It is always down to the New York minute for Penn men’s basketball.
In its nail-biting matchup against Columbia, impressive performances on the glass by both the offense and defense pushed the Quakers to a hard-fought victory. It was a much-needed bounce back from the tough losses faced by the team earlier this season, as well as the previous night’s 90-62 loss against Cornell. While the match against Columbia featured standout performances from senior forward/center Nick Spinoso and sophomore guard Sam Brown, the game was the overall culmination of team-wide shooting and scoring that offered a glimpse to the performances everyone envisioned going into the season, but which ultimately fell short.
Just three weeks prior, the Quakers fell by two points against Princeton in part due to only making 26.9% from three. The Quakers shot only 10 for 17 from the foul line overall, compared to Princeton’s 12 for 13. The match was close until the final two minutes, when two missed free throws and a missed three widened the scoring deficit. Those seven missed free throws amounted to what could have been a victory in a game that came down to one possession.
“I thought there [were] times that we were so anxious. … I thought we had open shots, and we just rushed them,” coach Steve Donahue said.
Over the next two weeks, close losses to Yale (71-72), Brown (72-82), and Harvard (78-79) shared a common message with the Princeton game and with the season as a whole: The Quakers struggled to keep composure in clutch situations. And among the close moments in those games, missed opportunities at the free-throw line and downtown prevented the Red and Blue from coming out on top.
The situation against Cornell this weekend was no different. In the first half, junior forward/guard Michael Zanoni was unable to follow through at the foul line. By the end of the first half, the Quakers’ 33% in field goals and 16.7% from three led to a 36 point halftime lead for the Big Red. While a series of runs to start the second half primed the Quakers for a comeback, they were unable to follow through with a performance roughly mirroring the first half.
“We’ve been pretty resilient … playing through tough losses and … fighting through it. I just didn’t think we did that tonight at times until the second half,” Donahue said.
In making over 60% of their field goals and threes by the first half, the Big Red made one thing clear: They had consistency in scoring that the Quakers did not. But the game against the Lions would prove otherwise.
With Penn ahead by one to two possessions down to the buzzer, Sam Brown delivered from the free throw line by shooting 10 for 11 in the final two minutes. Overall, the Quakers would successfully shoot 17 for 19 in free throws, one of their best performances across the season. Despite a team average of 69.3% for successful free throws throughout the season — placing Penn only ahead of Brown in the Ancient Eight — its performance at Columbia showed that the Quakers were capable of consistency in the clutch.
Sam Brown's record-breaking 42 points was the highlight of the Red and Blue offense, but the team maintained a strong shooting record throughout both halves. The trio of Brown, Spinoso and junior guard Ethan Roberts, who were frequently featured on the starting lineup throughout the season, all put up double digit points and strong performances. Overall, the Red and Blue’s 55.2% in field goals was a season-high and a stark improvement from the 34.4% from the night before.
“I give our guys credit. There’s some craziness going on, [but] they kept their heads. They didn’t turn [the ball] over … I thought we handled it well,” Donahue said.
Developing this consistency heading into the offseason will be a major step forward for a program that has been struggling to stay afloat the past few seasons. Stemming from the at-large problem of finding a shot at the line, the team stands last in the League with a 42.0% in field goal percentage.
One opponent stands before the end of regular season play: Princeton.
"We struggled so bad against them. There's a stretch of six years that we had more Ivy League wins to them … but we hadn't beaten them," Donahue said. "You come to Penn, you want to beat Princeton."
The team's night-and-day difference in performance between Cornell and Columbia showed that they had the confidence and ability to perform in clutch situations. And against a rival that's proven victorious for the previous twelve straight matchups, coupling the confidence that arose from their previous close losses with the season-high performances at Columbia may finally topple the throne to the Red and Blue.
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