Lafayette next on tap for M. Hoops

When the Penn men's basketball team takes the floor tonight it will put out a starting lineup that is suddenly familiar. One that does not include reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Ugonna Onyekwe. For the fourth straight game -- the first three of which were Penn wins -- Onyekwe will begin the game riding the pine as Penn (6-4) takes on Lafyette (7-8). Penn coach Fran Dunphy's decision to bench Onyekwe was a result of the senior forward's tendency to pick up early fouls and to provide a then struggling team a boost. It was for a "little bit of each," Dunphy said. "I don't want to see U starting off the game getting quick fouls. But, he's also been very effective for us coming of the bench watching the flow of the game initially." And should the Quakers win against the Leopards, Onyekwe might not get back amongst the opening five for a while yet. "If it proves to be successful again we'll just stay with it," Dunphy said. Onyekwe is dealing with the situation as well as a mature senior leader would be expected to. "I'm glad we're playing better," Onyekwe said. "He starts me, he doesn't start me, I have to just come out and play" "He's handled it pretty well," Dunphy said. "I'm sure he's frustrated a little bit but he's handled it well." Penn has been playing its best basketball of the season since Onyekwe was first benched against American. The Quakers have won the three games since by an average of 31 points, including routs of USC, 99-61, and Monmouth, 98-54. However, commonality might not equal causality. "I don't know how much it has to do with that particular situation," junior guard Jeff Schiffner said. "We've just been playing a lot better as a team and I wouldn't attribute that to anything like Ugonna coming off the bench, or any single factor."

In fact Penn's improved play might have little to do with Onyekwe or the frontcourt in general, as the Quakers have shot 28-for-48 from three-point range in their past two games. "We've obviously shot the ball extremely well recently," Dunphy said. "If we can continue to do that it would be great for our team." However, it is unrealistic to count on the Quakers shooting the ball at the phenomenal rates that they have in their past two outings. "You don't expect to shoot like we did at USC or even the other night [against Monmouth]," Schiffner said. "But when they're giving us shots, we've got to step up and hit them. It's part of our offense and maybe we"re not going to shot as well every night." Penn might have another chance to display its deep-shooting ability tonight, as Lafayette almost exclusively plays in a zone defense, which is frequently best attacked by shooting over it. "If they'll allow us to get the ball inside that would be great," Dunphy said. "Our philosophy is always the same: to get the ball in first and as the defense collapses to kick it back out for easy shots or refeeds into the post. But each game presents a different issue...we're going to have to be able to adjust as the game goes on." Penn will need to adjust midgame in all likelihood due to Lafyette's inevitable familiarity with Penn's game plan. Lafayette coach Fran O"Hanlon was an assistant at Penn under Dunphy from 1989-1995. John Krikorian, an assistant at Penn the past two seasons, is also on O'Hanlon's staff. "He's an outstanding basketball coach," Dunphy said of O"Hanlon. "He's done a great job at Lafyette. He's a great man. "We look forward to playing his team for all the right reasons -- not because it's ever easy to play against them, in fact its always difficult... They'll have a great idea of how were going to approach the game and our attack points so we'll have to make some great adjustments as the game goes on." Making midgame adjustments is marginally easier when bringing arguably your best player off the bench -- which Penn will do at least for one more game.

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