M. Hoops | Yale lacks offensive firepower

Valentine's Day in New Haven. This Penn team just can't catch a break.

But after a historically bad weekend in Philadelphia - in which the Quakers endured their first Ivy League weekend sweep at home since 1968 - Yale's cozy John J. Lee Amphitheater might not be as bad as it seems.

According to sophomore guard Harrison Gaines, the Quakers (5-13, 1-3 Ivy) don't care where they play at this point and should be ready for Yale (8-12, 3-3) Saturday night.

"You've got to take care of business on the road," he said. "That's the name of the game."

Interior defense will also be the name of the game, just as it was last weekend against Cornell and Columbia.

The Bulldogs feature two talented big men in seniors Travis Pinick and Ross Morin, both of whom have paced Yale offensively throughout the season.

Morin, Yale's captain, dropped 16 points in a losing effort, 70-63, when these two teams last met.

By the time Saturday night's game tips off, though, Penn will have already completed three straight games against teams with quality forwards. And while Jason Miller and Jeff Foote - of Columbia and Cornell, respectively - posed an obvious challenge to the Red and Blue, Brown's center Matt Mullery might prove an even tougher test tonight.

Morin and Pinick are skilled and experienced, but both of them - each standing 6-foot-7 - don't have quite the same inside presence as someone like Foote. To that end, the Quakers should have more confidence in the paint on both ends of the floor.

"If you can go up against a 7-footer, it makes it easier to go up against smaller guys," Gaines said. "I think everybody will be ready to attack."

Unlike his teammates, Gaines had no trouble attacking the basket last weekend, scoring a career-high 20 points against the Big Red.

Meanwhile, team defense has been a main focus for Glen Miller and his players in practice this week.

"We've struggled against teams that have an inside presence," the Penn coach said. "We're just trying to build our team defense - not only post defense but [also] defending the ball and pressuring the ball without giving up dribble penetration and defending screens."

Miller noted that given all of the areas Penn needs to work on, it is difficult for the team to pin down one specific item to concentrate on defensively.

Yale has had its share of struggles as well, mostly coming on the offensive end. The Bulldogs average only 62.3 points per game, including a 36-point effort at Cornell in a 28-point loss earlier this season. In fact, Yale's only conference wins have come against Brown (twice) - which remains winless in league play - and a struggling Harvard team.

Of course, the Quakers haven't fared any better - they notched their only league win at Harvard. And to the Bulldogs' credit, they did beat Oregon State and lose by just three points to Alabama in non-conference play, though both of those big conference programs have been very weak this season.

For all of the downs Penn has experienced, this weekend could provide these inexperienced players with a confidence boost - a weekend sweep would get them back to .500 in the Ivy League.

"I don't think [the negativity] helps our young players, but it is what it is," Miller said, speaking about recent reaction at home to Penn's growing pains.

"My message to them every day is just try to get better, and there's better days ahead."

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