Penn basketball vs. Dartmouth | Good, Bad & Ugly

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Penn basketball carried momentum from its victory against Saint Joseph's into Ivy play, holding off a late Dartmouth charge to win, 58-51. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly from the game. 

The Good: Matt Howard and Greg Louis stepping up

I already highlighted Antonio Woods' performance in my column [Shameless self-promotion] so it's time to give props to the other two big performances from Friday night. While juniors Tony Hicks and Darien Nelson-Henry dealt with foul trouble, Howard and Louis stepped up on both ends of the court to lead the way. Howard had 18 points and three three-pointers while fighting through sickness (more on that later) while Louis was an efficient 4-for-5 from the field, scoring 10 points while grabbing eight rebounds. 

The Bad: What else? Turnovers

If there are any running trends with Penn basketball, it's gotta be the turnovers. After 19 turnovers in their impressive win over Saint Joe's, the Quakers added 16 turnovers, including 12 before halftime. While they successfully limited the Big Green to just five points off turnovers (actually fewer than Penn scored), that likely won't fly against a superior Harvard defense on Saturday.

The Ugly: A Michael Jordan-style flu game

No, I'm not comparing Howard to arguably the greatest player of all-time, but the sophomore guard wasn't just fighting Dartmouth defenders tonight: He was fighting a stomach bug (the flu was a misnomer). How bad was it? I'll let Jerome Allen fill in the details.

"He was sick. Threw up at halftime, stuff all over the toilet," Allen said of Howard's halftime struggles. "To his credit, he weathered the storm and gave us what we needed."

That's right: Matt Howard threw up at halftime and then added 11 more points. The Ivy League should probably scared for when he gets healthy, especially since Howard said the win "helped a lot."