Liveblog: Penn v. Princeton
Greetings from the Palestra! Follow along as we liveblog the 229th edition of Penn-Princeton.
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Greetings from the Palestra! Follow along as we liveblog the 229th edition of Penn-Princeton.
It is a Penn-Princeton double-header and first up is Penn women's basketball. The Quakers are looking to extend their winning streak to nine games but they have lost 10 straight games against Princeton, dating back to 2008. Can Mike McLaughlin beat Princeton for the first time in his tenure as coach? Let's find out.
Back on campus Saturday?
Looking for a place to warm up from the cold (and maybe watch some basketball, too)?
Well, if you're a Penn student, you won't need to go any farther than the Palestra, as Penn Athletics is offering free student tickets to the Quakers' Saturday doubleheader matchup against Princeton.
In addition, Penn Athletics is offering free tickets to Penn basketball alumni and their families, along with free tickets for guests of Penn faculty and staff.
The women's game is slated to tip off at 3:00 PM, with the men's game following after at 6:00.
With Ryan Singer visiting Penn this weekend, it seems like the visit really left an impression.
After coming to campus with an offer in hand yesterday, the 2014 center from Massanutten Military (Va.) committed to Penn basketball, becoming the fourth member in the Class of 2018 for the Quakers.
After deciding to join the Red and Blue, Singer immediately expressed his excitement via twitter.
Singer, at 6-foot-11, is the tallest of Penn's commits in the class of 2018 after guard Antonio Woods, small forward Sam Jones and forward Mike Auger committed to the Red and Blue in the fall.
With Penn losing three guards (Miles Cartwright, Dau Jok and Steve Rennard) and two forwards (Fran Dougherty and Cameron Gunter) to graduation this May, the balanced class from coach Jerome Allen should help alleviate the loss of those key seniors.
While Singer is currently at Massanutten Military, he is in a postgrad year after playing four years at Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado.
Can Penn snap its six-game losing streak and upset the Explorers? Join me and find out:
Penn basketball already has three members of the class of 2018 locked up, but a fourth may soon be on the way.
According to The Recruit Scoop, 2014 Massanutten Military (Va.) center Ryan Singer is taking an official visit to Penn this weekend and has an offer in hand from the Quakers' staff.
The 6-foot-11 Singer is in a postgraduate year at Massanutten Military after previous playing at Heritage High School in Littleton, Co.
for the past four years.
In his senior year at Heritage, Singer averaged 6.8 points and 6.5 rebounds as well as 1.8 blocks per contest.
Penn already has commitments from guard Antonio Woods as well as small forwards Mike Auger and Sam Woods. Whether Singer's visit leads to a commitment remains to be seen but it could be a solid addition to coach Jerome Allen's recruiting class.
Winter break started on a sour note for Penn basketball as sophomore center Darien Nelson-Henry went out with a concussion.
And according to a source, the 6-foot-11 big man is not expected to return when Penn plays La Salle at the Palestra on Saturday.
Since Nelson-Henry went down, Penn has suffered in the post, losing the rebounding battle in each of its last three games.
But Nelson-Henry's rehab is going steady based on the report and should be back by the time the Quakers face Princeton next week.
There is still no word on Camryn Crocker, Patrick Lucas-Perry or Julian Harrell's respective injuries after the trio of guards missed the Red and Blue's matchup with George Mason.
With the Quakers record standing at a paltry 2-9, getting healthy could be the quickest way for Penn to turn things around in 2014.
Penn basketball comes into its matchup against George Mason on a five game losing streak. The Quakers will look to find some success in the new year after going 7-21 over the last calendar year. Follow along as we bring you the action live from Virginia.
Penn women's basketball comes into Coral Gables on a five game winning streak as the squad gets ready to face an ACC squad, the Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are riding a two game winning streak of their own and will look to spoil Alyssa Baron's homecoming. Follow along as Staff Writer Corey Henry brings you the action:
2013 is almost at an end but Penn basketball never sleeps as the Quakers head to the great state of New Jersey to take on Rider. While Christmas presents have been handed out, Penn is trying to gift its fans one final win to close out the calendar year. Follow the action here.
