Quakeaway from Penn men’s basketball’s 93-49 loss at Villanova

Disheartening. Discouraging. Disgusting.

Whatever negative adjective you’d want to throw out would probably apply to how Penn performed in a 93-49 loss at Villanova on Tuesday night.

That 44-point margin of defeat is the worst loss Penn has ever suffered against the Wildcats in a series that spans 71 games and dates back to 1910. The prior record-holder was the 43-point loss Penn took to Villanova in the 1971 Elite Eight, which ruined an undefeated season for the Quakers and is widely considered the worst defeat in program history.

This team is galaxies away from that 1970-71 squad. The Quakers actually played pretty well offensively in the early stages on Tuesday, using good ball movement and better three-point shooting to draw even with the Wildcats at the under-eight media timeout in the first half.

What happened from there was nothing short of a collapse. Penn went roughly 14 minutes of game time without scoring a field goal as Villanova used red-hot outside shooting to put together a killer 30-3 run.

As for Tyler Perkins, who got his first chance on Tuesday to face his former Penn teammates after his offseason transfer up the Main Line to ‘Nova? The sophomore guard scored seven points before the game’s first media timeout and finished a rebound shy of a double-double.

There is only one Quakeaway that merits mentioning after Tuesday’s humiliation:

Things are going to get extremely ugly this season if things don’t turn around soon.

My favorite Ivy Hoops Online commenter, FOIW, made a valid point recently that predictive metrics such as KenPom and BartTorvik may not have as much usefulness in the transfer portal era until there’s enough current-season data to remove their assumptions based on the prior season.

Well, BartTorvik allows you to toggle those assumptions on and off. When you judge teams solely based on results on the court this season, BartTorvik shows Penn as 331st overall. The 120.8 points per possession Penn has allowed this season (adjusted for opponent quality) makes the Quakers the eighth-worst defensive team in all of Division 1 men’s college basketball, 356th out of 364 teams.

The defense was a massive red flag last season, and it has only gotten worse as coach Steve Donahue looks to integrate five freshmen and transfers into the rotation. On Tuesday, Penn allowed Villanova to hit 18 threes on 30 attempts, good for an absurd 60% long-distance shooting percentage.

While the offense has looked good at times, it has also been plagued by long blackouts of dysfunction and confusion. Tuesday was a microcosm of that problem, with Penn playing fun and free-flowing offensive basketball for 10 minutes of game action before grinding to a halt.

“I think it’s a lack of confidence, tension, and anxiety that’s leaking into both sides of the ball,” Donahue told the Philadelphia Inquirer postgame.

It’s extremely concerning that Penn’s players are struggling with a lack of confidence after roughly three months of practice and play together.

The biggest reason for optimism is that there’s time. Much like how NFL teams have a mini-bye after playing on Thursday Night Football, the Quakers have a week and a half to practice and mentally reset before getting three home games in three days starting on Black Friday.

There are talented pieces on this roster, and Penn has a head coach with a good track record of scheming up offense.

But if things don’t get figured out by January, the Quakers may be headed to the bottom of the Ivy League again.