Penn and La Salle played a Palestra classic, even though it wasn’t a Big 5 game
For the first time in decades, two teams formally in the Big 5 played a regular-season nonconference game that didn’t count in the city standings. But the Quakers' win felt like the real thing.
Even at age 99, the Palestra still sees rare moments.
Saturday’s Penn-La Salle game marked the first time since the 2001-02 season that two teams formally in the Big 5 faced off in a regular-season nonconference game that didn’t count in the city standings.
When the tournament format started, five teams finally grew to six with Drexel’s inclusion. They agreed that they could schedule matchups outside the tournament pods, as long as they were willing to potentially meet again in the Big 5 Classic triple-header.
It didn’t happen in the tournament’s first two seasons, but it made sense that it would happen at some point. Scheduling nonconference games only ever gets harder for teams outside the elite, and Penn had room to fill in its Cathedral Classic four-team event on Thanksgiving weekend.
La Salle answered the call this season, while Fran Dunphy was still in charge on Olney Ave., and his close friend Steve Donahue was still in charge on 33rd Street. Their successors, Darris Nichols and Fran McCaffery, didn’t mind keeping the matchup when they took the jobs in the spring.
So there they were, staying in town for the holiday weekend, with Merrimack and Hofstra joining the field. The stands were far from filled, but there was some life in them — and there was lots of life on the court in Penn’s 73-71 win.
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La Salle gave a great effort, earning a 44-38 halftime lead as much by outhustling Penn as by outscoring them. Though the Quakers shot 53.8% from the field in the frame, the Explorers outrebounded them at both ends of the floor to produce a 21-14 margin on the glass.
“We were just getting destroyed on the glass in the first half,” McCaffery said. “You can’t win basketball games like that. Give them credit for the energy level that they played with.”
In the second half, the Explorers grew their lead to 55-41 with 15 minutes, 21 seconds remaining, and it was 60-47 with 12:26 to go. From there, star transfer TJ Power and freshman Jay Jones led the big comeback. The Quakers edged ahead 68-66 with 3:56 left, and held on despite missing enough free throws for the Explorers to stay within one possession through the final seconds.
At the buzzer, it felt every bit like a Big 5 game even though it wasn’t one.
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“I think you could see the intensity level displayed by both teams and that’s a credit to the individuals but also the coaching staffs for both programs,” McCaffery said. “The crowd was into it and was really good, and I think from that standpoint it makes great sense to do it.”
Power made his latest big impression with a game-high 29 points, including five three-pointers in the second half. But he said he was “most proud of” the mental side of the comeback.
“We work really hard on building our identity to be a winning team,” he said. “When we went down 14, all we were saying in the huddle is, like, ‘We win basketball games — there’s no doubt about that.’ We just knew we had to get stops, we made some adjustments on defense and then we got some momentum on offense.”
Jones’ role came after he subbed in for starting point guard AJ Levine with 12:09 to go, with Levine out of gas. Jones did not leave the court for the rest of the night, tallying seven points, two rebounds, one assist, and two steals in that span.
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McCaffery said Jones’ work in practices against the starters earned the opportunity, and praised him for seizing it.
“He’s just been really good,” McCaffery said. “His attitude is great. He’s just a freshman, so it takes time, but he was really special tonight and I’m not surprised.”
Nichols was understandably in a less happy mood, having been on the receiving end of it all. But the Explorers are clearly making progress, no matter their record.
“I don’t know if things are on the up — I’m down right now,” he said. But he quickly added it was easy to be “a prisoner of the moment, especially after wins and losses, and I tell my guys all the time the season’s long.”
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He will no doubt take his own advice as he teaches it to his players.
“You can be poisoned by accomplishment, you can be down in the valley of disappointment, and both of them are bad,” Nichols said. “Just trying to understand that we’ve got to continue to get better, we’ve got to get some guys healthy, we’ve got to get guys playing better, and we’re just going to continue to work.”