Coach Jerome Allen, Fran Dougherty and Greg Louis speak after the Quakers' 83-60 loss to the Blue Hens (see recap), in which five Penn players did not play as a result of a suspension for violating team rules:
After a long layoff for finals, the Quakers (2-7) take on Delaware (3-8) at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del. I'm here with now former sports editor Mike Wisniewski and hoops beat writer John Phillips. Follow along and join the conversation as Penn looks for its first win since Nov. 28.
Another new Buzz feature comes just in time for Penn's tilt with Delaware tonight. Just like the name says on the tin, we'll look at whether the Quakers and their opponents will go over or under a certain number.
15-point win for the Blue Hens –UNDER
Since Delaware trumped Penn, 84-69, in the first round of this year’s NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament, both teams have taken a nosedive. Both teams have dropped seven of their last eight and are coming off of a double-digit loss to Villanova. But while UD is only averaging 2.7 points per game more than Penn, the Blue Hens' schedule has been much more daunting, including blowout losses to Pitt (which boasts the nation's seventh-ranked defense) and No. 2-ranked Duke. The key to keeping the game close for Penn will be limiting Devon Saddler’s production. The junior guard averages 20.5 points per game and has led the team in scoring in eight of the team’s 11 games. Expect Penn to use the 13-day break since the last game to figure out how to stop the Delaware offense and keep this game closer than the first meeting.
20 points for Fran Dougherty – OVER
Dougherty posted a career-high 21 points against Delaware in the second game of the season, a coming out party for him after he notched nine points in the opener against UMBC and averaged just 4.5 points per game a season ago. Fran hasn’t been shy to shoot this year, leading the team with 104 attempts and making them count with a 51.9 percent shooting percentage. Penn will need to lean on Dougherty to get by a Delaware team desperate to end their own troubles at home, and Doc has already shown what he can do to the Blue Hens.
Three Blue Hens in double figures – PUSH
Delaware's scoring has been balanced for the better part of this season. Four players have scored 10 or more points three times so far, and six players have reached double-digits in points during the season. This balance makes Delaware difficult to defend. Although they lean heavily on Saddler and senior forward Jamelle Hagins (who have been in double figures almost every game), the complementary scorers differ every game. If Penn focuses primarily on Delaware's biggest threats, look for multiple other players to get into double figures.
Three Quakers fouling out – UNDER
When these teams last met, Penn’s season was just unfolding. One issue that has plagued Penn all season long is team-wide foul trouble. In the Quakers' November matchup with the Blue Hens, Tony Hicks, Jamal Lewis and Miles Cartwright all fouled out of the game. There appears to be no indication yet that the Red and Blue have found a solution for their fouling woes, hacking Villanova 30 times in their last contest. But with almost two weeks off for finals and the end of the semester, one would think that the Quakers will be sending out less invitations to the charity stripe this time...right?
It's time to introduce another new feature to the Buzz: Behind Enemy Lines, in which we talk to opposing coaches and players as well as the writers who cover them.
On Monday, I was able to talk with Delaware assistant coach Phil Martelli, Jr. about the Blue Hens' perspective going into their Friday night tilt with Penn at the Bob Carpenter Center. Martelli has been scouting the Quakers all year. And after playing for St. Joseph's from 2000-03 under his father, head coach Phil Martelli, and current Delaware head coach Monté Ross (a Hawks assistant at the time), Martelli, Jr. knows Penn a lot better than most Red and Blue opponents. He talks bragging rights, Penn's poor rebounding and more after the jump:
Obviously you beat Penn pretty solidly a month ago (84-69). What was the key to winning that game for you guys?
Martelli: I thought in that game our defensive pressure set us apart a little bit. We were able to turn them over a little bit and that’s how we built our lead.
Did you learn anything about Penn in that game?
Martelli: Well not anything necessarily new, but obviously Dougherty and Cartwright scored 41 of their 69 points, which is pretty much doing what they’d been doing. They’ve been getting about half the points and all that. They hurt us so we have to limit them and do a decent enough job on these other guys so they don’t turn a four point a game guy into a guy who scores 20.
