Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 86-76 loss to Cornell

Penn competed with Ivy title contender Cornell for long stretches in its Ivy home opener on Saturday, but the end result was what was widely expected: an 86-76 loss.

The Quakers (4-11, 0-2 Ivy) outplayed the Big Red (10-5, 2-0) for the first 15 minutes or so, but the whole game flipped once Cornell’s best big man, AK Okereke, took over.

With 3:58 to go in the first half, Penn was clinging onto a 27-25 lead when forward Nick Spinoso attempted a behind-the-back pass out of the post which Okereke easily intercepted. The junior then proceeded to drain a transition three in Spinoso’s face to give Cornell the lead.

On the next trip down the floor, Spinoso attempted a layup over Okereke which got blocked by the rim. Okereke then hit a transition layup which forced Quakers coach Steve Donahue into a timeout and it was all downhill from there, as the Big Red built a lead as big as 20 points in the second half.

What can Penn fans take away from an underwhelming afternoon?

AJ Levine has seized the point guard role.

If there’s one reason for Penn fans to be optimistic about the future, it’s the fact the Quakers appear to be developing a long-term option at point guard.

Starting in his third consecutive game, Levine dropped in a career-high 13 points on Saturday. He also added three steals, three assists and did not have a turnover charged to his name. The freshman finished with an excellent KenPom offensive rating of 117 points per 100 possessions.

Levine is one of the better athletes on a team which desperately needs them. His on-ball defense remains impressive, though he did foul out for the second time this season.

No matter, though. In a season which almost assuredly will not end in a postseason appearance, the Quakers need to give young players like Levine as much floor time as possible. He’ll learn.

The frontcourt situation is distressing.

Penn will also need to use the remainder of this Ivy season to give its young big men as much playing time as possible, because if someone doesn’t develop, it’s going to be extremely ugly once Spinoso is gone next year.

Sophomore Augie Gerhart got the start alongside Spinoso on Saturday and finished with a KenPom offensive rating of zero in 15 minutes. He did not register a single offensive statistic.

Freshmen Michelangelo Oberti and Bradyn Foster have both started at times this season, but both have disappeared in recent weeks. Foster played just one minute on Saturday, while Oberti has played just 11 minutes since he started against Drexel on December 7.

Penn’s offense has relied on Spinoso’s passing and playmaking this season and there are no indicators anyone on the roster is capable of replicating it next year.

An ugly Ivy season is on the table.

KenPom has pegged the Quakers as underdogs in every single game they will play the rest of the season, save for their home matchup against Dartmouth (in which they are currently pegged as a one-point favorite).

This team just isn’t athletic enough right now to compete with good Ivy teams. Cornell isn’t an overwhelmingly athletic team, but the Big Red dominated the glass. They picked up 10 offensive boards and held Penn without a single individual offensive rebound (the Quakers got one team offensive rebound).

Penn has enough talent — especially junior wing Ethan Roberts, who led all scorers with 26 points — to compete, but the Red and Blue just don’t have enough shooters or defensive playmakers to steal games against superior opponents.

A winless Ivy season — unprecedented in program history — isn’t likely (KenPom gives it a 2.1% shot), but it’s easy to see this team finishing with just one or two conference wins.

2 thoughts on “Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 86-76 loss to Cornell”

  1. The Big Red Machine is cruising with a complete team effort. Coach Jon Jacques played 11 guys, and they all contributed to the big win. It was nice to see Adam Hinton back from an injury and hitting a 3 pointer off the bench, and Chris Cain getting some playing time. Hopefully there will be no let down tomorrow against Brown and Cornell can keep up their hot shooting and incredible play.

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