Penn
Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s defeat at Dartmouth
Penn men’s basketball is going to have a long, long bus ride home from Hanover, N.H.
The Quakers threw away a 13-point second half lead and made a series of critical errors in crunch time en route to a 75-71 loss to Dartmouth at Leede Arena.
The defeat at Dartmouth (6-12, 2-2 Ivy) was painfully reminiscent of Penn’s collapses against Saint Joseph’s and La Salle in Big 5 play. In all three contests, Penn (9-9, 2-2) threw away games against inferior opponents it should have easily defeated.
Saturday’s turning point came with about 99 seconds remaining and Penn holding the ball up one, 71-70. Steve Donahue had called timeout to get junior guard Clark Slajchert back in the game for an offense-defense substitution.
Almost immediately after the ball was inbounded, Slajchert used his shoulder to create a little separation from Dartmouth sophomore guard Ryan Cornish, then hoisted a contested three-pointer after just five seconds had come off the shot clock. The ball caught front iron with no Quakers having a prayer at corralling an offensive rebound.
The shot was one Slajchert could hit, but it was far from the best look Penn could have gotten on that possession given the time and score. The Quakers surrendered a game-winning floater from Big Green junior forward Dusan Neskovic 20 seconds after the miss.
But Slajchert wasn’t alone in suboptimal decision-making among the Red and Blue Saturday afternoon:
Penn at Princeton women’s game preview
Our George “Toothless Tiger” Clark previews a key Monday Ivy clash between the Penn and Princeton women at Jadwin Gym:
Penn women outlast Columbia, 71-67, to stand alone atop Ivy standings
Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s 84-55 blowout win at Columbia
NEW YORK — Penn bounced back from its loss to Cornell in pretty much the best way possible: by delivering an absolute beatdown of an overmatched opponent. The Quakers hammered Columbia, 84-55, on the back of a 65.2% shooting night from three-point range.
The bulk of that outside shooting came from junior guard Jordan Dingle. The overwhelming favorite for Ivy Player of the Year hit seven of his nine attempts from distance, raising his season three-point shooting percentage from 32% to 35.8% in the process.
Despite committing 17 turnovers, Penn’s offense was able to bury the Lions thanks to a series of opportunistic offensive outbursts. The Quakers generated runs of 15-0, 16-2 and 14-2 over the course of the evening.
Penn also delivered a season-best performance on the defensive end, holding Columbia to just .77 points per possession, according to KenPom.
It all added up to an easy, relatively stress-free win — and plenty of happy Quakeaways, to boot:
Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s 88-69 loss at Cornell
Penn learned the hard way just how far Cornell and coach Brian Earl have come on Friday night, dropping an 88-69 decision to the Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y.
The Quakers were disrupted by Cornell’s uptempo offense and ultra-aggressive defense from the opening tip, even though they matched the Big Red for roughly 30 minutes.
The game flipped when Cornell delivered an emphatic counterpunch to a shot which Penn fans likely thought could have carried the team to victory. Junior guard Clark Slajchert hit a tough three from the left wing through contact to give the Quakers a 56-55 lead with 11:51 to play — and arguably should have had an opportunity for a four-point play.
No matter. On the very next possession, the Big Red’s Greg Dolan drove through the lane, hit a layup and drew a foul on Penn forward Max Martz in the process. The foul, Martz’s fourth, forced Penn coach Steve Donahue to pull the man who had been his most efficient player thus far from the game.
By the time Martz returned to the floor, it was too late. Cornell used the and-one to ignite a game-deciding 17-4 run.
As Quakers fans reflect on Friday’s contest, they’ll find themselves haunted by some ghosts from the team’s past, which are detailed below:
Padilla leads Penn women past Cornell, 62-54, for Quakers’ eighth straight win
Cornell men pull away late for decisive victory over Penn
ITHACA, N.Y. — Since former Cornell men’s coach Steve Donahue took over Penn in 2015, the Big Red have beaten him just once.
Make that twice after Friday night.
Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s 76-68 win at Brown
Penn started off Ivy League play on the right foot Monday, gritting out a 76-68 road win over Brown in Providence.
After a sluggish offensive start, the Quakers (8-7, 1-0 Ivy) leaned on their elite backcourt duo of juniors Clark Slajchert and Jordan Dingle, who combined to score 51 points.
Dingle put the Bears (7-7, 0-1) to bed with about 80 seconds left after he collected a lob pass from forward Nick Spinoso through a triple team and finished through contact at the rim to push Penn’s lead to 70-63. Though Dingle didn’t convert his and-one free throw opportunity, the damage had been done.
Here are the biggest Quakeaways from Penn’s fourth consecutive victory over Brown: