“We kind of understood that this could happen,” said Penn coach Fran Dunphy. “We had our chances and we dropped a couple games that we feel we maybe could have won, but so be it...we didn’t get it done like we should have.”
For proof of this, just look at the Penn-Princeton game played in Jadwin early in February. The Quakers scored from everywhere, putting the Tigers away late in the first half and never letting them come close to making it a game down the stretch.
With Princeton coming into the Palestra banged up tomorrow and Penn looking to put the icing on its NIT resume, there’s little reason to think that the rematch will play out much differently.
“It’s our main rival in the league,” Dunphy said. “We play these games on Tuesday nights, when no one else does, and they’re always on television. So, there’s a lot of pride to play for.”
Pride will be the only thing to play for, as the Tigers’ 12-0 record against the rest of the league is more than enough to overcome a possible sweep at the hands of the Quakers.
In the end, they didn’t win pretty and they got some lucky bounces. But the Tigers won, and despite how dominant the Quakers have been down the stretch, they just can’t say the same.
—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.