Quakers Retrieve initial victory

It took 54 days, a program-record ten-game losing streak and two head coaches, but the men’s basketball team finally earned its first win of the 2009-10 campaign.

The team’s 82-71 victory over University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Jan. 6 capped a tumultuous winter break that began with a coaching change and bottomed out with the program’s worst-ever defeat, a 114-55 nationally televised New Year’s Eve trouncing at the hands of then-No.7 Duke.

The Quakers also dropped contests at Davidson (79-50), Dec. 28 and at Lafayette (77-62) Jan. 3 over the holiday break.

“We needed [the UMBC win] for our confidence,” sophomore co-captain Zack Rosen said. “We needed it to know we actually are capable of winning.

“We finally executed a gameplan and ended up with a win,” he added. “I think it’s huge for everyone in the locker room, just believing and knowing that when we go out there there’s a possibility of us winning every game.”

Penn (1-10) used a slow-tempo offensive gameplan to set up good looks from three-point range against the Retrievers (1-13), hitting 13-for-24 from long distance. That was a marked improvement over the previous three games, when the Quakers shot an aggregate 21-74 on three-pointers.

Interim head coach Jerome Allen — who replaced Glen Miller Dec. 14 — also implemented a defensive scheme that switched between man-to-man and zone looks. The strategy helped slow UMBC’s pace and limited guard Chauncey Gilliam to just two points in the second half after he had netted 16 in the first.

“It’s like dancing. When you have a D.J. playing a song and you’re dancing to one beat, you kinda get used to it and get your rhythm,” Allen said.

“What we want to do is stop the needle,” he continued. “Teams play offense to a certain rhythm. I believe that if you can keep them off-balance and disrupt their rhythm, you give yourself a better chance at being successful in terms of getting stops.”

That defense was essential, as only two games earlier the Quakers gave up a program-record 114 points to the Blue Devils (14-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast), one point higher than Penn allowed to North Carolina on March 12, 1987. The 59-point margin of defeat was also the worst in Quakers history, topping the 49-point loss suffered to UCLA on Dec. 14, 1987.

The Blue Devils struck early and often, rushing out to a 23-8 lead in the first eight minutes, then widening that lead to 29 points at the end of the first half. Midway through the second half they had expanded their advantage to 40 and never looked back.

Five Duke players scored in double digits, led by guard Nolan Smith’s 23 points and forward Kyle Singler’s 20 points. Eleven different players scored for the Blue Devils, who forced 21 turnovers and out-rebounded the Quakers 43-25.

Against Davidson (7-9, 2-2 Southern), Penn struggled to shake off the rust from its 16-day layoff, falling behind early and trailing 46-19 at half. After the break, Penn cut the lead to 19 with just under 14 minutes to go. But the Wildcats went on a 19-4 run that put the contest out of reach.

Penn kept it much closer against Lafayette (10-6, 1-0 Patriot), leading after 12 minutes.

Though the Leopards keyed a run that put them ahead 39-30 at the break, the Quakers kept it close for most of the second half, even narrowing the margin to seven with 8:40 remaining in the game. Lafayette closed the game with an 18-10 run to earn a 15-point victory.

Rosen led the way over the break, totalling 82 points across the four games, including 30 and 28 in the team’s last two games. He led the team in scoring in every game except against Duke, when junior Jack Eggleston’s netted a team-high 13 points.

His contribution was especially important as starters Tyler Bernardini and Andreas Schreiber along with key contributor Larry Loughery are out with “long-term injuries,” according to Allen. Mike Howlett also missed every game over break, but the extent of his injury was unknown as of the UMBC game.

One promising note was the Quakers’ free-throw shooting. The team shot an aggregate 80.3 percent from the charity stripe, an improvement over the 60.3 percent shot over the first seven games. Against Davidson and Duke, Penn only got to the line nine and ten times respectively, but free-throw shooting had a major impact against UMBC as Penn made 21 of 26.

With a win finally under their belt, the Red and Blue will look to carry the momentum from the UMBC victory with them into the rest of the season.

And with only Big 5 games remaining before the Ivy League slate begins, Penn needs all the positive energy it can muster to try to put together a winning streak.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.