Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 88-79 loss to Brown

Penn’s renewed Ivy Madness hopes didn’t last for long.

The Quakers are once again behind the eight-ball after a series of late mistakes against Brown led to a tough-to-accept 88-79 loss at the Palestra.

It fell apart for Penn (6-12, 2-3 Ivy) beginning with 5:39 to play in the game. The Quakers had the ball with a 72-69 lead, having erased a 17-point first-half deficit. The first domino fell when sophomore forward Augie Gerhart was correctly called for an offensive foul after he used his elbow to create space in the low post. On their next trip down the floor, the Bears (10-8, 2-3) hit a jumper to make it a one-point game.

Penn had a chance to extend the lead once again, but the otherwise brilliant junior wing Ethan Roberts missed the front end of a one-and-one. Brown’s Aaron Cooley hit a layup after the miss to give the Bears a lead they would not surrender. The Quakers got a clean fastbreak look for Roberts after the Cooley bucket, but it wouldn’t fall.

For Penn, Friday’s loss could quickly snowball. The Quakers will be heavy underdogs in their next three games against Yale, Princeton and Yale again. That 2-3 Ivy record could turn to 2-6 in the blink of an eye.

What did Penn fans learn from a disappointing evening?

The perimeter defense problems are back.

Brown shot an absurd 8-for-10 from deep in the first half and finished with a 15-for-24 performance from three-point range on Friday. The Bears’ star senior guard, Kino Lilly Jr., dropped a career-high 34 points and hit eight of his nine three-point attempts.

Some of Lilly’s makes were absurd heat-check shots, and you just have to tip your cap to him if you’re the defender.

But Penn gave up a whole host of wide-open looks off ball reversals and whenever they used a 2-3 zone.

There were some bright spots on defense, notably AJ Levine and George Smith. But as a whole, the Quakers didn’t inspire much confidence that they’ll be able to slow down Yale or Princeton.

George Smith impressed again.

Smith is making his senior season count. The guard recorded a season-high 18 points on 11 shots and finished with a team-best KenPom offensive rating of 135 points per 100 possessions.

The Quakers erased a 10-point deficit with a quick 12-0 surge coming out of the halftime break, and a ton of credit for that goes to Smith. He converted a four-point play opportunity when he drained a corner three-pointer while absorbing heavy contact, then tied the game when he got a shooter’s bounce on a baseline jumper following a great cut to the basket.

Smith moved well away from the ball in the half-court and made smart decisions while in transition. He’s surely locked down a starting job for the rest of the Ivy season.

Penn now has no margin for error.

The base-case scenario now is that Penn will be 2-6 heading into the second night of a back-to-back at Brown over Presidents’ Day weekend.

If the Quakers lose that game, they’ll be 2-7 and down the head-to-head tiebreaker to Brown. It’s hard to believe they’ll be able to overcome that and their head-to-head deficit against Dartmouth.

There have been some clear signs of progress out of Penn these last few games. Sophomore guard Sam Brown recorded his fifth consecutive game scoring in double figures, and notably hit a three-pointer from Steph Curry range early in the first half.

Roberts, despite that small rough patch late in the game, was phenomenal on Friday. He drained six three-pointers and finished with a team-high 29 points. Penn fans will be crossing their fingers that the junior wing forgoes the transfer portal this offseason.

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