Hoops: Penn and Princeton Set for 225th Meeting Tonight
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's one of sports' best rivalries, and it continues tonight at the Palestra, as Penn hosts Princeton in college basketball.
These teams have met 224 times, with Penn winning 122 of those games. But Princeton has owned the series lately, wining the last five straight.
The Quakers (2-0 in the Ivy League) haven't played since that win over St. Joe's on January 21st. That was a third straight victory for Penn, and it moved them over .500, at 10-9.
What's been clicking for Quakers' head coach Jerome Allen's squad these days?
"I think in all three games we showed in stretches that we could defend and finish possessions on the defensive end," Allen tells KYW Newsradio. "And I think nothing is going to change tonight -- I think we're going to have to defend for a full 35 seconds, for a full twenty-minute half, and for a full forty-minute game."
Hear Matt Leon's full interview with Coach Jerome Allen in this CBS Philly SportsPod...
Podcast
Matt Leon interviews Penn Quakers' play-by-play announcer Brian Seltzer about tonight's contest against Princeton...
Podcast
Download Brian Seltzer podcast
Princeton is 10-8 on the season (1-1 in the Ivy League) and they are the defending Ivy League co-champions. Allen talks about why they are successful:
"I think they're disciplined, they run their stuff, they play inside-out, and they can hurt you in a number of ways. I think (junior forward) Ian Hummer is playing exceptionally well, I think (senior guard) Doug Davis is playing outstanding, leading the group. (We've) just got to be poised and patient and disciplined, and try to make everything that they do get at the offensive end tough."
Hummer leads the Tigers in scoring at 17.3 points per game and rebounding at nearly eight per contest.
The Quakers continue to get great play from senior guard Zack Rosen, who leads the team in scoring at 18.3 points per game. And he is 20 points away from passing his coach (Jerome Allen) on the Quakers' all-time scoring list.
Rosen sits ninth heading into tonight, with 1,469 points. Allen scored 1,488 during his storied playing career from 1992 to 1995.
Tipoff tonight is set for 7:00pm at the Palestra.
