Penn Quakers Back on the Court Saturday, vs. St. Joe's
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Penn Quakers have been idle since they swept their initial weekend of Ivy League action last Friday and Saturday with wins at Columbia and Cornell.
Jerome Allen's squad will return to the court on Saturday night, hosting St. Joe's in a Big 5 tilt at the Palestra.
The Quakers' head coach says they have tried to take advantage of this extended break between games.
"You allow yourself to get back to the basics and reinforce the fundamentals, or add other pieces or wrinkles to your schemes," Allen tells KYW Newsradio. "So we just tried to maximize the amount of time that we spent on the floor as far as details, and not necessarily in terms of just banging bodies up against each other."
Penn is 9-9 on the season (0-3 in the Big 5), while the Hawks come into this game with a 12-7 mark (1-0 in Big 5), but they have lost two straight and four of six.
Allen is looking forward to the matchup.
"It's going to be a tough task. But it should be fun and exciting, not just for both programs but obviously for the city, anytime you have Big 5 schools playing against one another. So I am excited for our guys."
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As for what the Hawks bring to the table, Allen says, "They're big, they're athletic, they're quick. They can shoot it from the outside, they can pound it inside. They're great in transition. They're playing about as well as I've seen them play in my tenure here."
After this game, the Quakers are idle until January 30th, when they return to Ivy League play with a home game against rival Princeton.
Penn and St. Joe's tip off at 7:00pm Saturday night.
