Although he had his hands full chasing Rosen around all night, Miller caused Penn coach Jerome Allen his fair share of headaches too.
His 17 points on 5-of-10 field goal shooting tied him with Casey for a team high in points and represented his highest output of the season.
Bouncing back from a zero-for-seven (all three-pointers) showing against Cornell last weekend, Miller hit a three-pointer to end a 7-0 run by the Quakers early in the second half.
Minutes later, he scored seven points in a row on three straight jumpers to put the Crimson ahead, 46-37, with six-and-a-half minutes to go.
“He’s beyond his years,” Amaker said. “He’s got a very credible sense of balance about who he is. He doesn’t get rattled.”
After his playing time fluctuated during non-conference play, Miller has seen double-digit minutes in five of six games since missing three contests with a thumb injury but had not scored more than five points since pouring in 13 at Dartmouth on Jan. 21.
His offensive explosion was well-timed, as sophomore sharpshooter Laurent Rivard missed all five of the three-pointers he took Friday, and co-captain Oliver McNally was off his three shots from beyond the arc.
Besides Cartwright, in fact, Miller was the only reliable deep threat for either team. Despite having a number of open looks, the teams combined to shoot 9 of 41 (21.9 percent) from three.
SIZE MATTERS
Faced with a guard-oriented team, the Crimson looked to have an advantage in the frontcourt, with its combination of Wright, Casey, and freshman Steve Moundou-Missi matched up against the Quakers’ Henry Brooks, Fran Dougherty, and Mike Howlett.
While Casey picked up 15 points and Steve Moundou-Missi came off the bench to turn in nine points and eight rebounds, the host big men managed to stand their ground. Dougherty had a team-high seven rebounds and four points off the bench, and Penn equaled the Crimson in points in the paint, 16-16.
“They just work really hard,” Wright said. “They were being very physical.... Give credit to them.”
Wright struggled to finish at the rim and posted just one field goal for the first time in over a year, drawing some words of wisdom from Amaker.
“Coach talked to me and said, ‘We need you, and it’s not all about scoring.’ I know that, but it’s just a little frustrating to see that layup crawl out of the rim,” said Wright, who did pick up a game-high 13 rebounds.
—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.