Penn’s matchup with Fran Dunphy-helmed Big 5 foe La Salle on Saturday was a disturbing replay of its Wednesday loss to Saint Joseph’s.
Again, the Quakers let a second half lead slip away against an opponent they were outplaying.
Again, they needed heroics from the incomparable Jordan Dingle to force a tie and reach overtime.
And again, they squandered a late opportunity to tie the game in overtime. This time, freshman Cam Thrower, playing extended minutes for the first time all season, missed a decent three-point look with seven seconds to go in the extra frame which would have tied the contest.
It all added up to an 84-81 defeat, dropping Penn to 5-6 overall and 0-2 in Big 5 play. That second number is a particularly difficult one to accept, given how the Quakers had two home victories nearly in hand this week.
Here are the biggest Quakeaways from Saturday’s loss.
1. Jordan Dingle is playing at another level.
Dingle is, quite simply, playing the best and most efficient basketball of his career. The junior guard is putting up a KenPom offensive rating of 111.2 points per 100 possessions while on the floor. That’s nine full points higher than his KenPom offensive rating from last year, when he was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection.
Dingle’s hyper-efficient play is coming while he’s being asked to shoulder a load bigger than almost any other player in Division I. The Valley Stream, N.Y. native is taking 36.1% of his team’s shots, the eighth-biggest percentage of any player in the country, per KenPom.
The closest thing to a knock on Dingle’s game is that he can be a streaky three-point shooter. But when Dingle is feeling it from beyond the arc, he’s deadly. After a difficult start to the day, Dingle wound up 6-for-12 from deep against the Explorers, a figure which included a buzzer-beating trey from the left wing to force overtime.
Dingle is shooting a career-best 35.9% from three so far this season.
Almost any coach in the country would kill to have Dingle in their backcourt right now. Penn fans can only pray that he stays healthy and doesn’t enter the transfer portal following the season.
2. Clark Slajchert can’t come back soon enough.
Slajchert, a junior guard who has similarly elevated his game this season, was in street clothes on Saturday. Penn said through the team Twitter account that Slajchert was “nicked up a bit,” without disclosing specifics.
Penn’s biggest issue through the early stages of last season was that it couldn’t consistently rely on a player other than Dingle to create his own shot. Slajchert, after showing positive signs last year, has fully emerged as an elite secondary scoring option.
Like Dingle, Slajchert has a KenPom offensive rating above 111 points per 100 possessions (111.4). His emergence has allowed Penn coach Steve Donahue to rest Dingle for stretches and expect that the Quakers’ offense will function.
Without Slajchert available, Penn’s offense was pretty much comatose whenever Dingle was off the floor. His presence likely would have been enough to drag the red and blue over the line for a victory.
The Quakers will have little chance of hanging with Villanova or Temple next week if Slajchert misses more than a couple days.
3. Wednesday’s game against Villanova is pretty much the Spider-Man pointing meme.
The defensive numbers for Penn look brutal after Saturday. The Quakers are surrendering 106.5 points per 100 possessions on defense, per KenPom, 280th out of 263 teams in Division I. Only Columbia has a less efficient defense among Ivy League teams.
Penn has some players with active hands who can force turnovers opportunistically — Dingle and forward Michael Moshkovitz stand out — but the Quakers just simply don’t get enough giveaways to spark transition offense. Per KenPom, Penn is turning teams over on 13% of opponent possessions, fourth-worst in all of Division I.
The Quakers, despite some good showings, are also allowing opponents to put up a ton of threes. Roughly 42.8% of opponents’ shots against Penn come from deep per KenPom. Only 58 teams allow the opposition to put up long-range shots at a higher rate.
Villanova, Penn’s opponent on Wednesday, is going through similar issues. Villanova is allowing opponents to put up treys on 43.9% of their shots per KenPom, which ranks 321st out of 363 Division I teams. Roughly 62% of opposing teams’ buckets against the Wildcats are assisted per KenPom, an indicator that Villanova is allowing opponents way too many easy looks. That assist rate is 22nd-worst in the country.
Penn has never won at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion since it opened in 1986. But it can win a three-point shooting contest. Penn shoots 36.2% from deep (89th in Division 1) while Villanova shoots 32.2% (223rd in Division I).