st Half; Penn 21, Navy 26
A bad turnover by Cam Lewis leads to a fastbreak opportunity, but Gaines nicely plucks Scott Brooks, and takes it coast-to-coast for a tough layup.
Grandieri is so elusive, driving on the baseline, but can't convert the layin.
2:40 1st Half; Penn 19, Navy 23
Brian Richards misses a wide open layup for Navy, as each team trades layups. Grandieri hits a transition J to close the gap to four. The pace and the scoring of this game has really picked up lately
3:57 1st Half; Penn 15, Navy 21
Huh, Conor Turley is in the game for Penn.
Reilly calmly handles the press and hits a J, but that's sandwiched by a three by Navy and jumper.
Grandeiri takes a near-turnover and makes a great shot over a defender. He probably should have passed that up for a layup on the other side, but apparently not.
Last night was sparse, but this Penn crowd is sad. I can't remember a time the cheerleaders represented the majority of the noise for the Quakers.
5:02 1st Half; Penn 11, Navy 16
Chris Harris for Navy hits a midrange J, but on a two-on-one break (off of a terrible Egee turnover)
Egee gets caught on a forward off of a switch, but boxes him out real well as the Quakers grab the rebound. That didn't happen much last night.
Navy has committed three fouls in what seems like under a minute, and Cofield heads to the line after getting fouled on a reach-in. He makes one of two, about Penn's average tonight.
I had thought Navy was a good shooting team based on its performance early against Seton Hall, but the Middies are a horrible team at finishing around the basket. On the other end it's the same thing for Penn. Nine points in 15 minutes is pretty sad. Bernardini hits two though to make it 11.
7:56 1st Half; Penn 8, Navy 12
Penn gets beat baseline, and Navy goes to the line. Remy Cofield, now in the game, drops the entry pass, and Navy goes the other way. After a rough minute, good to see Miller keep him in the game.
8:34 1st Half; Penn 8, Navy 10
There is no one here at this game. Can't be more than 2,000 people. Even the band is absent for Penn.
Some nifty dribbling by Gaines gets him past the trap, and he hits Reilly, who gets fouled. He's been a good free throw shooter lately, but only hits one of two.
A Navy forward takes a great feed past Reilly while cutting to the basket but misses the layup.
Gaines gets fouled and shoots one-and-one, hitting one. He's now out for Kevin Egee, who has been in at times, but is rarely playing point guard as he is here.
The Middies hit a bank and a jump shot, and have a four-point lead.
11:28 1st Half; Penn 4, Navy 4
Glen Miller is subbing like mad for Penn, as Brennan Votel is in now for Penn. He makes a nice spin move to the hoop, but can't finish, now getting fouled though.
Navy is a very good passing team, and is getting a lot of opportunities from three because of it, but hasn't hit any yet.
With the shot clock winding down Gaines puts up an ugly three, but Mike Kach gets on the floor for the tie-up.
13:04 1st Half; Penn 4, Navy 4
A mixup on defense and Navy has its first points off of a wide open layup.
Reilly misses a finger roll off of a nice drive and a good feed from Eggleston. Penn has to finish.
Navy forces a turnover in the 3/4 press, and takes the lead, but a Kach layup knots it at 4.
15:32 1st Half; Penn 2, Navy 0
Navy starts the game off with a travel. The Midshipmen start off with a three-quarter court press, but Penn does alright against it.
Gaines misses a long two, is slow running the offense and Aron Cohen subs him out. Miller tells him to "wake up".
Justin Reilly, also in the game (for Schreiber) gets off a nasty block inside, and a Grandieri turnover later and it's 0-0 3 minutes in.
The offense is stagnant, but Grandieri penetrates with the shot clock winding down for a sweet layup to break the nil-nil draw.
This will be an interesting game to watch because Navy really is like a good version of an Ivy League basketball team. The Middies have some muscle, but not necessarily height, and yet are tough on the boards. They are not very fast though, and shoot fairly well from the outside. The Quakers must box out, Virginia had 25 offensive rebounds last night, and Navy could rack up a good amount itself.
____________
I'm successfully connected at the Palestra, and ready to bring you the consolation game from the Philly Hoops Classic between Penn and Navy.
Last night the Quakers fell in a valiant effort to Virginia, in which they matched the Cavs in the second half, but still fell by 15 points. Navy lost by a few to Seton Hall after leading for much of the night.
Man, the person in control of this music is insane. During the warmups they go from trash rap like "A Bay Bay" to good rap from Clipse to pump-it-up music to tachno at the opening tip.