How has already having played the Quakers once influenced your scouting and the team’s preparation?
Martelli: I’ve watched basically every game that Penn has played this year because of playing them early and watching all the games in between. When you watch them play against somebody else you go, ‘Oh, I like what that team did against them,’ or, ‘All right, here’s what Penn’s trying to do against so-and-so.’ Well, everybody’s different. We have different personnel, different ways to play. So something that Villanova did that worked against Penn might not work for us but something that Binghamton did that didn’t work for them might work for us. When you’ve played the team once already, similar to league play, it gives you a frame of reference of, this is what we do and this is what works and what didn’t work. Hopefully we’ve done improved enough to do those things Friday night.
Is there anything that didn’t work for you against Penn last time?
Martelli: We got a little sloppy late, 18 turnovers was too many. They defended, really physical. We have to take care of the ball better. That number has to be like 10, 11, because we were able to shoot decent numbers against them when we got shots. So it’s going to be key to get enough shots. Our defense the first half of the game was not very good, we gave up 50 percent from the field, 4-for-7 from three. We did a much better job in the second half, I attribute that to some of our defensive pressure. So we have to be sharp right away and make that a two-half thing, not just a one-half thing.
The NIT Season Tip-Off Tourney in Charlottesville over a month ago seemed to turn out well for you guys. What did you learn from that tourney about your squad?
Martelli: Any time you can go on the road, whether it be neutral court like the Penn game where there’s nobody around, there’s no atmosphere, it’s late at night—to have enough discipline to win that game, and then the next night play less than 24 hours later and be on the floor of an ACC team, I think it just gives you the confidence that you can beat anybody, anywhere, anytime as long as you play the right way. In that game we did. Some of these other games we haven’t done enough of the right things.
Last month you rebounded the Quakers, 47-24. Is rebounding an advantage for you guys going into this game as well?
Martelli: Yeah, without a doubt. They’re giving up, I think it’s like 12 and a half offensive rebounds per game, they’re being outrebounded by eight a game. We have good bigs and we have to take advantage of that. We just saw yesterday with Villanova, they pounded us on the glass and it’s why we lost the game. Had we kept them on the offensive glass, they wouldn’t have been able to score enough points to win. We’re not shooting great percentages but we’re shooting better than our percentages would lead people to believe right now.
But when you’re not shooting the ball well you gotta try and get yourselves free bees, and if we can get on the glass, I always think that getting an offensive rebound gets you two points or puts you on the foul line. And with Penn we’ve seen that, they’ve been giving up some offensive rebounds, it’s why their foul numbers are so high.
Coming from your alma mater, is this still a rivalry game for you?
Martelli: Yeah, without a doubt. Any time you play the Philadelphia teams, being a Philadelphia guy coming from St. Joe’s, any time you play those teams, it gives you a little extra spark. The familiarity—knowing Jerome Allen so well, knowing Ira Bowman, knowing Jason Polykoff, knowing all those guys as well as I do, there’s a little bit of a bragging rights-type thing. But it is special because I know how good Penn is, I know what a great place it is. It’s a place I have the utmost respect and admiration for, so when you play them, you want to win. Obviously when you play anyone, you want to win, but when you play those teams, the Temple or La Salle or Villanova, Drexel—we haven’t played St. Joe’s, thank God for that—it’s extra special.
The Green Bay Packers clinched the NFC North earlier today with a 21-13 road victory over the Chicago Bears, giving former Penn football '12 grad and current Packers offensive lineman Greg Van Roten the chance to celebrate an NFL division championship.
And he did so in style, wearing a cap boasting "NFC North Division Champions" in a photo posted on his Twitter account shortly after the game. "This hat I got for this thing I did," he also wrote on Twitter.
Van Roten currently serves as a backup center and guard and is taking practice snaps with the first team (see story), but he's also been playing on special teams.
We've learned that sophomore forward Keelan Cairns has decided to leave Penn for a semester following an early-season stretch that has seen the Belfast, Ireland native struggle with back issues that have kept him from dressing.
