1993-94 IVY LEAGUE M. HOOPS STANDINGS: Taking the show north

Quakers meet Brown, Yale The 1993-94 Ivy League season has seen the Penn men's basketball team repulse every effort opposing teams have made to knock the Quakers off as kings of the hill in the Ivies. And with the exception of one game on the road at Princeton, which sounded more like a game at the Palestra than at Jadwin Gym, Penn has successfully been able to fend off any charges to its Ivy superiority in the friendly confines of college basketball's most historic gym. No longer. The Quakers (15-2, 5-0 Ivy League) take their act on the road for the next four games, starting tonight at Brown's Pizzitola Center (6 p.m., WOGL 1210-AM) and tomorrow night at Yale's Payne-Whitney Gym (7 p.m., WBCB 1490-AM, WCZN 1590-AM). And if Penn hopes to realize its dream of a repeat Ivy championship, then it must show the same skill and resilience it has shown on the Palestra floor so far this season. "You know teams are going to gun for you on their home court," junior guard Jerome Allen said. "We have to use that for leverage to go on people's home court and get a victory." While this weekend represents the Quakers' first extended league road trip, it also will be Penn's first glimpse this season of Brown and Yale, two teams that, like the Quakers, rely predominantly on their perimeter game. Tonight against the Bears (8-10, 2-4), the Quakers will do battle with a team that was supposed to be on the rise after finishing last season a dismal 2-12 in league play. But the road to increased success has been covered with potholes for the young Brown squad, which has 12 freshmen and sophomores among its 16 members. This youth is one of the reasons why the Bears have been so inconsistent this season. Brown has beaten the likes of Rhode Island and even stayed close with Duke on the Blue Devils' home floor, but the Bears have fallen to lower-level teams like New Hampshire and Dartmouth. The Bears' erratic play has left coach Frank "Happy" Dobbs scratching his head for an answer. "We're a young team and it's been a roller-coaster ride," Dobbs said. "There have been some pretty good games and some that could have gone a little better." But Dobbs knows that the Bears cannot suffer any lapses in order to stay close with Penn. "We have to play very good defense as well as offense to beat [Penn]," Dobbs said. "It's going to be a game where the team that plays together the best will win the game." Truth be told, Brown more often than not plays to the level of its competition. So the Quakers should expect a much better effort from the Bears, who the Quakers handily defeated 89-54 at the Pizzitola Center in one of Penn's best all-around games of the year. In order for the Bears to stay close to the Quakers, they must continue to get strong contributions from their key players. Much like Penn, Brown has a three-guard rotation that provides the majority of its points -- mostly from long range. The long-distance-shooting triumvirate is led by junior captain Alan Cole. Cole averages 15.7 points a game and is a dangerous three-point shooter, as his shooting from behind the arc (41 percent) is more accurate than from inside (37 percent). Rounding out the trio are sophomore guards Eric Blackiston (11.1 points, 4.1 assists) and Brian Lloyd (11.4 points), who has launched 106 of his 171 shots from three-point land. To realize just how much the Brown offense revolves around these three players, consider the fact that they average 57 percent of the team's total scoring, and have taken 230 of the team's 287 three-point attempts to date. "Cole has played very well for Brown at this point," Dunphy said. "Their perimeter guys are pretty good. Brian Lloyd is a very good three-point shooter. If we let him alone, he can bury some threes on us." The job of keeping Cole in check will belong to Allen, who is finally shaking off the ill effects of a strained shoulder and expects to be at 100 percent by tonight's game -- which he will start. Allen, who has undergone a week of electro-shock therapy, is on an antibiotics and is constantly icing his shoulder to keep the pain down. He felt Wednesday was the first day where his shoulder did not hold him back in practice, and is confident that his rapidly-healing shoulder will not hold him back in any way for this weekend's games. "I'm still a little conscious of [the shoulder]," Allen said. "I'm still favoring it a little [in practice], but come game time, I'll put it all on the line regardless." Not only does Dunphy expect Allen to be at full strength for tonight's game, but he believes Allen will be fine for tomorrow night's game against Yale as well. The Elis (6-12, 3-3) gave Penn one of its toughest games last year, as the Quakers packed it in after leading by 20 points at halftime, holding on for dear life to win 51-50. Penn believes this year's game at Payne-Whitney will be different, and while the Quakers are not guaranteeing a blowout victory, they can guarantee there will not be a repeat of last year's letdown in the second half. "I don't foresee that happening again because we're pretty knowledgeable of what happened last year," senior captain Barry Pierce said. "We just have to play 40 minutes of defense instead of 20." Much like Brown, the Elis possess strong perimeter players. Senior guards Damon Franklin (13.1 points, 3.0 assists) and Josh Jennings (10.9 points, 3.1 assists) are Yale's heart and soul, but they alone cannot carry the team. For the Elis to win they must have solid contributions from their frontcourt. Center Sean Fitzgerald (4.3 points, 5.1 rebounds) has begun to step it up lately, shaking off the effects of a preseason broken ankle. Fitzgerald poured in 19 points and 14 rebounds in the Elis' win at Harvard last weekend. Forward Bernie Colson (9.5 points, 6.8 rebounds) also is a solid inside force for the Yale frontcourt, which was dealt a severe blow two weeks ago when the Elis' leading scorer -- forward Andy Karazim -- went down for the season with a broken wrist. Despite this loss, the Elis still have played better than many expected before the season, despite winning only one game at home. And the Quakers know they can't take Yale, or any team they play the rest of the year, lightly -- especially on the road, where eager combatants will be looking to knock off Penn's prized warriors in a familiar setting. "[Brown and Yale] have nothing to lose," Pierce said. "Teams are going to be coming after us and Princeton because I think it's going to come down to us and Princeton. They're going to get up and play their game of the year."

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