PHILADELPHIA — With 15:51 to play last night, Penn held a 48-46 lead at the Palestra on Saint Joseph’s and former coach Steve Donahue. The Quakers entered Monday as a six-point underdog, but the small lead clearly wasn’t enough for Penn coach Fran McCaffery — or anyone on the bench, for that manner.
One benefit of my seats behind the scorer’s table is that I can pick up bits and pieces of what’s said on the Penn bench or in the huddle. You can see players get coached up as they come off the floor, or hear an assistant demanding someone on the court cut or help.
I didn’t pick up a ton of what McCaffery was saying during that timeout, but one sentence aimed at the Hawks came through perfectly clear.
“They ****ing can’t defend!”
A few minutes later, Penn proved its new coach right. A 5-0 Penn run — capped by a wing three from Ethan Roberts in transition — would force Saint Joseph’s into a timeout and help lift the Quakers to a thrilling 83-74 win.
Penn (2-2, 1-0 Big 5) was physically overwhelmed by Saint Joseph’s (2-2, 1-1) on the same floor last year, the first big red flag in a season that got Donahue fired. Not so on Monday. The Quakers put up 1.11 points per possession and played at times brilliant offense against an ostensibly superior opponent.
Where do they go from here?
This team can go as far as the Ethan Roberts/TJ Power duo can take it.
Both Roberts and Power were excellent on Monday night, finishing with 31 and 23 points, respectively. Power dominated the first half, while Roberts willed Penn over the line when it mattered most, scoring the Quakers’ final 12 points before garbage-time free throws.
Power’s 23 points were a career high; he also added a whopping 15 rebounds. If there’s any rust left from his preseason elbow injury, I certainly couldn’t see any. The junior forward hit four threes — in both the halfcourt and transition — and added a highlight-reel moment midway through the first half when he eurostepped around Hawks rim protector Justice Ajogbor for an easy layup.
It’s a shame that Penn fans will only get to see Roberts play one season under McCaffery’s system. The senior wing had a rough shooting start, but eventually broke down the Hawks defense with persistent dribble penetration. It was encouraging to see him physically dictate the game to Saint Joseph’s.
Ivy teams will have a very hard time keeping both Roberts and Power off the scoresheet.
There were some more green shoots on defense.
It’s tough to say how much of this stat is due to poor Hawks shooting as opposed to good closeouts and on-ball defense, but Penn managed to hold Saint Joseph’s to 0.99 points per possession. Last season (with the caveat that Saint Joseph’s looks much different now), the Hawks scored 1.32 points per possession on Penn.
Though Penn actually committed more turnovers (14) than Saint Joseph’s (13), the Quakers generated plenty of live-ball giveaways and even threw in a zone at times that seemed to disrupt the Hawks offense.
The Quakers have a long way to go before they’ll be objectively considered a good defensive team, but they’re generating turnovers at a Division I average rate, per KenPom and rank inside the top-80 nationally in limiting opponents’ free throw opportunities.
If you can turn your opponents over and defend without fouling, you’ll win more games than you lose.
The rim remains an issue.
There’s a massive delta between Penn’s efficiency shooting from outside versus inside. Per KenPom, the Quakers rank 15th(!) nationally in three-point shooting percentage against Division I opponents (43.3%) and 352nd in two-point percentage (39.3%).
According to Bart Torvik, Penn shot 16-for-30 at the rim against Saint Joseph’s and 4-14 on mid-range shots. A lot of the open mid-range jumpers Michael Zanoni got last week against Providence were simply unavailable: a week after the senior wing dropped 30 on the Friars, he got held off the scoresheet entirely by the Hawks.
The Quakers are still looking for a reliable post presence. Augustus Gerhart scored two points on five shots and got caught a few times in late-clock situations struggling to get a shot up. The junior has a high motor and is a good offensive rebounder, so he’ll continue to get minutes.
Perhaps Dalton Scantlebury’s minutes will increase into a starter’s role over time. The freshman finished with a KenPom offensive rating of 127 points per 100 possessions off the bench and added eight points, three offensive rebounds and two blocks.
Having a team with no ability at the rim but gets by with bombing 3s? This is like the reverse of the Jerome years.
Defense obviously much improved over last year.