Penn sneaks up on Trojans

(See below for other Winter Break results) Inglewood, Calif. -- On Saturday, the Penn basketball team performed its own version of "Showtime" in the same arena that Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers called home. The Quakers (5-4) set a school record by shooting 72-percent (36-of-50) from the field on their way to a 99-61 rout over the University of Southern California Trojans at the Great Western Forum Saturday night. The crowd of 3,856 witnessed a three-point exhibition as the Red and Blue connected on 15-of-20 from behind the arc. "I don't think we are going to ever play against a team for the rest of my career that shoots it like that," USC coach Henry Bibby said. "I won't say this year. I said the rest of my career." Penn shot 88 percent (21-for-24) in the first half and scored on 11 straight offensive series. Perhaps even more amazingly, of Penn's 21 first-half field goals, 19 came off assists. The Quakers ended the half with a 28-5 run that put the game out of USC's reach before the intermission. Senior forward Koko Archibong paced all scorers with 21 points and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. The game was a homecoming for Archibong, who played high school basketball in Southern California. The team enjoyed dinner at the Archibong household the night before the game. "A lot of family was here, a lot of people from my high school," Archibong said. "I had a lot of support." He received a standing ovation from the large turnout of Quakers fans when he exited the game. "I was happy for Koko," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "It was a nice homecoming for him." Junior guard Jeff Schiffner nailed all four of his three-point attempts for 12 points and added six assists. "Even the guys who came off the bench made threes," Bibby said. "It was really their night." Ugonna Onyekwe, the team's leading scorer, came off the bench for the second straight game. The senior forward netted 19 points in 21 minutes, including three dunks. Center Adam Chubb replaced Onyekwe in the starting lineup and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field. The junior connected on a two-handed jam and an alley-oop from guard Andrew Toole. Chubb fouled out in only eight minutes of court time. For USC (6-5), the loss came three days after a dramatic 80-75 victory over cross-town Pac-10 rival UCLA. The Trojans traditionally do not schedule games for the weekend after the UCLA game. "I think it's tough for them too, with the big emotional win Wednesday [against UCLA] and they have [No. 2] Arizona coming up," Dunphy said. "I'm not sure it was the perfect timing for USC." USC sophomore forward Nick Curtis was the only player in double figures for the Trojans. The Trojans had troubles on both ends of the court, as the Red and Blue won convincingly for the first time outside of Philadelphia this season. The Quakers only previous road win was against Villanova at the First Union Center. USC's full-court press was consistently ineffective and the Trojans shot a team-low 30.8 percent from the field. "We didn't get any easy break points because they were making every shot," Bibby said. "They either got a dunk or an open jumper, and that's the way it was tonight." After an up-and-down Winter Break schedule, the Quakers appeared to finally put together the complete offensive game they had been awaiting all season. "[Penn] is a team that's going to break out and tonight they broke out," Bibby said. "They showed why they won their conference and why they went to the [NCAA] tournament."

Men's hoops played three other games over the break:

Lost to Providence, 74-71

Lost to Colorado, 80-57

Defeated American, 66-55

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