M. Hoops looks to right ship

The Penn men's basketball team looks to get back on track tonight in its first game after a tough 78-75 overtime loss at Harvard Saturday night.

In their first test following their misstep in Boston, the Quakers (10-4) host the Delaware Blue Hens (7-8) at the Palestra at 7:00 p.m.

Even without the Harvard loss, the Quakers should have plenty of motivation heading into tonight's game, as they try to avenge last year's loss to the Blue Hens in Newark, Del.

"They whupped us," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of last season's 76-66 Blue Hens win. "They just whupped us."

On Jan. 17, 2001, the Quakers shot just 39 percent from the field and fell to 3-10 on the season.

"[The Blue Hens] kind of put it on us last year there," junior point guard Andrew Toole said. "We're hoping we can play better than we did Saturday night."

To do that, Penn will have to shoot better than the 39 percent from the floor and 33 percent from outside that the Quakers shot on Saturday.

"You have to get over it," Dunphy said of the Harvard loss. "We didn't do a good job, and they don't give you takesies-over in this world. You can't say, 'Listen we didn't play well, can we try that again?' At 9:00 last Saturday night, that would've been great, but that's not the way this thing works."

Both Dunphy and Toole think that this week's practices have helped the Quakers redouble their efforts after the loss.

"I thought we had three real good days of practice," Dunphy said. "I thought we had a good couple of sessions. I think they're refocused, and obviously the Delaware game [will give] us a better indication of how refocused they are."

Toole suggested that the team might have refocused right after the buzzer sounded Saturday night.

"[The] Harvard [loss] probably could've been a wake-up call," Toole said. "We might've been thinking that we're a little better than we are and may not have been working as hard as we should be and we could be."

As for tonight's game, the Blue Hens look remarkably similar to the Quakers. Both teams have an inside presence, and both can shoot from the outside.

"They've got a number of really good athletes, on their squad," Dunphy said. "They have a couple of guys that are back that kind of lead them in [guard] Austen Rowland and [forward] Maurice Sessoms, two fine basketball players."

The Blue Hens also feature sharpshooter Mike Ames, who saw limited action against the Quakers last season, but has been instrumental for the Hens this year.

One thing the Quakers have going for them this season that was missing last year is Toole, who will be playing in his fourth game in 10 days after having been sidelined for nearly a month with a stress fracture in his foot. Toole says he's near full strength.

"During the [Florida International] game there was definitely some rust," Toole said. "But then three days of practice and going up to Dartmouth and Harvard I think I lost a lot of the rust.

"If there was any rust, it needs to be gone. The season's too deep to have anymore rust."

News and Notes

Junior forward Ugonna Onyekwe needs just five points to reach 1,000 for his career... Dunphy was on the cover of last Friday's Philadelphia Daily News in a photo montage of several prominent Philadelphians all wearing Eagles headbands.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.