City of Basketball Love

Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch)
--

DOVER, Del. - Heading into their third game in five days against the Delaware State Hornets, the University of Pennsylvania Quakers had been led to two wins by sophomore forward Sam Jones.

Jones was named Ivy League Player of the Week for his performance in the Quakers two previous wins against Robert Morris and Central Connecticut in which he scored 44 total points and made 10 three-pointers. However, whether it was due to a poor shooting night for Jones or the Hornets defense, he wouldn’t win this game for the Quakers.

But a ball that he shot did.

With 45 seconds to play and the Quakers holding a three-point lead over the Hornets, Jones fired a contested shot from behind the arc in the left corner. If it fell, it would have put a dagger in the Hornets, but the ball began to roll out.

Then junior guard Matt Howard flew in and tipped the ball into the basket. The Quakers led 57-52, and the all the Hornets could muster up was one more score and some intentional fouls.

The 60-54 road win means the Quakers started a season 3-0 for the first time since 1981.

Jones scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds, but it was big man Darien Nelson-Henry who led the way with 16 points and five rebounds in the Quakers' first-ever win (in three tries) against a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opponent.

“That play by (Howard) was a huge momentum changer,” Nelson-Henry said. “When an opposing defense thinks they are going to get a stop and you can grab the offensive rebound and tip it back in that will crush their spirits and that’s exactly what we needed.”

~~~

History made
There is a lot of history surrounding the Penn Quakers’ basketball program. They made the Final Four in 1979, they have made an NCAA tournament appearance 23 times and they have won the Ivy League 25 times.

But the Quakers haven’t won much of anything since 2007 – the last time they made an NCAA tournament appearance and the last time they won the Ivy League.
It’s early, but the 3-0 start is a big deal considering the Quakers haven’t done that in 34 years.

Donahue has mixed feelings on the stat meaning much, but admitted that for this young team, it shows just how aggressive and determined they have been.

“I think it’s good for these guys to know because we have been through so much adversity over the past couple of years,” Donahue said. “It feels good to say we’ve done something that we haven’t done since (1981).

“I don’t think it means much, honestly, but for our guys it shows that they are working hard. It’s great.”

~~~

Misfiring from long range
It’s common to classify Steve Donahue-coached teams as ones who favor to shoot the three-pointer. Even Hornets’ head coach Keith Walker knew that his team would have to defend long shots well to have a chance.

“We know that’s what they do,” Walker said. “We did a great job of taking those open three-point shots away, especially initially. That was one of the things that we were concerned about. They have done very well shooting the ball in the previous two games and we were aware of that.”

The Hornets did defend the three-pointer well, and even when Quakers’ shooters were left open they missed more than they made. Coming into this game, Penn had shot 35 percent from outside in their two previous contests.

Against the Hornets, they made just three-of-23 shots from outside. And although Jones wasn’t making most of his attempts he made one early in the second half, in the midst of a 9-0 Quakers’ run, that prompted the Hornets to double-team him for the rest of the contest.

But Donahue wasn’t worried about the shooting. After going just two-of-15 from behind the arc in the first half, he knew his team would have to adjust their playing style in the second.

“People like to talk about how my teams like to shoot a lot of three’s,” the Quakers’ first-year head coach said. “But we’re just trying to be efficient. First thing we tried to do was get something close, but they played zone. We missed a lot of open three’s. I just told our guys to make sure we execute, try to get something in the middle and try to get something close to the rim. I think we did that.”

~~~

Quakers' dominance in the paint
The Quakers opted to go inside more in the latter half, making 78 percent of their field goals that were attempted inside the arc. Sophomore point guard Antonio Woods was able to create more inside shots for him and his teammates, adding seven points and three assists in the second half to add to his total of 11 points and six assists on the game.

But the biggest advantage that the Quakers had was Nelson-Henry. At 6-feet, 11-inches, the senior big man towered over the Hornets smaller and younger front line and he was able to take advantage.

“I think with coach Donahue’s offense I’m always going to be an essential part of it whether it’s distributing or scoring,” Nelson-Henry said. “I take opportunities when I can get them and it just so happened that late in the game we needed a couple buckets, I was open, I felt I had the advantage and I went for it and it paid off.”

For the Hornets, junior guard DeAndre Haywood entered the game just past the 10-minute mark in the first half and scored two baskets quickly using his left-handed dribble. He would use that move, driving left then crossing over before laying it up in traffic, all night and finished the game as the Hornets’ leading scorer with 13 points while also adding five rebounds.

When the Hornets topped the Quakers in overtime at The Palestra last season, Haywood scored a career-high 23 points. But this time, he was missing a big man to make way for him.

“(The Quakers) are very poised defensively and last year I had guys like Kendall Gray who could get the big guy off of me so I could get better looks,” Haywood said.

Without a real dominant big man down low for the Hornets, not only did Nelson-Henry flourish, but so did other Quakers and often times the Hornets were fouling in the paint instead of defending it. The Quakers made 18 trips to the free throw line, making 13 of them, and out-rebounded the Hornets 41-35.