Penn misfires with game 'on the line'

Michael Jordan won the battle of the Philly point guards in a Penn Loss. No, he does not don a superman T-shirt underneath his jersey like another well known Penn athlete, but he does have the dubious distinction of wearing the number 23 on the back of his uniform. Penn sophomore point guard Michael Jordan doesn't need to pretend he is a superhero. Everyone has known from the day he stepped onto the Palestra hardwood that he has super human powers. It would be completely unfair for Penn's Jordan to even be mentioned in the same breath as the original Michael Jordan -- who many basketball enthusiasts consider the greatest hoopster of all time -- but after witnessing a game like he had versus St. Joseph's this past weekend, one has to wonder if Jordan fails to get the credit he deserves. Prior to Saturday night's contest, there was a great deal of attention paid to Hawk's point guard Rashid Bey, who is averaging 18.8 points and 4.5 assists per game. As St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli astutely pointed out after the performance Jordan displayed against Bey, one has to wonder if the correct point guard is receiving all the kudos thrown his way. "Michael Jordan's offensive game has dramatically improved," Martelli said. "It was a great performance by a kid that really stepped up to the challenge, because going in you would say 'this is a young guy playing against an older guy' and Rashid has obviously received more notoriety." Not only did the 6'0" Jordan (20 points on 7-for-16 shooting) outscore every player Saturday night, including Bey, who only had 11 points, but he amassed the most assists for both teams with six. The icing on the cake for the second smallest person on the court was his 15 rebounds, including 4 offensive boards. Not only was this a game high -- only the Hawks' 6'8'' center Harold Rasul also had double figures in rebounds with 11 -- but the last time a Quaker had 15 boards was by 6'9'' Tim Krug during an 80-51 blowout of Dartmouth Feb. 24, 1996. The Philadelphia native had mentioned before this past weekend that his sudden gift for rebounding was a result of him trying to make up for his "bad passing." Penn coach Fran Dunphy went one step further in describing his floor leader's recent prowess on the boards. "He has a great feel for the game and he is a good athlete," Dunphy said. "He has great speed and quickness and toughness as well. And that is the name of the game, because if you are a tough person you can usually come up with these kinds of numbers." One has to wonder where all the energy comes from, considering Jordan often matches up against the opposing team's best perimeter player. On Saturday night, Jordan played all but one minute versus St. Joe's, and this season he has become accustomed to being the iron man on the Penn squad. His offensive game versus the Hawks was only complemented by the defensive show he put on guarding Bey. The Hawks captain finished the night connecting on just three of his nine field-goal attempts, as well as dishing out only three assists. While Martelli felt his point guard's sub-par outing was a result of Bey's "poor shooting" rather than Jordan's defense, it has to be noted that for most of the evening when Bey was in the game Jordan blanketed him. Martelli, apparently trying to be gracious, initially began his portion of the post-game conference by congratulating Dunphy and his players for their performance in the absence of sophomores Matt Langel -- out for the game with a bruised right thigh -- and Geoff Owens -- out for the season with hypertension. Martelli's sympathy for the undermanned Quakers was not enough of a bandage for Jordan, who despite his great night was noticably frustrated in the post-game press conference. In addition to having an amazing game statistically, he also did the little things which included breaking in freshman guard Lamar Plummer. The two-guard started a game for the first time in his collegiate career. Never once did it look as if Jordan was letting up. His relentless effort on defense and offense kept the Quakers in the game and gave them an opportunity to at least tie St. Joe's and go to overtime. This is what impressed Martelli the most. "The other thing Jordan did was he gave maximum effort out there tonight, which is what you want to see every player to do on every team," Martelli said.

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