Early deficit against Yale dooms Penn

THE FIRST Penn game at the Palestra was Jan. 1, 1927, 90 years and more than a few points ago. It was Penn 26, Yale 15 then.

Friday night, it was Penn-Yale again in the Ivy League home opener for the Quakers, a team in need of an early league win in what appears to be a very open race.

This Quakers team has an elementary basketball problem. It does not shoot particularly well from either of the lines.

Penn's two leading scorers, A.J. Brodeur and Matt Howard, are each shooting in the mid-50 percent range from the field and foul line. One is good, one not good.

Getting open three-pointers has not been an issue as coach Steve Donahue's offense is really starting to take hold. Making those shots has been an issue.

Playing from behind all game, just as they did Saturday night at Princeton, the Quakers are now officially behind the Ivy eight-ball, losing, 68-60. Yale had identical 7-0 starts to each half. It is wearing if you are never ahead.

Penn did catch up a few times in the first half, but getting games tied without ever leading is even more frustrating: You know the other side of the mountain is there, you just never see it.

"I think what happened was we missed a lot of open shots that we typically make and then you start pressing," Donahue said. "You try to get there closer and, unfortunately, Yale took full advantage of it in the second half. Give them credit. I thought they played hard and smart. They did a great job closing out the game."

Each team made four threes and six free throws in the first half. Yale (9-5, 1-0) made theirs on 13 attempts. It took Penn (6-7, 0-2) 25 tries. Miss all those shots and you will be getting killed on the glass by something like the 23-14 edge Yale had. The Quakers trailed by only 34-32 at the break, because they committed only one turnover in the first 20 minutes.

Just as he did against Princeton, Brodeur, Penn's prized freshman big man, missed shots around the rim he could usually make with his eyes closed. He is 6-for-21 from the field in his first two Ivy regular-season games. The vast majority of his next 54 will be much better.

The defending Ivy champ Bulldogs figured to take a step back this season without one of their all-time greats in graduated Justin Sears, and with Makai Mason, a 16-point scorer, out for the season with a broken foot. Instead, they won at Washington, lost at Pittsburgh, Vermont and Temple by a combined 13 points, and came into their Ivy opener with four players shooting 40 percent or better from the arc, winners in six of their last seven games.

Yale shot 43.8 percent overall, but 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from three; Penn shot only 35 percent overall and only 7-for-27 (25.9 percent) from the arc. Penn stayed in the game in the first half despite all those misses, but as the lead grew in the second half, the Quakers became more anxious and the degree of shot difficulty rose. With that, the chances of winning became even more difficult.

"It's difficult," Donahue said. "This is where we're at with a lot of youth and inexperience . . . We really competed, turned them over 17 times . . . But we missed a lot of open shots and a lot of shots around the rim."

@DickJerardi

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