Despite the auspicious outlook, it was merely another night and another disappointing loss for the Quakers, as their 78-60 waxing at the hands of Albany sent them to 0-6 on the young season.
After guard Darren Smith hit a three with just under 17 minutes to go to pull Penn to within five, 47-42, the Quakers failed to score a field goal for almost five minutes, and by the time forward Brian Fitzpatrick made that layup with 12:07 to go, Penn trailed 59-45. It just kept getting worse though, as the Great Danes scored the next nine points to complete a 21-3 run and push the advantage to 68-45.
In yesterday’s notebook, the keys to the game for the Quakers were keeping Albany off the offensive glass and getting to the line as much as possible. Both of these areas were strengths for Penn and analogous strengths for the Great Danes. Well, Albany won both of these battles and thus the game, grabbing 41 percent of the offensive boards (Penn’s second-worst performance of the season) and only allowed the Quakers to get to the line at a free-throw rate of 34.0 (also Penn’s second-worst performance of the season).
With those two battles won, all it took was a hot-shooting performance from the Great Danes to turn this one into a blowout.
Penn has three more remotely winnable games against Monmouth, Lafayette and UMBC before hopping into Big Five and then Ivy League play. With a 16-day layoff after Saturday’s game against Monmouth, however, that contest is an absolute must win, lest the Quakers spend the two-plus week break listening to endless chatter about a potential 0-7 start.
Staten Island Track Invitational
After 83 possessions per team and 193 combined points, Columbia could finally put its fourth win on the board and even its record with a 102-91 win over winless Wagner last night.
The Lions led 76-51 with just over 11 minutes to go before a 28-12 run over the next seven minutes allowed Wagner to pull within nine. But Columbia got a couple momentum halting buckets and made all of their free throws to ice the win.
Noruwa Agho continues to be the Ivies’ best offensive player thus far with 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting (81 percent EFG). The Lions as a team posted a 66 percent EFG mark for the game – its best mark of the season by over nine percentage points. It was also the fastest tempo Columbia had played by 11 full possessions.
Led by Agho’s amazing displays from behind the arc, the Lions remain number one in the nation in three-point shooting, hitting 47.1 percent of their attempts.
Revenge? You Can Conte On It
It was a win that no one will forget, as Harvard marched into Conte Forum and handed then-No. 17 Boston College a stunning 82-70 defeat.
And as Boston.com points out, the Eagles certainly haven’t forgotten.
Boston College has been missing its star Rakim Sanders for almost all of the young season, and he’s expected not to return for tonight’s meeting with the Crimson. That hasn’t stopped the Eagles from being a deadly efficient offensive team, primarily because of its offensive rebounding, which is fourth-best nationally at 45.2 percent. Also, Boston College’s stinginess with turnovers (78th lowest turnover rate in the country) and above average shooting and free throw rates combine to give the Eagles the 17th best offense in the nation.
That prolific offensive attack will be a tough test for a Harvard team that has turned one of the nation’s worst defenses (303rd last season) into one of the best (83rd nationally, allowing 15 points fewer per 100 possessions). If the Crimson can keep the Eagles from running away offensively, it should be able to take advantage of Boston College’s average defense to hang around. But if the Eagles start grabbing half the rebounds on the offensive end, expect this one to get away from Harvard quickly.