We've also now learned that Cairns is headed home after exams and will stay home in Ireland for the spring semester. He is planning to have back surgery and will start his rehab over there.
Cairns plans to return at the start of summer for preseason and resume his Penn basketball career at that time.
It remains to be seen whether he plans on trying for a redshirt this season and picking up a fifth year of eligibility.
Cairns played nine total minutes for Penn last season before not seeing any playing time so far in 2012-13.
In October, we noted a blog post Cairns wrote for the Courtside Collective in which he admitted to considering surgery to shave off the bulging disc in his back and release the trapped nerve inhibiting him.
Jack Scheuer over at Philahoops is choosing the five best players from each of the City 6 schools over the past 50 years as part of an ongoing feature, and now he's gotten to Penn. Here's what he came up with:
1. Corky Calhoun
2. Ron Haigler
3. Keven McDonald
4. Jerome Allen
5. Zack Rosen
Interesting to see Matt Maloney left off, and Quaker fans who only remember the last 20 years or so will also have a soft spot for Ugonna Onyekwe, Matt Langel and Mark Zoller. Those who can remember a little further back may consider Tony Price or even Stan Pawlak as well, not to mention Mr. Bilsky himself. Who are your top five Quakers of the past 50 years?
The Palestra hosted its first Big 5 matchup of the 2012-13 campaign, a foul-filled and turnover-laden affair between Penn and Villanova. Despite shooting just 4-for-17 from the field in the first half, the Quakers stayed in the game behind 24 free throw attempts, including a perfect 8-for-8 performance from Miles Cartwright, in the opening frame. But Penn could not keep pace with Villanova in the second, as its shooting woes continued and turnovers piled up. The Wildcats extended their lead to double digits and shutdown Penn's attempts to get back in the game, as Villanova went on to win, 68-55.
THE GOOD: Steve Rennard puts up 12 points. After scoring some crucial buckets toward the end of last season, the shooting guard had all but disappeared from the stat sheet this winter, averaging just 3.5 points per game through eight games. But Rennard looked more like himself tonight, knocking down two treys late in the game to go along with six free throws. Perhaps even more important than him scoring was that he didn't stop shooting even after his first couple shots rolled out. Penn will need him to stay confident and keep firing in order to make the Quakers a legitimate threat from three-point range.
THE BAD: Dougherty disappears. Villanova came ready to guard Fran Dougherty and succeeded in stifling the junior forward. The Ivy League's leading scorer at 17.1 points per game finished with a measly two points on 1-for-3 shooting. Even in a game with 52 personal fouls between the teams (yes, we'll get to that), Doc shot no free throws whatsoever. After his seven-point performance against Penn State and tonight, it's become clear that opposing squads know that shutting down Doc is a key to beating Penn. And it would seem they're right.
THE UGLY: Hack-a-thon at the Palestra. Villanova and Penn tallied a combined 52 personal fouls on the night, leading to 71 free throws. That said, the whopping number of fouls cannot be entirely attributed to the players, since the referees seemed determined to call virtually every bump, and love tap, as a foul. For a game between two Philadelphia basketball squads, the matchup had none of the grittiness or toughness expected from a Big 5 contest, primarily because anything smacking of toughness at all was called a foul.
The Quakers kick off the Big 5 schedule tonight at the Palestra with Villanova. The Wildcats are 0-2 in the Big 5 and also have a loss to Columbia this season. Tonight's game is on NBC Sports Network, but follow along our liveblog and join the conversation!
Just because Penn wrestling is in the midst of a four-week break doesn't mean Penn wrestling isn't keeping busy.
After defeating Lehigh and Hofstra by the scores of 24-12 and 21-12, respectively, Penn (2-1) has entered the USA Today/NWCA/AWN Division 1 Coaches Poll for the first time this season. The Quakers' only defeat so far came at the hands of current No. 2 Oklahoma State.
