Penn basketball set for second straight Big 5 tilt against Temple

In order to move on from a defeat at the hands of Villanova, Penn basketball must internalize the immortal words of the great Chumbawamba: “You get knocked down, you get up again.”

The Quakers (2-3) don’t have long to lick their Wildcat-inflicted wounds from Tuesday night, as another Big 5 matchup beckons a few blocks down the road with Temple on Saturday afternoon.

The Red and Blue will look to get back on track after losing their last two, but it won’t be easy going against a Temple team (5-2) that has won two straight over top 25 teams in No. 25 Florida State and No. 19 West Virginia.

However, Penn is no stranger to playing strong teams either, as the team traveled earlier in the year to Florida to play perennial ACC power Miami before getting trounced by the defending national champions, No. 2 Villanova, at the Palestra. Despite the lopsided 82-57 score, Penn coach Steve Donahue’s film session allowed him to find positive takeaways from the game that will be emphasized in order to beat Temple.

“After watching the film, I thought we really competed well,” Donahue said. “We competed hard when nothing was really going our way in terms of balls falling, so I am encouraged and pleased, but we have to keep working to get better.”

Especially playing against a Temple team with four players averaging double figures in scoring, Penn will need to match the competitive level they exhibited against Villanova with execution. Donahue mentioned the team's notable size and athleticism as factors that the Quakers will need to be prepared for. With a high level of execution and great effort, he continued, they might stand a chance of topping the high-scoring Owls.

Among Temple's four high scorers, junior forward Obi Enechionyia stands out as the catalyst for an offense that has scored over 80 points four times this year. His 20.2 scoring average combined with his 9.0 rebounds per game average makes him a unique threat for the Quakers to handle.

“Enechionyia is obviously their main guy, so you have to figure out how to slow him down and not give him open looks at the basket,” Donahue said. “When he plays well, they certainly play well.”

Contributing to the importance of the game is the fact that it is a Big 5 matchup, something that means a great deal to the entire Penn basketball program.

“The Big 5 to me, and to a lot of people, is still very relevant, and it’s very exciting for our players,” Donahue said. “It means a whole lot. We play against these guys during pickup in the spring and summer. It’s a real rivalry between the players and the schools.”

Donahue’s hope is to grow those Big 5 rivalries back to the levels of their 1970s heyday. His goal is to translate the passion and excitement that his players feel for those games to the students.

“I think that students at Penn will start to feel differently about the Big 5 when we start getting our share of wins in the conference.”

Well, luckily for Donahue, this Saturday offers a golden opportunity to tally one of those elusive wins and to build that campus-wide Big 5 excitement that was on display in flashes at the Villanova game.