Cold shooting night dooms Penn men's basketball in 74-56 loss to Harvard

BOSTON – It’s pretty hard to win a game of basketball if the ball never goes through the hoop.

In a frustrating game in which they shot a feeble 32 percent from the floor, Penn basketball fell to Harvard, 74-56, in the penultimate game of the Ivy basketball season, ensuring that they will finish below .500 in conference play for the fourth consecutive season.

The Red and Blue (11-16, 5-8 Ivy), coming off an eight-point loss to Dartmouth in Hanover Friday night, started off extremely cold, making only one of their first seventeen shots and digging themselves a rapid 26-7 hole. The Quakers then held steady with the Crimson (14-16, 5-9) for the rest of the game, but by then the damage had been done.

Still, despite the catatonic shooting night, Penn coach Steve Donahue spoke positively of the team’s performance.

“I was pleased with our effort, first and foremost,” Donahue said. “The execution and poise though … it has to get better.”

Freshman Max Rothschild, who scored 18 points in his first career start Friday, made just two of his twelve shots. Guard Darnell Foreman and forward Matt Howard struggled similarly, shooting just 3-for-10 and 6-for-20 respecively.

The Red and Blue further compounded their poor play by failing to effectively collect their many missed shots — Harvard outrebounded the Quakers 44 to 28.

“I don’t think we showed the toughness and the resilience this weekend that we’ve showed the rest of the season,” Senior center Darien Nelson-Henry, speaking in less optimistic terms than his coach, said.

Considering it was the season’s final weekend and the team was in the midst of the league’s longest roadtrip, it would not be unreasonable to blame the team’s disappointing play on simple fatigue.

However, Donahue was quick to dispel that notion.

“I think we were fresh. We did a good job of keeping our bodies fresh in practice. Plus we’re young, I didn’t sense [fatigue] at all.”

Donahue went on to praise the team’s ball control [the Quakers won the turnover battle, 17-7] and ability to get good looks – even if those shots didn’t fall.

“Young teams miss a lot of shots,” Donahue said. “And we didn’t turn it over. We had open shot after open shot.”

Though the game will mean little in the conference standings as Yale clinched the Ivy title with a win on Saturday night, the Quakers will now prepare for Tuesday’s matchup with archrival Princeton (21-6, 11-2) in the season finale.

“Everyone who comes and plays at Penn has an instilled hatred for Princeton,” Nelson-Henry said. “I know the young guys are developing it, and me and [fellow senior Jamal Lewis] will feel that way for the rest of our lives.”

So, Tuesday will represent the Quakers’ big chance to send two of their emotional leaders out on a high note.

If they control the ball and play with the intensity they did Saturday, they’ll likely stand a chance to beat the Tigers at Jadwin Gym for the first time since 2009.

However, if they replicate tonight’s shooting performance, they will be forced to face the offseason with a bitter taste in their mouths.

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