M. Hoops set for N.Y. trip

What a difference a weekend can make. Last Friday night, the Penn men's basketball team began its Ivy League season against Dartmouth without its star point guard due to an ankle injury that sent senior Andrew Toole to the bench. The Quakers got a 23-point win over the Big Green Friday without Toole. And by Saturday night Toole was back and in top form -- pouring in 21 points in a 75-59 drubbing of Harvard. Fast forward one week. With a pair of league wins under their belt and Toole firmly cemented as a starter, the Quakers (10-5 overall, 2-0 Ivy) now take to the road for a pair of games at Cornell(7-10, 2-2) and Columbia (2-15, 0-4) this weekend. "We did what we're supposed to do," Penn sophomore guard Tim Begley said. "We're supposed to win on our home floor. "Now, we have to go win on somebody else's." Tonight, the Quakers will try their hand at Cornell's Newman Center in Ithaca, N.Y. The Big Red -- who started out 2-0 in the Ivies this year with a pair of victories over Columbia -- came crashing back to .500 last weekend after getting thumped twice on their home court by Brown and Yale. In those two losses, which came by a combined 45 points, Cornell shot 33 percent from the field, including a 30 percent clunker against Yale. And while the Quakers also crushed Cornell the last time they met in Ithaca -- Penn topped Cornell, 78-53, on March 2, 2002 -- they are hardly breathing easy as they head into tonight's game. Given their recent results at Cornell before last year's romp -- a three-point win in 2000, followed by a two-point squeaker in 2001 -- Penn would consider it a mistake to approach tonight's game any other way. "They always play really well at home," Penn senior point guard David Klatsky said. "We're going to have to be prepared if we want to win." The Big Red are anchored by junior guard Ka'Ron Barnes (11.9 points per game) and sophomore forward Eric Taylor. Taylor -- who averaged 11.3 ppg and 6.7 rebounds per game after moving into the Big Red starting lineup for the last three games of the 2001-02 season -- has elevated his game even further in his second year. The 6-foot-8 Taylor has upped his totals to 13.8 ppg and 7.5 rpg and already boasts three 20-plus point games this season. Taylor will not be the only frontline player to test the Quakers' defense this weekend. Tomorrow night, in Penn's annual trip to Columbia's Levien Gymnasium, it's likely the Red and Blue will have their hands full with 6-foot-10 Chris Wiedemann. Though Wiedemann doesn't possess the gaudy stats like Taylor -- he averages 5.6 ppg along with 6.1 rpg -- it is his ability to make an impact on both ends of the floor that worries the Red and Blue. Just a junior, Wiedemann is already the all-time Lions' career blocked shots record holder. Six of his 174 career blocks came in last weekend's loss to Yale. And on the offensive side of the ball, Wiedemann is an able contributor, having scored seven and eight points respectively in last year's two games against Penn. "He's such an athletic guy, so we're going to have to keep him off the glass," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "He's not going to step out and hit a three on you, but from 15-feet in, he's very good." Wiedemann is the lone starter back from a Columbia squad that gave Penn fits last season. The Lions not only stole a one-point victory at the Palestra last year, but also gave the Quakers a scare in a 51-47 Penn win in New York. New faces in the Lions' starting lineup include senior Marco McCottry (9.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg ), and a trio of freshmen -- including an all-rookie backcourt of Jeremiah Boswell and Dalen Cuff. And while beating the Big Red and the Lions on their home courts is always a challenge, that Penn has to traverse New York State in between its back-to-back contests certainly exacerbates the task. The snowfall did not effect the Quakers as they arrived in Ithaca yesterday. "The biggest issue is the distance between both schools," Dunphy said. "We're going to play at Cornell, the game is going to be over at 9:45 p.m. and then after a four hour bus ride, 22 hours later we're going to have to be ready to go again."

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