Penn men’s basketball picked up its first win outside of the friendly confines of the Palestra on Saturday, though it wound up being a much more circuitous path to victory than expected.
The Quakers (8-5) threw away a 13-point second-half lead at Rider in a collapse that brought back bad memories of last year’s Ivy title-deciding loss at Princeton. But they rebounded in overtime to escape Lawrenceville, N.J. with a 77-73 win.
Penn never trailed in the extra session. Junior Nick Spinoso opened the scoring with a putback and-one (he missed the free-throw), while freshman Tyler Perkins gave the Quakers some much-needed breathing room, hitting a banked-in three as the shot clock expired with 90 seconds to play in overtime to extend Penn’s lead to five points.
There’s a lot for Penn fans to be happy about but some reason for concern ahead of a road matchup next Saturday at Associated Press No. 3 Houston, starting with how …
Nick Spinoso put together arguably his best game of the season.
Spinoso finished Saturday with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double and added four assists. He dominated Rider’s best player, MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Mervin James.
The Quakers erupted for 41 points in the first half on the back of nine made three-pointers. Many of those could be chalked up to how Spinoso commanded a ton of respect from Rider’s interior defenders, which opened up the floor for the junior to make easy passes to open shooters.
However, the Broncs’ comeback was helped along largely because coach Steve Donahue did not want to risk the possibility that Spinoso would be shooting free throws in pressure situations. Spinoso sat for the bulk of the final three minutes of regulation, and Penn’s offense was generally non-functional when he was off the floor.
Donahue wisely reversed course in overtime. Though Spinoso missed two of his three free throw attempts in those five minutes, the Quakers moved the ball much more effectively.
Pressure defense looked like a big-time problem … again.
If the Quakers had lost, then senior Clark Slajchert’s rough afternoon would have been the top headline. Slajchert, a generally reliable handler, committed two killer live-ball turnovers as Penn looked to break Rider’s press.
The first led to the Broncs’ Allen Powell hitting a game-tying three with 25 seconds to play in regulation. The second gave Rider two chances to tie or win the game in the final seconds of overtime.
There were several moments throughout the Broncs’ rally where Penn would inbound the ball into the corner and just barely manage to escape.
Ivy coaches will likely take notes and look to challenge Penn with extended pressure once conference play begins.
Sam Brown played with poise.
Brown, a freshman, looks like a surefire starter for years to come. He drained four three-pointers — including at least one from Steph Curry range — during the first half and added eight rebounds on the afternoon.
Though Brown — like the rest of the Quakers — struggled a little bit with his shot in the second half, he made two huge plays to ensure a Penn victory.
The first came late in OT when Brown made an excellent pass late in the shot clock to Spinoso as he drove the lane, which forced a Rider foul.
Then, Brown came up huge on the defensive end. He had an excellent closeout on Powell as he launched a three from the corner in the dying seconds of overtime that would have won the game for the Broncs. Powell had hit five threes after starting 1-for-6 from deep to pull Rider back into the game.
Penn is lucky to have two freshmen as reliable as Brown and Perkins have been.
Loving the Sam Brown progression. Really think the freshmen are gonna be a force in Ivy play. However, they desperately need to improve the 3-point defense.
That all being said, Jordan Dingle Ewing Theory remains a thing.