Penn has maintained the same starting lineup for the last few times:
C Andreas Schreiber
F Jack Eggleston
F Tyler Bernardini
G Brian Grandieri
G Harrison Gaines
Penn turned what looked like a potentially catastrophic blowout into a very respectable 15-point loss -- but most of that comeback came during garbage time. From 2:30 left in the second half, the Quakers chomped 9 points out of Virginia's 24-point lead.
It's worth noting that Votel played his only two minutes during that stretch, and that Lewis was in for the whole run.
That said, here are the numbers. Minutes played are in parentheses, and the season +/- is the last number:
Grandieri: -22 (26) -14
Kach: -4 (12) -19
Votel: +9 (2) +6
Eggleston: -19 (32) -12
Reilly: -8 (15) -14
Gaines: -6 (31) +7
Cohen: -9 (10) -16
Schreiber: -8 (18) +8
Bernardini: -7 (20) +4
Cofield: +5 (19) +1
Egee: -2 (3) -18
Lewis: +6 (12) +6
FINAL: Virginia 100, Penn 85
A good effort from the Quakers sees the second half end the same way the first did - with a 15-point lead for the Wahoos. The score belies the solid defense Penn played for much of the middle of the game, and the offense improved a lot in the second half.
0:34 2nd Half, Virginia 98, Penn 80
It looked like UVA had locked up triple-digits and a big lead, but with a minute to go it is stuck on 98.
A Cofield and-1 three closes it back to 18, and Gaines hits a jumper to make the score respectable.
1:58 2nd Half, Virginia 98, Penn 76
Lewis gets a nice block, and Eggleston scores, but it won't matter. Brennan Votel checks in, forgot about him, he hasn't played at all, and I believe is the 12th player to enter the game for Glen Miller's squad.
I forget if I mentioned earlier, but the crowd is very sparse, and few Quakers fans are here. The Red and Blue Crew consists of my brother, his friend and maybe seven other people. I also really thought we'd get some more Philly fans here, especially since a top 25 team is playing here.
4:13 2nd Half, Virginia 96, Penn 72
Singletary is out of the game, and gets a nice ovation from the crowd. My friend from Penn Charter sitting right behind me tries to get his former classmate's attention by yelling "Sean" every 10 seconds. I pretend I don't know him.
The game is over now, as Virginia continues to pile on the points. The Penn offense really has played well in the second half, but the D has started to collapse.
5:46 2nd Half, Virginia 89, Penn 66
Gaines drives and draws a foul on Singletary, but surprisingly it's only his second.
The ACC All-America gets an and-1 to go, though, and it's a 19-point game.
The offense is doing alright, but a tomahawk jam later and the Quakers defense is getting pourous.
7:42 2nd Half, Virginia 80, Penn 62
A Virginia fans goes onto the court for a shooting promotion, tries to slap the ref's hand, but gets the cold shoulder. The refs are busy enough this game.
Bernardini drives, gets respect from the help defense, and kicks out to Schreiber for an open three.
Mikalauskas adds FTs and a layup, but Grandieri adds two and it's back to 15.
A fifth three from Joseph and Virginia is keeping its distance.
Ouch, Virginia makes a great pass to a wide open Mike Scott, but as he cocks back for a monster dunk he gets fouled hard by Eggleston and sent to the floor. It sounds dirty, but it was almost a clean block.
11:12 2nd Half, Virginia 71, Penn 54
Mikalauskas misses a layup, but gets his own rebound for an and-1.
Gaines makes a nice drive-and-kick, and Eggleston hits the three.
Miller subs in Schreiber for some defense as Gaines gets fouled on the floor, and will shoot two at the line.
13:02 2nd Half, Virginia 67, Penn 51
Penn's in the bonus already, but Cofield misses the one-and-one. Reilly hustles for a loose ball and grabs a jump ball as he's thrown to the ground.
Bernardini hits a big three, but Pettinella answers with a left-handed layup. Pettinella then fouls Reilly, who's having a nice game for himself, nailing his free throws for at least 7 points at this stage.
Another UVA turnover, and they can't seem to widen the lead.
Hello, Bernardini hits another three, Singletary travels, and the Quakers have the ball down 15.
Joseph hits his fourth three of the game. That's real big.
14:51 2nd Half, Virginia 60, Penn 42
There have been 10 fouls already this half, six on UVA, as Penn is in the bonus from now on.
Lewis gets, believe it or not, his fourth personal foul on a three from Joseph.
Miller is pissed. He slams his hand down on the scorers table, subs in Eggleston for Lewis and yells at Bernardini "play some defense!"
