M. Hoops vies for Big 5

Crazy things can happen in the Big 5. For example, in tomorrow night's game at the Palestra against St. Joseph's, Penn will be introduced as the road team in its own building. Common sense and the Quakers (7-4, 2-0 Big 5) are here the victims of the rotational system -- which has installed the "visiting" Hawks as the hosts. "There's going to be a huge crowd, a lot of fans for St. Joe's and a lot for us," Penn forward Jeff Schiffner said. "It's going to be a lot of fun. It'll be loud like it always is." Perhaps wearing their road jerseys could be an advantage tomorrow night for the 8 p.m. tipoff. In the Red and Blue's games against Monmouth and USC, both away, they have posted 99 and 98 points, respectively. They most recently beat Lafayette by 10 in Easton, Pa. Penn stunned USC at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Jan. 11, 99-61. One week later, the Quakers throttled Monmouth, 98-54, in Asbury Park, N.J. Like in those games, junior Adam Chubb will start in place of senior Ugonna Onyekwe. A run at free cheesesteaks -- 100 points -- does not seem to be in the cards tomorrow, however. St. Joe's (13-2, 1-0 Big 5) has played a relentless, pressure-style defense this year, which has limited opponents to an average of just 55.6 points per game. The numbers are staggering. The most points that the Hawks have surrendered this year is 78, in an overtime victory at Gonzaga. That is the only time that Phil Martelli's club allowed more than 63 points this season. Incidentally, St. Joe's most dominating defensive display came at the Palestra on Dec. 7, when the Hawks shut down Drexel in a 50-37 win. This has all the potential for a Big 5 classic, as an explosive Penn offense looks to penetrate basketball's version of Dallas' Doomsday defense. "We're shooting it well in this stretch here," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "But the problem is that we can't count on shooting that well every night. "We have to count on playing good defense and making good decisions on offense. Hopefully, we'll be able to move the basketball and run our offense as crisply as we can and get good shots." St. Joe's Jameer Nelson, a junior guard from Chester, Pa., has not had much of a problem locating his shot this season. Nelson is shooting 46 percent from the floor in 2002-2003, scoring a team-high 18.5 points per game, and grabbing a team-high 5.1 rebounds per game. "We're going to have to try a couple different things to hopefully not let him affect the game as much as he can," Dunphy said. "Whether it's not letting him touch the ball as much as he typically does, or double-teaming him." Schiffner agreed that the first- team All-Atlantic 10 star will be difficult to handle. "He's the leader of their offense. Everything is pretty much run through him," Schiffner said. "We have to try to contain him as best we can." Dunphy explained, however, that St. Joe's features a number of other offensive weapons as well. "Delonte West is becoming one of the best scorers in the area, if not [on] the East Coast. He's another guy that we really have to pay attention to," he said. West, a 6'3" sophomore from Greenbelt, Md., is averaging 17.1 points per contest. Still, the good news for Penn is that the Hawks score a shade under 70 points per game. Yet, in such a fierce rivalry, such stats often mean little. "City games are a lot more intense -- the atmosphere is incredible," Penn guard Andrew Toole said. "There will be a great buzz. "And those are the games you really want to win -- bragging rights in the city is very important. We're defending Big 5 champs, so we want to defend our crown and get a win on Saturday night."

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