In its final non-conference game before beginning the Ivy season, the men’s basketball team couldn’t ask for a better measuring stick.
Saint Joseph’s visit to the Palestra tomorrow night will be its third against an Ancient Eight opponent. The Hawks have already fallen to Cornell and Princeton earlier this season.
More directly, however, the contest provides an opportunity for the Red and Blue (1-12, 0-3 Big 5) to halt their historic Big 5 losing streak and prevent a third consecutive winless Big 5 season. It also gives the Quakers a chance to end St. Joe’s four-game winning streak in the teams’ rivalry.
Both squads enter with some momentum, though the Hawks (7-11, 0-2) are riding a two-game win streak after narrowly topping conference foe Dayton 60-59 Saturday.
The Quakers, on the other hand, are coming off two competitive Big 5 losses, 76-57 to La Salle Wednesday and 60-45 to Temple last week. In both games, Penn limited its opponent’s lead to five with less than ten minutes remaining but could not get any closer as the visiting team pulled away.
Tonight’s matchup will be a showdown between two prolific scoring point guards in Penn’s Zack Rosen and St. Joe’s Darrin Govens.
Govens leads the Hawks in scoring with 12.7 points per game but is also the team’s most frequent shooter. He puts up over 11 shots per game, more than three higher than his next closest teammate.
When he’s hitting those shots, however, it pays off, as evidenced by his 23-point performance in leading the Hawks to a 77-67 season-opening overtime victory over Drexel.
Rosen, too, has emerged as his team’s primary scoring option, posting 17.3 points per game, including 97 points in his last four contests. Against the Explorers Wednesday, his 28 points were more than half of the team’s total.
Particularly impressive has been his long-range shooting, as he has worked himself into the top 25 in the nation on three-point field goal percentage.
Though Rosen will obviously prove key for the Quakers — especially against a team that relies so strongly on its guardplay — the Hawks’ big men could prove a bit of a relief for Penn’s banged-up frontcourt, as Saint Joe’s has the seventh-worst rebounding margin in the nation.
Look for juniors Jack Eggleston and Conor Turley to have breakout games in relief of the injured Andreas Schreiber — who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season — and Mike Howlett, whose return is undetermined.
A solid showing against St. Joe’s will build momentum for the Quakers heading into conference play.
And if they can top a team that has already fallen to two top Ivy opponents, they will send the message that they can be competitive in the Ancient Eight, despite their rough start.
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