Tigers can’t find the range in 62-38 loss to Quakers
By: Justin Feil
The Pennsylvania men’s basketball team never trailed Princeton in handing the Tigers their worst defeat of the season and their second straight Ivy League loss, 62-38, Tuesday in front of 6,854 subdued Jadwin Gym fans.
Koko Archibong, Andrew Toole and Ugonna Onyekwe scored 17 points apiece to lead the Quakers, who improved to 17-6 overall, 4-3 in the Ivy League. Princeton dropped to 10-9 overall, 5-2 in the Ivies, a full game behind league leader Yale, which is 7-1 in the league.
Penn jumped out to a 24-3 lead and held Princeton to two field goals in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Quakers lead, 37-15, at halftime on a three-pointer in the final seconds and the Tigers never got closer than a 16-point deficit 9:49 into the second half. Penn responded to that challenge with an alley-oop dunk from Toole to Onyekwe.
"That’s a terrific team," said Princeton head coach John Thompson. "Regardless of what their record is in the league, what they’ve done in that last couple of weeks, that’s a terrific team. They showed it tonight."
Penn came into Tuesday’s game allowing 70.5 points per game in league, but they limited Princeton to just six first-half field goals and only 25 percent shooting. At the other end, the Quakers found a home at Jadwin Gym as they shot 55 percent in the first half behind 13 points from Archibong. The Quakers shot 47 percent for the game compared to just 28 percent for the home Tigers.
"It was pretty good," Penn head coach Fran Dunphy said of his squad’s defense. "I thought we defended well. I thought they had a lot of open looks, but the ball just didn’t go down. We guarded well. They just had shots that didn’t go down."
Penn led, 4-3, at the 16:50 mark after Ray Robins connected with a three-pointer from the left wing, his first career points against Penn, but the Tigers could not find the range over a span of 8:15. By the time Ed Persia hit the Tigers’ second three-pointer of the game, his team trailed, 24-6.
It was only minutes later that Princeton saw the play that typified the night. Will Venable, who was the only Tiger in double digits scoring with 11 points, broke free for a layup only to see the ball hang on the rim, tip as though it was going to fall in, and then drop out over the front of the rim.
"It seemed like we had a lid on the basket for quite some time," Thompson said. "We got layups, we got good shots, we got shots that were right there. They just fell out, and then once you start missing, you start thinking about it and they get a little more confidence and their shots become easier.
"In the first half of the game, especially early on in the first half, we got what we wanted. The ball didn’t go in. Against a team like that, that can’t happen. They have too many weapons to fall behind. That was the worst scenario possible, to get down to that team right now. They can score many different ways, and they went out and did it."
TIt was the lowest point total against Penn since 1994, when the Tigers scored 43 points in a 10-point loss. The outcome marked the 17th time in the past 26 meetings that the Penn-Princeton matchup has been decided by 11 or more points. The team that has won the first meeting has also won the teams’ second meeting of the season 10 times in the past 11 years.
Princeton will travel to Princeton on March 5 in the final game of the regular season for both teams. The Tigers host Dartmouth 7:30 p.m. Friday and Harvard 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Princeton hosts Ivy-leading Yale on Feb. 22.
"We’re at the halfway point. It’s too early to possibly start thinking about the race and your position," said Thompson, who lost for the first time as a coach to Penn. "For Princeton, we have to play well against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played. Every game is a playoff game. This loss doesn’t necessarily mean more or less than any other loss. We have to get ready to play this weekend. It’s too early to start worrying about the race. We’re right there. There are a lot of teams right there. We’ll see what happens in a couple weeks."