Evading the dog house

The men’s basketball team is in danger of ending the fall semester without a victory for the first time since 2000.

Friday’s 73-67 loss to Navy leaves the 0-5 Quakers with only two remaining opportunities to pick up their initial victory before they take a two-week break at the conclusion of the semester. Tonight’s showdown with Albany will be Penn’s only chance to do it at home.

Though the team has lost its first five games, coach Glen Miller insists that his players are confident in their ability to put the rough start behind them.

“As hard as it may be, you have to stay positive and stay together,” Miller said. “We have a lot of basketball left to be played. I think we’ll start to win, it’s just a difficult start.”

The Great Danes (3-6) are certainly a beatable opponent. Their three wins have come against teams with only four victories between them, and they enter tonight’s matchup having lost their last three contests, including an 83-54 trouncing at the hands of Siena on Saturday.

Albany has struggled to put points on the scoreboard, averaging only 60.7 points per game. Senior Will Harris and junior guard Tim Ambrose lead the way, each averaging over 15 points per game. Harris, a transfer from Virginia, has played a critical role in the team’s three victories, including a 22-point outburst against reigning Northeast Conference Champion Robert Morris.

The rest of the team, however, has yet to contribute much offensively. Starting center Brett Gifford, for example, has scored just nine points in as many games.

The culprit is not bad shooting — Albany shoots a respectable 41.2 percent from the field — but rather turnovers, which have plagued the team all season. Its 18.3 turnovers per game are the 24th worst in the nation.

The Quakers, for their part, aren’t scoring prolifically either, averaging only 66 points per game. In addition, five players — including starters Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber — missed Friday’s game with injuries.

Miller also pointed to the team’s 9-17 free throw shooting as a major factor in the loss.

Last year, it was Penn’s shooting performance that was the difference maker in a 73-63 loss at Albany last year. The Quakers made just one-third of their second-half shots and only six of their 26 attempts from three point range.

Fortunately for the Quakers, however, the game’s leading scorer — Albany point guard Anthony Raffa — transferred to Central Carolina after the season’s end.

But despite last year’s loss and this year’s tough start, the Red and Blue remain confident that they’re on the brink of picking up their first win.

“We really believe that [a win is] coming versus hoping that it’s coming,” sophomore point guard Zack Rosen said. “Guys genuinely believe that we do enough out here — that it’s coming around.”

But without a win tonight or in Saturday’s game against Monmouth, the Quakers will have to wait at least two long weeks to get rid of the goose egg in the win column.

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