St. Joe's drubs Penn men's basketball 86-69 in Big 5 opener

The Hawks ruled the skies as Penn men's basketball fell to St. Joe's 86-69 at the Palestra.

In the first game of Big 5 play, the Quakers were outmatched by a Hawks team whose size and athleticism made for a difficult matchup from the opening tip. After remaining within arm's reach for much of the first half, a dominant second half start from St. Joe's ultimately doomed the Quakers, who suffered a fifth straight loss to their crosstown rivals.

“I’m obviously disappointed, but I’m far from discouraged… we can come together,” coach Steve Donahue said.

This season will mark the second time the Big 5 utilizes “pod play,” where the ‘City 6’  consisting of Penn, Saint Joe’s, LaSalle, Villanova, and Drexel are broken up into two groups of three. Each group will complete a round-robin before the two pod winners face off under the bright lights of the Wells-Fargo Center on December 6. After the Hawks’ 83-76 stunner against Villanova on Tuesday, a win Friday was all they needed to clinch a spot in their second consecutive Big 5 Classic title game — Saint Joe’s also won the inaugural title last season.

The Quakers’ starting lineup notably did not feature senior forward/center Nick Spinoso, instead giving the nod to senior forward George Smith. Prior to tonight, Spinoso had started all 32 games over the Quakers' last two seasons.

“[We were] trying to see if we can get some better flow to our offense,” commented Donahue on this change.

The Hawks were off to a strong start, with forward Rasheer Fleming nailing a three on the opening possession. This was a sign of things to come, with the Hawks making 38% of their three-pointers across the game on average.

The Quakers battled in the early going, with Spinoso providing immediate offense to give the team its first lead of the night. But the Hawks pulled ahead primarily thanks to their explosive finishing — which included a tomahawk dunk by guard Derek Simpson following a Spinoso turnover — as well as their rebounding dominance. In the end, the Hawks won the rebounding battle 43-26.

“This is what [we need] to learn [in] the next practice,” Donahue said. “We allowed them to crash the boards."

The Hawks' offense, led by Fleming and Simpson, was able to maintain their lead through their three-point shots. With eight minutes left in the half, the Hawks were making 67% of their three-point attempts, dwarfing the Quakers’ 17%.

With frequent substitutions between Spinoso and sophomore forward Augustus Gerhardt, Penn's offense struggled to remain on the same page. The Quakers had 10 turnovers, leading to 17 points compared to just five Hawk turnovers, which produced only two Red and Blue points.

Despite trailing by 13 points at the half, the Quakers have had a history with comebacks this season. Most notably, Penn opened its season with a 17-point comeback against NJIT. Friday's game would not follow the same pattern.

The Hawks wasted no time coming out of the half with freshman center Steven Solano hitting a quick three on their first possession to extend their lead to 16. Just one minute later, St. Joe’s had a 20-point margin. The Hawks also continued to own the offensive glass, eventually finishing with 25 second-chance points to Penn's 11.

“I thought the difference in the game was turnovers and offensive rebounds, but [they] were killers,” Donahue said. “There’s a confidence in moving the basketball that we have to develop.”

A three from Fleming with 13:01 started what ended up to be an 11-0 run which culminated in guard Xzayvier Brown’s triple to set the score differential at 32. At this point, it seemed the dust had already settled on the Quakers — and it had.

The Quakers will play their final game of Big 5 pod play on Tuesday against Villanova.

“There’s plenty of talent to really compete for a championship,” Donahue said.