GAME ANALYSIS: M. Hoops 'bench' press New England Ivies

A pair of freshmen, two members of the 1995-96 JV squad and a long-lost Mboya come up big. Maybe Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy should listen to his assistants more often. Often criticized for not using his bench enough, Dunphy, at least for the time being, quelled any criticism with flurries of substitutions throughout both games this weekend. With junior forward Jed Ryan out with a broken finger and sophomore guard/forward Matt Langel's questionable status after missing three games with a deep thigh bruise, Dunphy had no choice but to look down the bench and give guys like George Mboya, Jeff Goldstein and Mike Sullivan extended minutes. "Well, if I would listen more to my assistant coaches, it would be that way all of the time," Dunphy said. "They want me to play more guys, give more opportunities earlier all season long, whether it would be with or without the injuries. "We knew we had to throw guys in and out of there. Hopefully we were going to get good minutes from the subs off of the bench." In the 84-69 victory over Harvard Friday night, Quakers were checking into and out of the lineup at a frenzied pace. Senior co-captain Goldstein was the first Quaker off the bench, replacing junior forward Paul Romanczuk with over 17 minutes remaining in the first half. That substitution sparked a chain reaction of substitutions to follow, including periodic wholesale changes of three and four Quakers checking in at a time. In total, the Quakers made 18 substitutions in the first half, with each player entering and exiting at least twice. The 18 first half substitutions were a season-high. In the second half, the Quakers substituted 20 times. "We had 11 healthy bodies out there and I'm not afraid to use any of them," Dunphy said. "Hopefully they will come through for us and do a good job. I have confidence in them. I know they don't get much of an opportunity, but even if it was Mike Dzik and Mike Melcher, I think they'll do a good job when they get in there." The frequency of substitutions allowed the Quakers' starting five more opportunity to rest, a luxury not always available during the season. Seven Quakers finished Friday's game with double-figure minutes. Junior forward George Mboya, who may have been the best overall Quakers reserve of the weekend, played 20 minutes in relief of starting center Josh Sanger, who struggled both offensively and defensively. Freshman guard Lamar Plummer also saw plenty of action when Langel took his breaks. Much to Dunphy's pleasure, the breaks that Langel needed were few and far between. Despite missing three games with an injury that was supposed to limit his playing time this weekend, Langel played 34 minutes against Harvard, netting a career-high 32 points on 6-for-9 from beyond the arc. "In all honesty, prior to his injury, I thought he was starting to play tremendous basketball," Dunphy said. "Obviously he didn't skip a beat." Langel followed up his career-night with another bold performance the following night which should garner him serious consideration for Ivy League Player of the Week. In fewer minutes, Langel compiled 14 points, bringing his two-game total to 46 points. He also totaled five assists, five rebounds and four steals. He is among the nation's leaders with a .563 three-point field goal percentage. "I felt pretty good," Langel said. "I had a couple of days where I got to work out hard. The trainers were worried about my wind, but I felt pretty good out there and it was good to get back in the flow this weekend." Despite Langel's successful return to the starting lineup, Dunphy did not abandon his substitution strategy the following night. Continuing his nine-man rotation in the 71-57 win at Dartmouth, eight Quakers reached double-digits in the minutes column. Goldstein exceeded his season-high of seven minute played (which he reached Friday at Harvard) with ten solid minutes. Mboya followed up his Friday fantastics with a sensational Saturday. While the starting Sanger played only 13 minutes, Mboya played 26 minutes, grabbed seven rebounds, and even dished out two assists. "With Jed not playing, that frees up 30-something minutes a game, and George is certainly the next guy in line," Dunphy said. "For the first time all year, Josh wasn't ready for the back-to-back thing. George was needed, and I thought he came through and did a good job. He's a good basketball player, and probably needs to play more to get more confident." When Ryan returns from his injury, which may be sooner rather than later, it is unclear how Dunphy will allocate time for his reserves. One thing is clear, however. No matter how late in the game, or how close the score is, the bench proved that given the opportunity, it can perform on a high level both offensively and defensively. "It would be great if we could play nine and 10 guys on a consistent basis," Dunphy said. "We played nine guys tonight and I would like to do that as much as possible, give these guys a rest. It's important to use the bench, and it's nice when they come through."

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