The Red and Blue are currently ranked No. 22, one spot ahead of the Mountain Hawks, who were No. 21 before Saturday's bout. Penn is now second in the EIWA behind No. 8 Cornell, whom they will face on Jan., 26 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Penn's individual grapplers have been moving up in the rankings as well. After a strong start to his season, sophomore C.J. Cobb now ranks at No. 16 in the 141-pound weightclass according to the InterMat rankings. At 125 pounds, Mark Rappo moved ahead of Hofstra's Steve Bonnano, who he defeated in overtime Sunday, 9-7, and is now No. 19.
Despite a three-week absence, Micah Burak (197 pounds) is still No. 8, although he fell out of the OpenMat rankings. He should be back in time for the Midlands Championships in Evanston, Ill., on Dec. 29-30. Burak finished second at last year's Midlands Championships and will be looking to surpass that performance this year.
On the road in State College, Pa., the Quakers fell to the Nittany Lions of Penn State, 58-47. The Red and Blue entered halftime with a nine-point deficit, largely due to an abysmal offensive effort in the first half that yielded just 22 points. Though Penn rallied late in the second half behind an energetic performance from freshman Tony Hicks, pulling to within four points at one time, the Lions put together a few runs of their own, putting the game out of reach for good.
THE GOOD: Tony Hicks dunks on a Penn State big man. Posterizing someone while losing is always less glamorous, but that said, Hicks' throwdown gave the Quakers a much-needed spark in the second half. Here's the breakdown of the play: Camryn Crocker caught the ball on the left wing and faked a pass, which created room for him to drive. As he penetrates he slings a one-handed pass to Hicks in the right corner. Hicks takes the ball baseline, virtually uncontested, until he takes off one foot and finishes with a two-handed dunk over a Penn State big man.
THE BETTER: He's only a freshman. And it's going to be fun to watch him the next three years.
THE BAD: Take your pick. It's difficult to decide where to start after this game. Of course, 16 turnovers is an eyesore, but then again, so is 22 first-half points. What's worse, the Red and Blue shot even more poorly from three-point range in the second half, when they converted just 2-of-13 from distance. Or what about team leaders Fran Dougherty and Miles Cartwright combining for 11 points on 5-of-19 shooting? Take your pick for the "bad" of this game.
THE UGLY: Foul play. The Quakers racked up 26 personal fouls in the game, and many of them were concentrated among a few players who didn't even play significant minutes. For instance, Steven Rennard and Darien Nelson-Henry (somehow) combined for nine fouls in just 17 minutes of play. Similarly, Greg Louis picked up three fouls in seven minutes, and Henry Brooks fouled out in 20 minutes. Overall, the Quakers rank 10th out of 347 teams in the nation in terms of personal fouls per contest. The fouls not only put Penn in the bonus early and often, but they also make the game a painful experience for the few spectators that showed up to the Bryce Jordan Center.
Sports writer Steven Tydings and I have successfully made the trek from Philadelphia to University Park, and we're all set for the action between Penn and Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center. The struggling Quakers will try to pick up their first road win of the season, while the Nittany Lions are looking for new options in the wake of losing star Tim Frazier to injury. Follow all the action with us here on the live blog.
Just three games into the season, the Penn women’s basketball team has been dealt a significant blow. The team announced Friday that starting point guard Meghan McCullough has torn her ACL and is out for rest of the season. The injury came during the team’s most recent game on November 18 at Army.
This comes just a few weeks after Jackie Kates decided not to return to the team for her sophomore season. The injury to McCullough further depletes the Quakes' depth at guard while leaving the team without a true point guard.
Through the first three games of the season, McCullough led the team with 3.3 assists per game. She finishes the year with 3.3 points per contest while also averaging 2.7 rebounds per game.
Where the team will proceed from here is uncertain. The Quakers remains winless early in the season and now have a large hole to fill in their back court.
Penn turned around its five-game losing streak by grabbing a 65-54 win over Binghamton. The Quakers are now 2-5 on the season and hope to take their momentum to State College when they face Penn State this Saturday.
THE GOOD: Dau Jok's career high eight points. Yes, Fran Dougherty had another big night, recording a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. But it was Dau who received the greater applause when the two came off the court in the second half. Jok had a career-high 8 points for the Quakers in 12 minutes. On a night where Penn shot 35% from the field, Jok shined shooting a perfect 3-for-3. I expect to see more of Dau's sweet stroke in upcoming games.
