The similarities between the Palestra and Hinkle Fieldhouse couldn’t be more evident, but only one arena takes the cake.

For the Quakers, the first step toward success is learning to deal with a defensive press and tight man-to-man ball pressure, but it appears that this may not happen next game or even this season.

For the second straight season, Penn (6-5) surrendered a second-half lead over St. Joseph’s (9-5), falling to the Hawks, 66-53.

The Quakers fell to La Salle after coughing the ball up 21 times, including 15 times in the first half alone. It was Penn’s sixth-straight loss.

The Penn basketball team has one glaring, fatal flaw. And the only way to fix it is through effort and a willingness to win.

It was all No. 17 Butler down the stretch, and the Bulldogs closed out the game on a 21-5 run to coast to a 70-57 victory at the Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Penn basketball is suffering from a similar lack of strong leadership. Call it “the leadership cliff,” because if nobody steps up soon as the leader of this team in clutch situations, the Quakers will fall even further into a downward spiral.

The Quakers won both of their games in Ames, Iowa, taking down Air Force, 61-39, a day after beating Alabama State, 52-37.

Despite returning five key contributors from one-game suspensions, Penn (2-9) fell in overtime to Wagner (6-5), 68-63. The Quakers missed their leading scorer, junior forward Fran Dougherty, as he recovers from mononucleosis.

The Daily Pennsylvanian is hearing from various sources that alcohol may have played a role in the suspensions. Our original sources, though, maintain that positive drug tests triggered the suspensions.

The Quakers had one of their best defensive efforts of the year, defeating Alabama State, 52-37, in the first game of the Cyclone Challenge.

A highly reputable source has told the Daily Pennsylvanian that Miles Cartwright, Henry Brooks, Tony Hicks, Darien Nelson-Henry and Steve Rennard were all suspended for Penn basketball’s game at Delaware on Dec. 21 after failing random drug tests.

After suspending five players at least a week ago, and with games against Butler and La Salle on the schedule in the next few weeks, this struggling 2-8 squad is going nowhere fast.

Like any good drama story, Penn men’s hoops leaves us with more questions than they do answers after falling to Delaware for the second time this season, 83-60.

The adrenaline the new guys brought was enough to afford the Quakers an early 10-point lead, but their energy faded down the stretch as the Blue Hens rolled to a 83-60 victory.

The Quakers were blitzed by Drexel’s high-powered offense from the outset, and the Dragons carried their first-half lead to a blowout victory, 77-50, Penn’s first loss since Nov. 18.

The Quakers coasted to a 54-40 win over LIU-Brooklyn on Sunday. The win was Penn’s fourth straight after beginning the season 0-3, marking the first time the Quakers have reeled off four consecutive victories since February 2005.