15:30 2nd Half, Virginia 58, Penn 42
Bernardini has stayed in the game since starting the second half. The Quakers are keeping up the stout defense from the end of the first half, but the offense is getting painful to watch. Ten turnovers in the first half was a lot, but this feels like even more than that. Late in the first half Penn got some nice slashing cuts to the basket, let's see if they can keep those up.
Cam Lewis is at the line, apparently banks are open on Friday nights, as he hits the first off the glass, then swishes number two.
Singletary throws a terrible kick-out pass that's intercepted, and Grandieri is fouled on the way to the hoop. But he misses both foul shots.
Bernardini, though, takes a pass in transition for a reverse-layup-and-1
16:14 2nd Half, Virginia 54, Penn 37
Gaines hits two free throws, but bad in-bounds defense and the lead is back to 15.
Eggleston misses a wide open layup and Singletary makes a nice jumper.
Gaines airballs, and Penn still has no field goals this half.
17:33 2nd Half, Virginia 50, Penn 37
Eggleston misjudges Gaines' route in transition and turns it over, throwing it right to his head coach. Miller slams the ball down in frustration.
Schreiber gets a great block off on Laurynas Mikalauskas, the thick, 6-foot-8 forward.
Gaines drives right by Singletary and gets fouled.
HALFTIME: Virginia 50, Penn 35
The Quakers looked a little nervous coming out of the gate, but have settled down recently. If you go by the media timeouts Penn went -10 the first period, then -1, -1 and -3. Virginia has a 26-15 rebounding edge, though I must admit it didn't seem like the disparity was that large.
No surprise here: Penn's shooting 1 for 10 from three, the lone make from surprisingly good shooter Justin Reilly, while Virginia has hit 7 of 13. That's actually only the Cavs' average percentage, believe it or not.
What I am shocked about is Sean Singletary. It was clear he's be driving and passing the rock - playing against a team that can't defend the three, but he has gone 1 for 7 for 7 points so far. And his three assists are only on his average.
The successes of the first half for Penn: Cofield (12 points, 4 for 4 shooting) and Grandieri (3 for 7 for 6 points, three offensive rebounds and five total.
0:15 1st Half, Virginia 50, Penn 35
After starting, Tyler Bernardini hasn't been in the game since. Miller doesn't seem too happy with Harrison Gaines' performance either, he's missing a bunch and had some early turnovers, and as a result Aron Cohen has played a good deal.
Mamadi Diane has made some nice plays, here pump-faking around Cofield for an open jumper.
Cofield makes another nice cut to the basket, and Eggleston finds him for an easy layup.
Wow, Cofield hits an acrobatic layup in transition, and Penn is keeping this a game. We're finding out which freshmen have the mettle to play against an ACC opponent, and which youngsters still don't.
2:11 1st Half, Virginia 47, Penn 30
The Quakers' defense has let in a few baskets lately, but has been very good in the last 10 minutes or so, following a poor start. Virginia airballs a three, but Andreas Schreiber gets whistled on the boxout, and it cost the Quakers 2 FTs.
Penn's offense, on the other hand, has been horrendous. The only reason the Quakers have as many points as they do is because of tough, scrappy work on the offensive boards.
Jack Eggleston now takes a tough offensive rebound, and gets fouled, making his freebees.
3:38 1st Half, Virginia 41, Penn 24
Remy Cofield just made one of the most amazing shots I've seen in a while. While being hit off-balance in the lane, just before he travelled, the freshman guard flipped up a shot over his shoulder 15 feet in the air without even looking at the basket, and it somehow went in.
Virginia star and Philadelphia native Sean Singletary has let his teammates do the work so far, but he makes two free throws here and the Cavaliers are up 17.
5:01 1st Half, Virginia 34, Penn 20
Once again, the internet wasn't working properly, but now it magically comes to life, and here we are live from the Palestra.
7:35, First half, Virginia 28, Penn 16
Some ups but some more downs for the Quakers. Remy Cofield has been in for Brian Grandieri, and he just made a nice move to get free and hit a layup in the post. Other than that, though, the Quakers have been miserable in the paint. Justin Reilly had Penn's first three, but he followed that up with a miss from point-blank.
On the other end of the floor, Ryan Pettinella hasn't seem to have shaken his free-throw woes since passing through about six different conferences on his way from Penn to Virginia. He just missed two, the second a near-comic effort that nearly hit above the box.
15:00, First half: Virginia 12, Penn 2
The Quakers got their only points off a couple of free throws by Tyler Bernardini, but otherwise it's been all Cavaliers. Penn has had some trouble feeding the ball into the post and has had two entry passes picked off. Bernardini has two early fouls, so the starter was pulled for Michael Kach. That leaves him, Harrison Gaines, Jack Eggleston, Brian Grandieri and Andreas Schreiber on the floor.
