There have been plenty of excruciating losses in Penn’s 12-game losing streak to arch-rival Princeton, but none have inflicted a pain quite like Friday’s 61-59 loss to the Tigers at the Palestra.
With less than a minute to go, there was Penn (6-14, 2-5 Ivy) in the lead despite being forced to play without star wing Ethan Roberts, who sat out the contest with an undisclosed injury. As has happened in so many of these losses to Princeton (16-6, 5-2), every break possible went the wrong way for the Quakers when it mattered most.
After sophomore guard Sam Brown missed the back-end of a one-and-one which would have extended the Penn lead to 59-56, junior forward Johnnie Walter had the offensive rebound in his hands for a split-second but couldn’t quite corral the ball. The Tigers secured possession and then saw sophomore guard Dalen Davis break free to drain a wide-open three-pointer from the left wing, giving the Tigers a 59-58 advantage with just over 30 seconds remaining.
On the next possession, senior big man Nick Spinoso drew heavy contact as he went up for a layup, hit his first free throw to tie the game, but missed the freebie which would have given Penn the lead. Walter then fouled Princeton’s Jackson Hicke as he put up a midrange jumper with six-tenths of a second to play.
There was zero doubt Hicke would miss. The 6-foot-5 sophomore hit both shots at the line to kick Penn fans back into a familiar pit of misery.
What could Penn fans take away from yet another disheartening loss?
The effort level was there.
For all the criticisms Penn fans can levy at coach Steve Donahue, there is zero doubt that his players go all out.
The Quakers played excellent defense on Friday night. They forced Princeton into 13 turnovers and had a plus-six turnover margin.
Both of the Tigers’ stars had inefficient evenings. Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Caden Pierce finished with nine points on eight shots and committed three turnovers, which added up to a KenPom offensive rating of 91 points per 100 possessions.
Penn did an even better job on Princeton’s Xaivian Lee, who is almost assuredly heading to the NBA after this season. Freshman guard AJ Levine relentlessly harassed Lee all evening, forcing a number of deflections. Lee wound up with a KenPom offensive rating of 82; he finished 3-for-13 from the field.
Of course, Penn couldn’t completely hold Lee down. He made an excellent pass out of the lane to find Davis for that go-ahead three. But it was an effort that should have been enough for a victory.
Roberts’ absence was deeply felt.
It’s tempting to fall into the fallacy of the predetermined outcome and argue that Penn would have won had Roberts stepped on the floor on Friday. After all, he entered the game leading all Ivy players in scoring during conference play.
But even with Roberts unavailable, Penn’s offense adjusted. Sam Brown had an excellent night as a facilitator, and all things considered, a decent shooting performance considering that he was the new focal point of Penn’s attack.
Brown found Walter with a nice interior pass for a layup to give Penn its first lead with 2:15 to play, and had a highlight reel moment when he schooled Lee with a pump-fake into a 360-degree spin, giving himself room to hit a game-tying triple.
Still, Roberts’ absence had a ripple effect on Penn’s rotations. Walter played 19 minutes on Friday, the most he had gotten in a game since the November 4 season opener against NJIT. He finished with a team-low KenPom offensive rating.
If Roberts was there, Walter is likely never in a position for those aforementioned late bad breaks to go against him.
It feels like Groundhog Day.
The Daily Pennsylvanian published a depressing, yet true, quote from senior guard George Smith in the leadup to Friday night.
“I wouldn’t even consider it a rivalry right now,” Smith said. “They’ve been kind of having their way with us.”
At this point, Penn’s losing streak to Princeton has spanned three presidential administrations and Patrick Mahomes’ entire career as a starting quarterback, save for one meaningless Week 17 game. It’s getting absurd.
At some point, things have to get better. Right?
Back in my day, we walked uphill both ways to the Palestra and at least split with Princeton. Kids these days just don’t understand hard work and how to beat a Tigers team that is trying to let you beat it.
In other words, bring back Jerome.