Free throw follies fail to follow M. Hoops to Lafayette

In a series that began with a 23-17 Penn victory February 3, 1917, not a whole lot has changed in the past 84 years when the Quakers and Leopards have gotten together. Sure, thanks to a shot clock, the teams have each put a few more points on the board in the modern era, but the Red and Blue have almost always wound up with more. Lafayette entered Saturday afternoon's game with an unimpressive 6-9 season record, but that was substantially better than its 3-31 lifetime record against Penn. And on a snowy day in Easton, Pa., a 32nd loss has been added to the record books, as the Quakers won their fourth game this season. But it is the way in which Penn won its 1500th game in its 101-year history that was at the same time most surprising as well as promising. The Red and Blue's atrocious free throw shooting has been well documented up to this point. The two-time defending Ivy champs had shot just 59% entering Saturday's contest. But Penn knocked down 16 of its 20 opportunities from the line against the Leopards, who in turn went just 10-17. "We're very happy to be shooting 80 percent," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's something we shoot for everyday in practice, and I think some guys stepped up and made some big ones." One of those guys was sophomore forward Ugonna Onyekwe, who fired 6-of-7 at the line at Lafayette after hovering around the 50% percent mark for most of the season. Sophomore forward Koko Archibong was another. He was previously a 63% foul shooter, but he canned all six of his tries at the Kirby Sports Center. And freshman Charlie Copp, who had been equally unsuccessful from the floor as well as the line during the season, made four of his six free throws, an improvement from his previous average of 50 percent. "Koko made a couple of really huge foul shots, and Charlie Copp stepped up at the end as well," Dunphy said. "I'm hoping that he's dissatisfied with 4-for-6, and he wants to be 6-for-6. But it was important for us." Throughout the season, Penn has experienced a variety of free-throw related difficulties. Whether the issue has been lack of attempts, or just failed execution from the line, the Quakers are hopeful that Saturday's defeat of Lafayette can lead them down the right path. In the early portion of the schedule, the Red and Blue did not have that much trouble drawing fouls. The problem was conversion. In Penn's first five games, it reached the line 135 times, an average of 27 trips per game. However, the Quakers were able to make only 73 of those attempts, good for just a 54-percent rate. Leading up to Saturday's game, the problem had only been compounded, as the shooting percentage remained essentially the same, but the attempts per game took a nosedive. In one particularly frustrating game, Penn seemed to have its stroke down against Temple when it shot 70 percent from the stripe. Unfortunately for the Quakers, though, they only got to take 10 shots that day. So for a team that has shot below 50 percent from the foul line five times this year, an 80 percent performance is something worth savoring. It has happened only on one other occasion this winter, in an 85 percent performance in a loss to Maryland. "I think any team that is going to win close games is whoever shoots the best foul shots and gets there the most often," Dunphy said. "They're probably going to put themselves in good shape."

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