City of Basketball Love

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)
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Despite a poor first-half shooting performance, Penn persevered to defeat Central Connecticut State, 77-61, to improve to 2-0 on the season.

That 2-0 start marks the school’s best start since a 2005 team that finished with 20 wins and an Ivy League crown. That team was coached by Fran Dunphy, who was in his 17th season with the program before he departed for Temple.

This year’s Quakers team is coached by Steve Donahue, who enters his first year in Philadelphia after spending last season working for ESPN after coaching stints at Cornell and Boston College.

“I am not that surprised, it is a talented group of kids,” Donahue said. "I wasn’t here the last few years but this is a talented group of basketball players that are really trying their best to get better as a team.”

None of the current players on the Penn roster have been a part of a winning team in their college basketball careers, with the exception of the 2012-13 team that started 1-0 before losing 13 of their next 14.

For what is mostly a young team, the upperclassmen have all played important roles for the Quakers thus far. Senior Darien Nelson-Henry finished the day with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Matt Howard chipped in seven points of his own.

The senior class, which is comprised of Nelson-Henry and Jamal Lewis entered the season with a class record of 26-61, so early season success is certainly a nice change of pace for them.

“I would not change anything about my Penn experience,” Nelson-Henry said. “It was a tough three years, but there were highs and there were lows. We are high right now, I am sure that there are going to be lows, it just depends on how we fight through it.”

In Sunday’s game Penn experienced both highs and lows, as well. They are a team that relies heavily on moving the ball around letting it fly from 3-point range. They managed to keep the score tied at 29 at halftime, despite a dismal 3-15 mark from behind the arc.

They improved drastically in the second half, connecting on six of their 12 3-point attempts. This included Mike Auger’s second career 3-point attempt, which he drilled with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

In addition to the rare Auger 3-pointer, Nelson-Henry attempted his first career 3-pointer, which he narrowly missed. It was a second game in which Donahue’s system was on display at the Palestra, and for a second time it did not disappoint.

“You come in with high expectations and sometimes it doesn’t pan out,” Nelson-Henry said. “But it is just a positive atmosphere and the general vibes that we have been sending out since he has been hired have been amazing, so coming in like this does not surprise me and I hope to continue it.”

Stellar Sam

Sophomore Sam Jones enjoyed another 20-plus point performance Sunday. With Penn trailing 36-34 early in the second half, Jones caught fire and sparked a 23-6 Quakers run that really put the game out of reach for CCSU.

In that run, Jones hit three 3-pointers, and was fouled while shooting a fourth and connected on all three free throws. He finished the day with 23 points on 5-10 shooting, finishing 56 percent from behind the arc.

Jones also finished 8-9 from the free throw line, he shot just seven shots from the charity stripe in all of last season. He is poised to maintain a vital role in this Quakers offense. His 23-point outburst came in just 24 minutes of playing time, and came after recording 21 points in the season opener against Robert Morris.