THE BAD: Outrebounded again? Penn was last in the Ivy League in rebounding margin coming into the game and they won't be moving up the rankings after last night. They were outrebounded 49-39 and registered a pitiful eight offensive rebounds. Other than Fran Dougherty, who had 13 rebounds, no Quaker had more than five. Only one Quaker, freshman Darien Nelson-Henry, had multiple offensive rebounds. If Binghamton center Roland Brown didn't have early foul trouble, the Bearcats may have pulled this one out. Brown, who fouled out in the second half, had 5 points and 7 rebounds in just 11 minutes of play.
THE UGLY: The Palestra scoreboard. With 1:03 left in the second half and Penn winning 62-50, the scoreboard malfunctioned at the Palestra. Binghamton's players and fans were quick to voice their complaint that their score was off. Binghamton's leading scorer Jordan Reed, a Philadelphia native, was particularly upset that his stat line only showed 15 points when he had earned 16. It took the scoreboard operators a few minutes to fix the problem. A rare complaint by visitors about playing in the Palestra!
I'm here with David Greenbaum at the Palestra where Penn takes on Binghamton. Let's see if the Quakers can end their five game losing streak.
The Quakers comeback to grab overtime victory over Lehigh, 82-79 November 28, 1994
Though Penn had some trouble at Lehigh last week, back in 1994, a win against the Mountain Hawks — then the Engineers — was supposed to be a gimme for the Red and Blue.
For the majority of the game, the Quakers looked extremely beatable. The shots weren’t falling and they were having trouble with free throws and rebounding as well.
In the first half, the Red and Blue went 0-for-12 from beyond the arc while Lehigh grabbed 21 defensive rebounds. The only Penn player with more than four points in the first half was Eric Moore.
With Lehigh sinking the majority of its shots, the Engineers took a 36-29 lead into the locker room.
Even as the Red and Blue went on a run early in the second, the Engineers kept chugging along, building up a lead of 15 points before the Quakers finally woke up.
The Penn team that the fans were searching for in vain all night long finally emerged in the final minutes of regulation and overtime.
Matt Maloney tied the game with just over four minutes to play and though the teams went back and forth, Lehigh still led, 70-69, with less than a minute on the clock.
With 48 seconds remaining in regulation, Jerome Allen sank two free throws to put the Quakers up by one. But Lehigh quickly came back with a three-pointer from Rashawne Glenn. On the ensuing possession, Allen nailed a jumper off a pass from Maloney with five seconds to go, sending the Quakers to overtime.
In the extra session, Allen led the team to victory, adding seven points and finishing with a total of 22.
After the game, Allen said the Quakers fought through adversity to get the win.
“Character is made through adversity and it really brought out the best in us,” he said. “From this point on, I hope all our opponents bring out the best in us.”
The win marked the first of the year for the Quakers, who ultimately finished with a 22-6 record and unblemished 14-0 Ivy League title. They lost, however, in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Alabama.
Those who watched the Giants crush the Packers on Sunday Night Football this week may have caught a glimpse of former Penn football player and current Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Greg Van Roten. As we wrote two weeks ago, the 2011 grad currently serves as a backup center and guard and is taking practice snaps with the first team (see story), but he's also been playing on special teams.
We took the time to question Van Roten on some of non-Packers questions in this edition of 30 Seconds With:
Do you have Aaron Rodgers’ cell phone number? No, I don’t think anybody has that.
Best food in Green Bay? Cheese Cake Heaven. We all go there for the sandwiches, but they’re famous for dessert.
What do you miss most about Penn? Where do I start? All my friends mostly, but also being in a city like Philly. Never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. I miss Philly.
Best dancer on the team? Donald Driver, he won Dancing with the Stars.
Tim Tebow or Mark Sanchez? Ha, neither.
I'm here again with hoops beat writer Allison Bart at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., where Penn takes on Lehigh in the consolation bracket of the NIT Tip-Off Tournament. The Quakers fell last night to Fordham, so let's see if they can find a much-needed victory tonight.
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