Penn fans can finally exhale now that the Quakers grabbed win number one against The Citadel. And while they looked good against the Bulldogs, the Quakers could be grasping for air in tomorrow's contest against No. 23 Virginia.
Penn hasn't fared well against stopping star players, and when point guard Sean Singletary returns home to Philadelphia, he might not have trouble maintaining his 22.5 points per game average.
He's no LeBron, but the guard leads the Cavs in assists (6.75 per game), steals (two per game), free throws (30-for-33) and is second in rebounds (five per game). And of course he hasn't scored less than 19 points in a single game, leading his Virginia team to a 4-0 record.
The Quakers have had decent on-the-ball defense, but the help defense and the coordination between the five guys on the court has not been good. Harrison Gaines and Aron Cohen have to keep Singletary out of the lane. If and when he gets into the paint he is a good finisher, and might not even need to do so.
Virginia's entire starting lineup shoots 51 percent from three-point range, 36 for 71 in four games this season, so kickouts for treys should happen often. In all, Penn has two less attempts from three than its ACC opponents, but has 18 less makes.
There are six players on Virginia who have attempted more than five threes this season and seven on Penn. And yet the Cavaliers have the top five shooters by percentage, and six of the top seven, with only forward Jack Eggleston (4 for 10) breaking through the top half for Penn.
These stats are scary for a Penn team that puts magnets in its own hoop when the opponent launches from long range. Who has ever heard of a team allowing 44.6 percent from two-point range, and yet 51.3 percent from three? If the Quakers play zone at all this game, Virginia fans will be wishing the Abners rule worked the other way. Look for Singletary to score a lot, but spend a lot of his time dropping dimes.
The offense may have looked pretty good against The Citadel, but the defense was just as bad as before. Where the Bulldogs missed bank shots and layups from point-blank range, Virginia jumpers will be wet.
Not too many surprises here: the starting lineup (Grandieri, Gaines, Schreiber, Eggleston, and Bernardini) really stood out. However, Kach ended up in the red despite his efficient and productive night. I didn't see the game, so I can't comment on what the team looked like while he was out there. Maybe it was (a lack of) chemistry, maybe it was the supporting cast he had, or maybe it was just bad luck (he came into the 2nd half with a 20-point lead; it's not always easy to keep a big lead). I can't say.
But here you go, the +/- ratings from the Citadel game, with minutes played in parentheses. The final number is the season +/- rating (starting from Howard).
Grandieri: +14 (29) +8
Kach: -3 (21) -15
Votel: -5 (14) -3
Eggleston: +21 (33) +7
Reilly: -4 (7) -6
Gaines: +20 (22) +13
Cohen: +1 (17) -7
Schreiber: +21 (25) +16
Bernardini: +20 (22) +11
Cofield: +1 (3) -4
Egee: -7 (7) -16
A great first win for the Quakers, who looked fantastic on offense, but against a Citadel squad that has 13 freshmen on the roster, we shouldn't crown them yet. Penn's defense was better, but not yet at the level it should be.
The starting line-up of Gaines, Grandieri, Bernardini, Eggleston and Schreiber worked wonders. I'd like to calculate their +/-'s Brandon Moyse style and get those up on the buzz later. Kach played well also, knocking down some big shots. Gaines' poise and Bernardini's shooting and defense were very impressive tonight.
FINAL: Penn 93, Citadel 77
Bernardini brings the ball back around despite having a clear dunk up 19, a classy move. But then in a less-than-chivalrous move, the Bulldogs foul him.
A couple garbage threes and a foul with 5 seconds to go down 17 (???) and this game is done.
Penn 87, Citadel 71, 1:52 2nd Half
Penn breaks the press despite maybe a hold on the screen, and Kach heads to the line for 1-and-1. Not sure that was a purposeful reach-in though. He's solid, hitting both.
The Hey Song goes one verse too long here, as some fans try to drag it along.
Grandieri hits his FTs, and The Citadel are kept beyond arms length.
Penn 83, Citadel 68, 2:37 2nd Half
I get word now that Gaines has 11 assists, but he's out of the game for Cohen, so Begley's record should stand another day.
It's borderline premature up 15 with 2:40 to go, but the Red and Blue Crew gets off it's first Hey Song of the year. It's such a tiny crowd, but when Penn students have been waiting eight months they can make this thing loud.
