Penn's Big Dance cut short

Florida shut down Penn in the second half to erase a double-digit Quakers lead. SEATTLE -- It wasn't supposed to end this way. Senior tri-captain Paul Romanczuk was not supposed to foul out of his final game with zero points. The Quakers were not supposed to shoot 35.7 percent from the free throw line. Jed Ryan and Matt Langel were not supposed to go a combined 0-for-5 from three-point land in the second half. The entire Penn squad was not supposed to score only 18 points in that second half. But that is exactly what happened Thursday at Seattle's Key Arena, as the sixth-seeded Florida Gators (22-8) came from behind to beat the 11th-seeded Quakers 75-61 to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. "I thought Florida did a great job in the second half of taking us out of some things we wanted to do," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "I thought their zone toward the end of the half, we really got tentative with it. "Our foul trouble -- just getting 23 minutes out of Paul and 18 out of Geoff -- I thought hurt us a little bit. Our zone offense didn't do a good job of getting the ball in the middle of the floor, maybe get ourselves some easy looks." The result was especially painful considering the Quakers (21-6) jumped out to a 14-3 lead on their way to a 43-32 halftime margin. But that was before a second-half collapse reminiscent of the 50-49 home loss to Princeton. Florida went on a 28-5 run that spanned more than 13 minutes of the second half and left the Quakers down 13 with 2 1/2 minutes to play. With a stagnant second-half offense, Penn had little hope of extending its season to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994. As in 1994, this season ended at the hands of the Gators, who dominated the second half with a relentless full-court press, tenacious defense, powerful big men and freshmen who were freshmen in name only. "I think it was our low post that won the game tonight, our ability to defend Romanczuk, it was our ability to rebound the basketball which ignited our first break," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "When we took the lead and went to the zone, it was our defense that won the game." Florida ultimately outscored Penn 43-18 in the second half to turn an 11-point halftime deficit into a 14-point win. And just like that, the season was over. After 21 wins, a 13-1 conference record, the first win over Princeton since 1996 and the first outright Ivy title since 1995, the Quakers fell to probably the toughest opponent they faced all year. But the Gators did not look so tough in the opening minutes. Penn jumped out to a 9-0 lead on two three-pointers from the left side by Ryan and one from Jordan. After six missed shots and two turnovers, Florida finally got on the board with a Kenyan Weaks trey at the 16:45 mark. Penn continued to roll, however, with another Ryan three. On Florida's next possession, Jordan stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up. With both teams lacking NCAA Tournament experience, Penn's junior- and senior-laden team seemed better prepared for the big time than Florida -- which sports three freshmen and two sophomores in its eight-man rotation. "It was the first game in the NCAA Tournament for the entire team and there was certainly some nerves," Donovan said. But five minutes was all it took for the Gators to get warmed up. After the 14-3 Penn run to start the game, Florida played the Quakers even the rest of the half to go to the locker room with Penn up 43-32. Penn's three-point shooting was the story in the first half as Ryan knocked down 6-of-7 threes and put up 22 points -- one short of his career high -- before the break. Langel added four threes in as many attempts while scoring 14 points before the break. But things were not as bright as they seemed, as Jordan was the only other Quaker to score before halftime. Romanczuk and junior center Geoff Owens did not score a single point, combining to go 0-for-2 from the floor and 0-for-4 from the line. To make matters worse, both players spent time on the bench with two fouls. While Penn's big men were struggling, Florida's inside players utilized weight and strength advantages despite not sporting anyone over 6'8". But the Quakers made a whopping 11 three-pointers in 17 attempts to maintain a double-digit lead at the half. "I went into the locker room and challenged them, 'Is this the way we want the season to end, where we're not playing as well as we possibly could?'" Donovan said. The Florida players answered his question with a resounding no. Both teams started the second half cold, before Penn received a crushing blow in the form of Romanczuk's third foul on a questionable charging call 2 1/2 minutes into the half. Little did he know, he would only play four more minutes in his Penn career. The next few plays saw Florida freshman Mike Miller do some damage, accounting for seven of the Gators first eight points after the break. Despite Miller's heroics, Penn still led 48-38 during an official timeout with 14:56 to play. That was when everything fell apart for Penn. The Gators began a 28-5 run as Romanczuk and Owens spent most of the time on the bench in foul trouble. Ryan, Langel and Jordan -- who played 39, 36 and 35 minutes, respectively -- began to tire as a deeper Florida team seemed to have an endless supply of fresh legs. The Gators' full-court press was now stifling the Quakers, as Penn committed 12 turnovers in the second half. "We handled the press, but once we got it over we started playing tentative, and you just can't win when you start playing tentative, not to lose," Jordan said. "You'd think we'd have figured it out by now, it's been haunting us all year -- not being able to put a team away. It came back and got us again tonight." With barely any Quakers offense in the paint, Penn had to rely on threes. Donovan saw the Quakers' predicament and made sure his defenders did not give Ryan and Langel the open looks they exploited in the first half. Penn did not help its cause when it did have scoring opportunities, as Jordan missed the front end of two one-and-ones. Romanczuk also missed two at the line, although his second miss was negated by a Jordan lane violation. Florida freshman Teddy Dupay led the charge with nine points during the run, including a high-arching two-handed layup at 10:56 that gave the Gators their first lead of the game, 49-48. Penn took a huge blow at 5:58 when Romanczuk was called for his fifth foul while battling for an offensive rebound. Owens joined him on the bench 28 seconds later after picking up his fifth battling for an offensive rebound on Penn's next possession. With their two big men done for the day and a 60-50 deficit staring them in the face, the Quakers were running out of hope. The last few minutes saw a plethora of three-point heaves from NBA range, forced shots and turnovers from the Quakers. But while Penn shot 5-for-14 from the free throw line for a season-low 35.7 percent, the Gators made 11-of-12 down the stretch to seal the win. Penn finished the second half a dismal 6-for-22 from the field (27.3 percent), including 3-of-15 threes (20 percent). "For Jed and Paul, especially -- I've worked with these guys every day for four years -- it hurts a great deal for me," Dunphy said. "I feel badly for them and I hope that the other guys will learn from it and they'll be stronger next year when we get our opportunity again."

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