Penn's Tony Hicks suspended for weekend games at Harvard, Dartmouth

Updated Saturday with an addendum of quotes from Penn coach Jerome Allen after Friday night's 69-46 loss to Harvard.

BOSTON - It turns out that Tony Hicks' indiscipline in the late stages of last Saturday's loss to Brown had consequences beyond that night.

Just hours before Friday night's game at Ivy League co-leaders Harvard, Quakers coach Jerome Allen announced that Hicks is suspended for the matchup with the Crimson and Saturday's contest at Dartmouth. The junior guard from South Holland, Ill., did not travel with the team to New England.

"Tony did some things during and immediately following last Saturday's game against Brown that did not meet the standards of the Penn basketball program," Allen said in a statement issued by the athletic department. "After reviewing the incidents earlier this week, I have decided to sit him for this weekend's games. I have spoken to Tony and the team about the situation, and they will learn from this. We look forward to having him back on the court next weekend."

With 6:22 to play in the 71-55 defeat against the Bears, Hicks drew a technical foul for arguing with an official. Allen benched him for the rest of the game. There was also an incident after the final buzzer in which Hicks declined to shake the hand of a Brown player.

After the game, Allen said it was "a sign of where we are as a team in terms of our overall maturity," and took the blame for not doing a better job of "managing the emotional aspect of the team."

Allen has certainly done some managing here. Hicks is Penn's leader in total points this season (273), points per game (13.0) field goal attempts (228) and field goals made (90). His FGA total is a long way ahead of anyone else on the team, with Antonio Woods' 154 ranking second.

Hicks also ranks third in total minutes played this season (579) and minutes per game (27.6). Woods leads the Quakers in both categories, with 646 total minutes and an average of 30.8 per game.

But while Hicks ranks highly in all those categories, there's one notable category where he doesn't: field goal percentage made. He's at 39.5 percent for the season, which ranks sixth among Penn players with more than 50 field goal attempts in the campaign. Sam Jones, Matt Howard, Darien Nelson-Henry, Greg Louis and Mike Auger are ahead of Hicks.

The Daily Pennsylvanian pointed out that Hicks has now been suspended for at least one game in each of his three years at Penn:

In his freshman season, Hicks - along with four others - was suspended for the Quakers' matchup against Delaware on Dec. 21, 2012. After the suspension and Penn's loss to the Blue Hens, a source confirmed that the suspension for the five players was the result of failed drug tests. 

Late in the 2013-14 campaign, Hicks was suspended again, this time as a result of his actions in a game against Columbia on March 7. With seven minutes remaining in that contest, Hicks threw a right-handed punch that connected with the jaw of the Lions' then-junior guard Meiko Lyles.

Both of this weekend's games tip at 7 p.m. Tonight's contest against Harvard is on ESPN3.com and WXPN 88.5-FM; tomorrow's at Dartmouth is on the Ivy League's digital subscription package and WNTP 990-AM.

Friday's game turned out to be what most observers would likely have predicted: a blowwout Harvard win. In Hicks' absence, former JV player (and varsity soccer player) Matt Poplawski got his first career start.

"It wasn't really my 'decision,' " Allen said of moving Poplawski that far up the depth chart. "It's something that he earned, he deserved. He works hard every day in practice, he's selfless, he's a team guy, his voice is great. I'm comfortable with putting any of the guys on the floor if I feel they can help us win."

Hicks' suspension increased the spotlight on freshman guard Antonio Woods, who has quietly become one of Penn's best performers this season. In Friday's game, he had a team-high 12 points and four assists, and committed just two turnovers.

I asked Allen what he wanted to see from Woods as the Cincinnati native continues to grow and mature.

"He's a freshman and he doesn't want to use that place on the timeline as a cheap crutch," Allen said. "He demands a lot out of himself - he wants to make the right plays, he wants to defend... Going forward, I expect him to improve, but with that being said, I don't want him to be content just with how he's playing right now.

Toward the end of Allen's postgame conversation with reporters - it wasn't a press conference per se, as Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion doesn't have a true media room - I had some one-on-one time with him.

I asked him whether suspending Hicks this time will be finally what straightens out the mind of a player who can sometimes let his emotions get the best of not just his demeanor, but also his playing style.

"I would hope so," Allen answered. "I'm not bigger than the staff, and no player is bigger than the team. But with that being said, I'm confident that this experience, he'll learn from it. At the end of the day, it's just about holding guys accountable, and hopefully they respond the right way."

I also asked Allen what is probably the shortest question I've ever asked him, even if it wasn't necessarily simple: How are you doing?

Allen is renowned for not revealing too much about himself in public. But he is well aware that he's on the hot seat, and that a lot of the program's fans - which continue to dwindle in number - want him to be disissed at the end of the season.

On this occasion, it seemed like he let his guard down for a moment. Here was his answer in full:

I'm doing great. You know what it is, it's part of the process of building and trying to grow young guys. At the end of the day, I look out on the floor and at one point in the game we had a sophomore and four freshmen on the floor. And as crazy as I am, I'm not retarded to the point where that - I know they have to learn how to win. I'm patient, but I'm also demanding, and with that being said, I'm confindent that this group, as they continue to grow, it's going to be a pretty good team.

Suspending Hicks was a clear sign that Allen felt a need to take stronger control of that growth process. But the result of Friday's game was a sign of its own. It will not have quieted concerns about whether Allen will be around for the final answer to whether these players turn out to be the pretty good team he envisions.