City of Basketball Love

Dan Newhart (@danny_newhart)
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Prior to the University of Pennsylvania’s game Jan. 30 at Brown University, freshman Max Rothschild found himself in an unfamiliar position with a tough task at hand.

The Quakers were set to take the court, but without their leading scorer and rebounder in the lineup; forward Darien Nelson-Henry was sidelined with an ankle injury.

Nelson-Henry had been averaging 11.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest heading in, both leading the team and good for top-20 in the Ivy League.

Compare that to Rothschild’s averages of 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest and you can see where some doubt may creep up.

At 6-foot-8, 225 pounds Rothschild is a bit less experienced and physically developed than the 6-foot-11, 265 pound Nelson-Henry, but you would not be able to tell based on his performance in Nelson-Henry’s absence.

Rothschild poured in a season and career-high 18 points, six rebounds and two assists on 8-for-12 shooting in 23 minutes.

Saturday evening in the 169th all-time meeting between Penn and the Crimson of Harvard, Nelson-Henry returned for his second game back from injury and Rothschild did not miss a beat in the team’s 67-57 victory.

Both Rothschild and Nelson-Henry posted double-doubles, along with teammate and guard Matt Howard (12 points and 11 rebounds).

Rothschild had 14 points and 11 rebounds on 7-for-11 from the floor and Nelson-Henry with 18 points and 12 rebounds on 9-for-15 from the field.

“I think we’re really effective,” Rothschild said of his team when it notches multiple double-doubles. “On the offensive and defensive glass it just means they’re not getting second-chance shots and we are, which obviously helps us win. I think it just speaks to us being active on the glass and competing after the shot like coach Donahue preaches everyday.”

Prior to Penn’s 89-83 loss to Brown, Rothschild had not scored in double digits and had a season high of just five points. His season-high in minutes played prior to that game was 21.

Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker said despite those somewhat misleading stats , he and his coaching staff were not surprised by the strong effort from the big man.

Rothschild helped the Quakers out-rebound the Crimson 53-32, including a 15-10 edge in offensive rebounds. He and Nelson-Henry combined for 23 rebounds, six of which came off missed shots on the offensive glass.

“It was disappointing on our end that we didn’t do a better job against [Rothschild],” Amaker said afterward. “He’s a good player and he played extremely hard. Certainly, he earned every bit of it. I thought he had a great presence on the floor and was playing with a great deal of passion and energy.”

The win kept Penn (8-11, 2-3 Ivy League) afloat in the Ivy League standings as the team jumped past Cornell to secure fourth place.

Ahead of the Quakers is Princeton (14-5, 4-1 Ivy League), Columbia (16-7, 5-1) and Yale (15-5, 6-0) which is currently on a 10-game winning streak.

Penn head coach Steve Donahue stressed that although this Harvard team (9-13, 1-5 Ivy League) may not seem as talented as in years past, there are no free games when it comes to Ivy League competition.

“They’re as talented and as tough to beat as anybody in this league,” Donahue said. “There’s no bad teams; there may not be elite teams like the Princeton teams in ‘98 but damn, there’s no bad teams. Every team can beat everybody.”

He also discussed his decision to play Rothschild and Nelson-Henry a majority of the game as opposed to a smaller, guard-oriented  lineup.

“We’re really good when we play two bigs and put Matt [Howard] at the three,” Donahue said. “Harvard has great length and athleticism and I thought playing those two with Matt at the three would help us and it did tonight.”