DP Sports wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks for your continued support of The Buzz. As we wrap up 2013, a curtain call for the writers and editors who made this year full of outstanding coverage for The DP and our readers:
(Click our names to read some of our most memorable work from this calendar year.)Titus “REDSKINS REDSKINS REDSKINS” Adkins
Sam “Rower’s Notebook” Altland
Allison “I’ll Get Back to You On That” Bart
Danielle “Weekend Wrapper Extraordinaire” Chuang
Ellen “Bracket Buster” Frierson
Corey “Just a Tad Short” Henry
Laine “Great Graphics” Higgins
Mars “DNH = Kevin Love” Jacobson
Jimmy “Youngie’s Best Friend” Lengyel
Sushaan “School of Floaters” Modi
Ike “All-Time Volleyball Beat” Onyeador
Michele “Finally DPOSTM!” Ozer
John “The One and Only” Phillips
Seamus “Kamin/Flip Cup Phenom” Powers
Daniel “Hearting Minnesota” Rich
Riley “Jackmerius Tacktheratrix Threesome” Steele
Steven “So…Is He From Wharton?” Tydings
Ian “Why Don’t We Take the Frank Walker…And Put Him in My Nickname!?!?” Wenik
Jennifer “The Beatles Are Beautiful” Yu
Alexis “(How Did You Know I Was) Mechina?” Ziebelman
Penn basketball takes on Marist at 2:00 in Poughkeepsie with the Red and Blue trying for their second road win of the year. Follow along as Associate Sports Editors Colin Henderson and Holden McGinnis bring you the action as the Quakers look to end their losing streak in their first game during winter break.
After a 2-6 start to the young season, Penn basketball couldn’t afford a big injury.
But a source tells the DP that sophomore center Darien Nelson-Henry has suffered a concussion and is out indefinitely after getting elbowed in the head during practice.
The Quakers' starting center was not at practice on Thursday, although the practice did come during finals week.
Nelson-Henry's injury is a big blow to the Red and Blue and could have major effects depending on how many games the 6-foot-11 sophomore ultimately misses.
Nelson-Henry has emerged as a go-to scorer for the Quakers in the frontcourt this year, averaging 12.8 points per game, good for second on the team. He also leads the team in rebounding, notching 7.4 boards per contest.
With a Penn offense that utilizes three guards and two forwards, the team relies upon the sophomore as one of its primary post players working alongside senior captain Fran Dougherty.
If Nelson-Henry misses significant time due to injury, coach Jerome Allen will likely turn to junior forwards Henry Brooks and Greg Louis to pick up the lost minutes, as well as senior forward Cameron Gunter.
Penn struggled with injuries last year, including Dougherty sidelined with mononucleosis in December of this past season.
Dougherty’s absence led to a bigger role for Nelson-Henry, so Nelson-Henry’s injury could lead to the opposite situation coming to fruition as Dougherty becomes even more important to the Quakers’ frontcourt play.
Penn's next game is Sunday at Marist as the Quakers begin their winter break schedule, likely without one of their top scorers.
Women’s hoops, men’s hoops, wrestling, women’s squash and several other winter sports are heading in very different directions right now, but where will they end up at the end of their seasons? Our editors weigh in on which winter sport will have the most memorable 2013-14 campaign.
Senior Sports Editor-elect Steven Tydings: While Penn men’s basketball has struggled on its way to a 2-6 record early in the season, the Quakers are still poised to have a successful 2013-14 season.
The squad has shown improvement from its early season problems, especially in the frontcourt and in finding a fifth starter to go with Darien Nelson-Henry, Fran Dougherty, Miles Cartwright and Tony Hicks.
In the frontcourt, the Red and Blue lost the rebounding margin in each of their first four games, as opposing teams picked up offensive rebound after offensive rebound.
But over their last four games, the Quakers have turned it around in the post, taking the rebounding advantage in their most recent matchups, including 16 offensive boards coming against Wagner on Dec. 7.
But more important than Penn’s rebounding success is the emergence of freshman Tony Bagtas, who makes the Quakers a force to be reckoned with come Ivy play. The point guard has dished out 17 assists in his first two starts, making enough of an impact to be trusted with the ball in the waning moments against Wagner.
With a lowly Marist squad starting off Penn’s winter break schedule, expect the three-game losing streak currently plaguing the Quakers to end and give way to a successful second half of the season.
Sports Editor Ian Wenik: In terms of top-to-bottom depth, I don’t see a team in better position to succeed than wrestling.
Though the wins haven’t shown up in terms of dual meet records (including a 21-16 loss to No. 21 Bloomsburg and a 21-12 loss to No. 23 Lehigh), there are individuals all over the weightclasses that have been experiencing success. Junior Lorenzo Thomas — ranked No. 9 in the country at 184 pounds — has been simply dominant. He’s 10-2 on the season, and has picked up an astounding five victories via falls. He should be a dark-horse contender not only for the EIWA championship, but also for a national title.