Penn 82, Citadel 66, 2:53 2nd Half
After Penn attacked the zone with penetration and shot well
Gaines might have a double-double by now in points and assists he makes another hard layup in traffic. He has just gotten better as the game has gone on. The Penn record is 13 by Tim Begley for assists in a game, and Gaines must be close to this mark.
Bernardini hits another three and Eggleston is silky-smooth from a step inside the line. Gaines realizes he's a point guard though, airballing a three.
Just as it looked like a game again, Eggleston puts in an absurd bank in traffic that he brought up from his chest.
Penn 73, Citadel 58, 7:07 2nd Half
Good ball movement by The Citadel gets an open three in the corner. Then lone senior Demetrius Nelson picks up an and-1 on another useless reach-in under the basket from Grandieri, his third foul.
Matt Clark nails a three, as Miller gets a timeout, barking at Justin Reilly as he didn't get out nearly fast enough on defense.
Now, Nelson gets in for yet another and-1, and the lead is sliced down to 11.
Now the core line-up is back in the game. Kind of surprisingly consisting of Grandieri, Eggleston, Gaines, Andreas Schreiber and Mike Kach, who came off the bench for Bernardini, who's been good as well.
These guys are electric compared to other units. Kach hits a giant three to go up 14, and then some solid defensive possessions anchored by Schreiber on defense see the Red and Blue up 16.
Grandieri commits a foul, though, his fourth. That's big.
Penn 66, Citadel 46, 11:56 2nd Half
Penn players been diving on the floor and hustling a little extra.
Gaines is oblivious for a few seconds, but eventually finds a wide-open Jack Eggleston for the layup.
Wow, Gaines now feeds Tyler Bernardini, who is closing in on Brian Grandieri as the leading screr today. Bernardini hadn't been shooting very well thus far this year, but he's been en fuego tonight. He misses a jumper and then gets a charge for his fourth foul, though.
But referee Joe DeMayo throws it back the other way as Aron Cohen draws a charge. He's going to have to step it up or else Gaines will take this starting PG job for good.
Penn 61, Citadel 41, 14:41 2nd Half
Gaines drives yet again for a tough layup, and the Quakers' lead is up to 20. I'm not going to jinx them an say it's over, though, the Bulldogs can hit threes if needed.
Penn 59, Citadel 41, 15:20 2nd Half
Alright, the Buzz is back, as the internet access is apparently as old as this building. But it's back on, and I'll get the updates movin again.
The Quakers start the second half off in a storm, as Harrison Gaines drove for a layup and then dished for two assists. He's been playing a very good game. He's shooting too many jumpers for Miller's liking, but other than that he's been pretty solid.
Halftime: Penn 45, The Citadel 35
Penn played a very strong first half offensively and has shown tremendous improvement breaking the press. Grandieri leads Penn with 14 points. Michael Kach chipped in nine of his own, and freshman Tyler Bernardini has eight. Bernardini has also looked very sharp on the defensive end, with two steals.
The Citadel is led by Austin Dahn, who is 3-4 from downtown and leads all scorers with 15 points. One of Dahn's threes was a 27-footer from way beyond the arc. Penn's only real weakness has been on defense, where it has given up too many easy buckets inside to the Citadel. Sorry for the lack of internet connection, but we'll try to keep you updated throughout the night if the wireless comes back.
There were a few comments on our website today about the wisdom of Brian Grandieri's comments after Saturday's loss to Howard. I had the chance to ask Glen Miller about it at practice yesterday; here's what he said:
He's a captain, he's been around a while and he's played on some successful teams, so we're going to assume that he knows what it takes. He's led us in the preseason, he's led us throughout our first three games, so if he feels that way it's his right as a captain to voice his opinion. It's nice if it's kept in the locker room, but what he said is what he said. He was speaking on emotions and that's the way he felt, so hopefully it will have a positive effect on our team going forward.
Freshman forward Tyler Bernardini took a similar view, but also said that the older and younger elements of the team each need to make some changes.
Hopefully the older guys are starting to look at some of the younger guys and feeling more comfortable with our abilities ... It's more them adjusting to us and realizing, hopefully, that we can contribute as well.
He [Grandieri] is working hard every day in practice, and he's proven his skills and what he can do, and I feel like it's time that we all need to step up and start to prove to him that we can help, too. The guys that he was playing alongside with, Ibby [Jaaber] and Mark [Zoller] -- they're storied people in the Penn program. Right now, he's playing along a lot of guys that are young and have no credibility, so we have to kind of establish that credibility.
What do you think about Grandieri's actions? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Also, be sure to check back with The Buzz later tonight for live updates of the game against The Citadel.
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