City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Entering their first weekend homestand of the 2016 Ivy League slate, the Penn Quakers had yet to win a conference game, starting their league schedule with three straight losses, two on the road and one at the Palestra.

In Friday night’s home clash with the Dartmouth Big Green, Penn started the same way, extremely flat, allowing Dartmouth to open up an 8-0 lead in two minutes and committing three turnovers in the process.

While the long-term response to the Quakers’ slow start in conference play has yet to be seen, Penn certainly showed that it can overcome such adversity, as it recovered from a dismal first few minutes to end up notching its first Ivy League victory, by a final score of 71-64 in thrilling fashion.

“I’m proud of our team, with the effort in the second half in particular,” said Penn head coach Steve Donahue. “I thought Dartmouth really put us on the mat in the first half, played really physical, really tough, I was disappointed in how we came out, but as disappointed as I was in the first half I was extremely pleased that we have guys who can take punch and don’t back down.”

After starting the first half in such poor fashion, Donahue had some choice words for his team when he brought his players in to regroup during a timeout at the 17:19 mark.

They responded with a 22-6 run over the next eight minutes, including a 9-0 stretch keyed by three Jake Silpe assists to Penn’s sharpshooters, Jackson Donahue and Sam Jones.

“It was just a wholesale change, it’s just frustrating to see,” said Donahue of the slow start. “We’re not at the point in our program where anybody should feel entitled to start out there and lay an egg. I took the first five guys I saw, to be honest with you, and sure enough we got six straight stops. It put us back in there and we started playing hard.”

Following a Dartmouth run to close the half with a 31-27 lead, the second frame opened in similar fashion to the first, with the Big Green (7-12, 1-4 Ivy League) suddenly leading by nine five minutes into the half.

While the answer from Penn (7-11, 1-3 Ivy League) took a bit longer than it did in the game’s outset, it was all the more critical for the Quakers, who found themselves finally leading 54-53 with just over seven minutes to play.

“We didn’t play great in the first half, and we got punched,” added Donahue. “Dartmouth plays extremely hard, I think they’re a good team, that’s why they’ve been in every game, they beat Harvard once, they’re a good basketball team. I just love how in the second half, obviously we turned it over a lot but we competed. I think the wake-up call started with that but the second half was the way it had to be.”

The game would be tied again with three minutes to go at 59 apiece, and with the Palestra rocking, the Quakers found a way to give their home fans what they desperately wanted, making the necessary clutch plays down the stretch to pull out a much-needed victory.

Silpe was huge for Penn in the win; not only did the freshman guard have 13 points, he also dished out eight assists and earned a critical three-point play with under ninety seconds to play, giving Penn a 62-59 that it would not relinquish.

“The kid does a handful, he had some bad turnovers tonight,” Donahue said of his freshman starter. “What I liked is, some kids after that, they’re done. He probably hasn’t turned the ball over four times in his career, any time. But he competed even harder...the kid doesn’t quit. He’s our third leading offensive rebounder. You love to have him on your side. It’s not great yet, but obviously you were able to see what this kid can be.”

The Quakers’ leading scorer, however, Darien Nelson-Henry, was also a critical force down low in the second half earning multiple trips to the free throw line for three-point play chances. The senior big man had 19 points on the night.

“My teammates did a really great job of having faith in me and setting me up with the ball,” said Nelson-Henry. “I wouldn’t say it had anything to do with me, it was just us playing great team basketball and I just happened to be on the receiving end of it.”

For Donahue himself, this meant more than just a league win, it was his first win in the Ivy League as head coach at Penn, having just taken the job this past off-season in hopes of turning the Quakers’ program back in the right direction.

This one win was certainly a step on that trajectory, as Donahue would attest.

“Ivy League wins when we’re trying to turn this around are huge,” said Donahue. “When we probably gave away two games already, these kids have been terrific, we’ve been through quite a bit from the beginning of the season obviously, losing players over break, for them to come out and get knocked to the mat but come out and get a win, we’re really excited about tomorrow now.

Going into a game against the equally struggling Harvard Crimson Saturday night, the Quakers also gave themselves a chance to get back into the thick of the Ivy League race.

That contest, as well as the many others that still remain for Penn, could very well be the continuation of what Donahue’s Quakers showed Friday night--they know how to respond to adversity, and certainly have the resilience to do just that.