Penn Has The Tempo To A T

Quakers execute defense, schemes in efficient performance

Jan. 14, 2007

By Carolyn Braff

Special to CSTV.com

	Carolyn Braff Carolyn is an assistant editor and writer for CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- SOFTBALL 01/24: Modeling The Right Role FOOTBALL 01/15: Getting Somewhere 01/07: The Home Team vs. The Road Warrior 01/01: Singing The Maize And Blues 12/27: Up-Downs For Texas 12/18: Lying In Wait 12/11: Warrior Green: The New Boise Blue 12/8: Best Of The Rest 12/4: A Winning Preparation 11/27: Easy Road To The Big Easy 11/20: Running The Backup and Crashing 11/13: Least Common Denominators 11/6: Throw The Ducks A Bone 10/30: Boise Is Back 10/23: They've Got Guts 10/16: Kansas Full of Cupcakes 10/9: Pay Attention To The Men Behind The Curtain 10/2: Not-Such-Surprises 9/25: Irish Inflation 9/18: The Star and The Slump 9/11: Four's No Crowd 9/4: Unmatched Matchups 8/22: No Peterson, No Problem For Oklahoma 8/22: Catch Him If You Can 8/21: Running A Reverse 8/20: Big 12 Conference Preview 8/8: Still No Cigar 8/8: Going and Coming 8/8: C-USA Conference Preview 6/17: Pennsylvania Wins Not-So-Big 33 LACROSSE 5/5: Tigers Limp Into Playoffs 4/7: Home, Sweet Home 3/3: Hoyas Hold On For Another Win 2/16: Accelerating Development 2/15: One More Chance For This Mid 2/12: Wildcats Favored For Three in a Row BASKETBALL 3/21: Winona State Still Streaking in Postseason 3/19: Cruising to Perfection 1/14: Penn Has The Tempo To a T 1/12: Columbia Thwarts The Three, Downs Princeton FENCING 3/25: A Rematch to Be Remembered 3/23: Columbia Hopes to Take Two CROSS COUNTRY 9/7: Luck Be A Lambie 9/4: Bringing Charm To The Farm 9/4: Breaking In 9/3: Room to Run GOLF 6/13: Looking The Part

NEW YORK -- It seemed that the only time the feet of the University of Pennsylvania basketball players touched the floor on Saturday night was during their pre-game warm-ups.

The Quakers started fast and finished faster in last night's matchup against Columbia University, pushing the tempo of the game high enough to outrun and outplay the Lions in a 69-43 rout at Levien Gym.

Columbia freshman Niko Scott made a three-pointer to give the Lions a 3-0 lead to start the game, but the Quakers took over from there and did not look back. With Penn consistently pushing the pace of the game, Columbia found itself in a continuous game of catch-up as the Quakers dominated the court even when Columbia had the ball.

"The big thing was we had to slow them down," Columbia head coach Joe Jones said after the loss. "They want to play at a really fast pace. What you want to do against them is you want to control the tempo of the game. If it gets into their tempo, you're going to have a hard time winning."

And have a hard time the Lions did, as the Quakers set their tempo early in the game and maintained it for 40 minutes.

Running the floor with their offense before Columbia's players had a chance to get set on defense, the Lions found themselves a step behind the Quakers throughout the night.

Penn's defensive play helped to keep the team's rhythm on offense by pressing aggressively against Columbia's passing, sticking their targets in man-on-man coverage schemes, and keeping Columbia from getting open looks at the net. The Quakers also stayed aggressive under the basket, pulling in 29 defensive rebounds to the Lions' 20 and held the Lions to 15-of-55 on field goals over the course of the game.

"I thought we played a terrific defensive game," Penn head coach Glen Miller said. Miller is in his first year with Penn and winning his first two league games is an important step for his program as he attempts to fill the enormous shoes left behind by former head coach Fran Dunphy, who left the Quakers in April of 2006 after 17 years at the helm to coach at Temple University.

"We're in man-to-man and I thought we had good ball pressure, we had good recognition of shooters. I don't recall Columbia having too many open looks at all, so just good ball pressure, good recognition, good intensity on defense."

The Quakers' defense took advantage of every Lion miscue, capitalizing on missed offensive rebounds and off-kilter jump shots to control the floor. The Lions committed only 12 turnovers to the Quakers' 14, and Columbia earned eight steals to the Quakers' three, but Penn was able to take advantage of those turnovers by scoring 17 points off of turnovers, while the Lions mustered only 10.

The Quakers also sank 13 second-chance points while Columbia failed repeatedly to connect on its put-back attempts.

Penn senior Ibrahim Jaaber, last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, showed that he still deserves that title by initiating defensive intensity on almost every possession. The 6-foot-2 guard is the all-time Ivy League leader in steals, and although he came up with just one against Columbia, he continually pressured the Lions' offense to pass the ball quickly and kept them from establishing a rhythm.

"We've been improving quite a bit defensively," Miller said. "It's how we're going to win night in and night out."

Jaaber also effectively captained his offense, logging a game-high 17 points and helping his team to finish the evening shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 78.9 percent from the stripe. Junior guard Brian Grandieri added 14 more points and eight rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting, and senior forward Mark Zoller rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and nine rebounds.

In the second half, down by as many as 27 points, the Lions attempted to take a page out of the Quakers' offensive book. Early in the game, Columbia found the majority of its success on offense by feeding the ball to its big men in the paint. Junior center Ben Nwachukwu led the Lions in scoring in the first half with 11 points, shooting 4-of-9 from the field.

Finding themselves outmatched by Penn's tempo, the Lions attempted to increase their own game pace in the second half by taking quick shots off of the break rather than feeding the ball inside.

However, Columbia's late change in game plan was more detrimental to its cause than helpful, as Penn was able to wrestle in the rebounds from missed jump shots and return the ball the other way, reigniting the desired game pace.

"On the offensive end we took some quick shots," Jones said of changes he made in the second half. "We broke off the offense way too early, and we just weren't prepared to play. When we did miss shots it led to quick baskets for them. When we missed them, we weren't able to score and in the transition game, they came up and down, and that's really what they want to do. We never really settled down and got into a rhythm. We missed some shots that we normally make."

After shooting 66.7 percent the night before in the team's 64-56 win over Princeton, the nation's then-top-ranked defense, Penn's fast-paced offense and aggressive defense held Columbia to 27.3 percent field goal shooting, including just 2-of-12 on shots from beyond the arc.

Nwachukwu finished the game with a team-high 14 points and nine rebounds, and junior forward John Baumann was the only other double-digit scorer for Columbia, logging 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting and bringing in 11 rebounds.

"Tonight we needed to slow it down, and we just weren't able to do that," Jones said.