Below him, Thomas is getting plenty of help. How about some recognition for sophomore Ray Bethea, who’s 10-3 at 157 pounds? Or senior Andrew Lenzi at 149 pounds and junior Jeff Canfora at 141 pounds? Combined, they’re 15-8. And you can’t forget Caleb Richardson, the 21-year old freshman, who is 3-0 in dual meets so far.
With the ultra-prestigious Southern Scuffle coming up, I think that a few names from that list I’ve just rattled off are going to put on a good showing and get on a roll. And that bodes well for the EIWA season.
Sports Editor John Phillips: Penn women’s basketball has gotten hot of late, winning its last three contests after holding its own against No. 5 Notre Dame. The Quakers’ schedule is set up so they don’t lose their momentum going into break. The Red and Blue take on Army on Dec. 11 and Drexel 10 days later, allowing the players to stay fresh over their nonconference schedule.
Even though Miami on Jan. 1 will serve a challenge in the same way that the Fighting Irish did early in the season, overall, Penn will grow stronger over the course of winter break and should pick up a fair amount of wins before Princeton on Jan. 11.
Coach Mike McLaughlin needs to have replaced “will hope to have” with “needs to have” his team ready to take on the Tigers that day if the Quakers are to have a shot at winning the Ivy League.
Senior Sports Editor Mike Tony: Let’s not forget about women’s squash. The Quakers are the No. 3 team in the country right now and we’ll see whether they deserve to be higher when they travel to No. 1 Harvard and No. 2 Trinity for consecutive matches next month. It’ll be another high seeding in the Howe Cup come February with veterans like Chloe Blacker, senior — who went 18-2 overall a season ago — and Courtney Jones, senior still in the fold. Throw in legitimate ladder-leader Yan Xin Tan. sophomore and upstart sophomores Haidi Lala and Camille Lanier at Nos. 2 and 4 respectively, and you’ve got another roster with the potential to give Harvard or Trinity some trouble in a few spots. Penn women’s squash hasn’t lost more than two Ivy games in any season since 2005-06, so why bet against this program for best winter sport this season too?
Penn wrestling falls to .500 in dual competition, as the squad is handled by rival Lehigh by a score of 21-12 at the Palestra.
Good: Lorenzo being Lorenzo
It may have been too late, but is sure was exciting. In his match at 184 pounds, Penn junior Lorenzo Thomas, after dominating for nearly six and a half minutes, was able to pin his opponent, Zach Diekel, resulting in much needed bonus points. Thomas’ team-leading sixth win by fall marked one of the few bright spots for the Quakers on Sunday.
Bad: Shying Up
Penn often struggled to generate points, as six Quakers scored just three points or fewer, including Andrew Lenzi and Frank Mattiace, who were both blanked. These performances can be partially attributed to the level of competition, but also to lack of execution, and what coach Rob Eiter considered, “hold[ing] back and [being] tentative.”
Ugly: A bad start, a bitter irony
The Quakers dug themselves into a sizable hole to start on, dropping their first five matches of the dual to go down 15-0. Last year, it was the Quakers who went on the road and seized the matchup from the beginning, winning the first five bouts. Even though the Quakers were favored in the majority of their last five matches, they failed to erase the deficit.
Penn remains winless against Wagner, as it suffers an overtime loss, 75-69, at the Palestra. There weren't a lot of bright spots for the Quakers in this edition of the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
THE GOOD: Bagtas continues to run the show
Though occasionally hindered by some rookie mistakes, freshman guard Tony Bagtas followed up on his commitment to reducing turnovers, logging eight assists compared to three turnovers against the Seahawks. With some fine-tuning, he could be the most efficient passer for Penn this season.
THE BAD: It's under review.
An argument against the use of video review in sports is that it disrupts the flow of the game. This sounds like a preposterous position until one sees a game like this one and realizes the incalculable number of things that can be reviewed. The referees visited the video board so many times that their reviews in the second half and overtime elicited booing from the crowd. Perhaps the most agonizing use of the review was one that took several minutes and only resulted in adjusting the clock from 27.0 to 28.1 seconds remaining.
THE UGLY: Penn loses its cool.
There were so many ugly aspects to this game that it's difficult to catalogue them all. (For instance, neither team shot better than 33.3 percent from the field.) But the most gut-wrenching of all the flaws was the Quakers' squad just looking flat-out undisciplined in this game. Bagtas was called for foolish flagrant foul, Miles Cartwright fouled out for equally frivolous reasons and Tony Hicks is fortunate to not have been tossed from the game after a technical foul followed by an unwarranted hard foul in the waning moments of the contest. Penn logged 23 turnovers and 28 fouls in the game, leading to 39 free throw attempts for Wagner, which the Seahawks converted at an impressive rate of 84.6 percent. Their discipline at the free throw line mirrored their composure down the stretch. Meanwhile, Penn came apart. It was an ugly sight to behold.
It's game time at the Palestra! Can the Quakers snap a two-game losing streak against the NEC favorite Seahawks? Follow along with myself and Senior Sports Editor-Elect Steven Tydings:
Who'll be up and down for the Quakers when they take on Lehigh at the Palestra on Sunday? We decide:
Three Up-
Recent success: In a matchup that resembled Sunday’s dual meet on paper, the Quakers were able to upset the Mountain Hawks 24-12 on the road in last year’s dual. Last year’s unranked Quakers squad took down a No. 21 ranked Lehigh team, and the currently unranked Quakers take on a No. 23 ranked Hawks squad this weekend. Although there has been a lot of turnover this season, Penn’s three wrestlers who faced Lehigh last year – Andrew Lenzi, Casey Kent, and Steve Graziano – that are slated for Sunday’s dual won their matches against the Hawks last season. The Quakers know they can beat this Lehigh team, and it only helps that the dual is at the Palestra.
Star-power and firepower: Sunday’s dual is shaping up to be an entertaining, intense affair. It will feature seven ranked wrestlers across the two rival squads – four for Lehigh, and three for Penn. Lorenzo Thomas, who is ranked No. 9 at 184 pounds and is 10-2, is Penn’s highest-ranked wrestler. The two other ranked Quakers are Casey Kent, who is No. 13 at 165 pounds, and Frank Mattiace, who is No. 19 at 197 pounds. The pair of Lehigh wrestlers to look out for most is Mason Beckman, ranked No. 7 at 133 pounds, and Joey Napoli, who is a defending EIWA champion and is ranked No. 8 at 157 pounds. Both grapplers are undefeated thus far. Although none of the ranked grapplers will go head to head, it will be nice to see some of the best talent in the EIWA on display at the Palestra on Sunday.
Penn’s impact freshmen: Penn freshmen Caleb Richardson and Frank Mattiace have erased any uncertainty about their respective weight classes – 125 and 195 pounds – and played a large role in the Quakers’ early success, which they look to build on this weekend. Richardson is 3-0 in duals this year, and 6-2 overall, with both losses coming against top 10 opponents. Richardson will face another freshman, Lehigh’s 5-3 Darian Cruz, on Sunday. The intense Mattiace has burst onto the scene with a 10-3 overall record, and two decisive dual victories. He will face Lehigh sophomore John Bollich, who has started the season 7-6.
Three Down-
Tough scenario: The Quakers might be running into Lehigh at the wrong time. After starting 1-3 in duals, the Hawks ripped off three straight wins at the Northeast Duals this past weekend, which propelled them back into the top 25. Lehigh will look to take advantage of the momentum generated by the three wins, which came over Central Michigan, Columbia, and No. 11 Virginia. The Hawks will also be out for revenge after last year’s 24-12 defeat at the hand of the Red and Blue.
Still getting there: Although Penn has a winning record and has seen a good amount of success thus far, like coach Rob Eiter has stressed, the Quakers have had their share of missed opportunities this year. Penn only boasted one champion at the Keystone Classic a few weeks back, and most recently, dropped a number of winnable matches against No. 24 Bloomsburg. The Lehigh team the Quakers face Sunday is of similar caliber to Bloomsburg, and has beat Huskies this year, 22-13. Missed opportunities on Sunday will mean a step down to .500 for the 2-1 Quakers.
Heavyweights moving in opposite directions: Penn senior heavyweight Steve Graziano, who started off the year 4-1, has dropped five of his last six matches after losing in duals against Bloomsburg and Boston University last weekend. On the opposing end, Lehigh sophomore heavyweight Doug Vollaro is on a three-match winning streak. If Sunday’s dual is tight until the end, the trends at the 285-pound class will need to reverse in order for Penn to come out on top.
-Seamus Powers
Senior forward Fran Dougherty has been in a Penn uniform for a while, but Fox Sports 1 thought he was older ... a LOT older ... during its broadcast of Penn-Villanova on Wednesday.
Image courtesy of @SKaneCSN.