The Penn basketball team has seen myriad plagues so far this season. Many of those are still problems, others are starting to be solved, and some are still a huge mystery.

First is perimeter defense. Teams rain threes on Penn every single game, and the Quakers seem to be able to do nothing to stop it. In the first half against Temple, the Owls hit 8 of 12 from long range, and the majority of those were virtually uncontested. Five of Temple’s six guard nailed a three in the first half, and despite Penn waking up a bit on defense in the second, the Owls still hit 12 of 23 for the game.
And this is hardly a new problem for Penn. The Quakers’ opponents have shot 39.8 percent from three, a mark that only 25 out of the 341 Division I teams have achieved on their own this season (and four of the Quakers opponents’ RPI are in the bottom 41). Howard, the worst-shooting team from three in the NCAA, averages 3.75 threes per game and hits 23.8 percent. Yet the Bison nailed 12 against Penn, over 50 percent.

Then there’s the rebounding. The Red and Blue have been out-rebounded 37.6 per game to 34.8, and yet in their last three games, all against Big 5 teams (aka not NJIT, Elon or The Citadel; the list goes on…) were essentially even, out-rebounded 35.3 to 34.7. And that stat is more impressive than it looks — because the Quakers miss so often, the majority of those shots came on Penn’s offensive glass. The Temple game marked a clear difference in rebounding from the beginning of the season. Forwards are still missing some boxouts, but many are playing with more tenacity inside.

Finally, there’s the well-known mystery of the three-point shooting. While this is mostly a negative — the Quakers are still 333 out of 341 in three-point shooting — they mysteriously went 6-for-13 from beyond the arc on North Broad Street. That was Penn’s fewest amount of attempts in six games, and the highest amount of makes. My theory is that the right people shot them against Temple.
Against St. Joe’s, 10 players took a three, and seven didn’t hit any (including Aron Cohen going 0-for-6). But against Temple, only five players shot threes, and only two went hitless.

There are a lot of holes in the Penn men’s basketball team that were exploited by Saint Joseph’s and in other recent losses. These aren’t necessarily gaping holes, but with some smart gameplanning, the road to knocking off the Quakers in the Ivy League would be a lot easier.

1) Inbounds passes:
At least once per game, usually more, the baseline inbounds play (usually around the opponent’s basket) turns into a timeout or a turnover. The four players trying to receive the ball will either run somewhere or set a screen within about a three-second interval, and if the ball isn’t passed in by the three- or four-second mark, they just stand wherever they went to. This leaves the passer, often Aron Cohen, with no options. Whether it’s the fault of the players or the designer of the play, these guys must do something up until the five-second limit.

These inbounds plays are even more problematic when coming after a made shot and the opponent pressing. The Quakers are easily caught inbounding the ball to a guard who is either heading up one sideline, or even worse, into one corner. Here, a team has an easy opportunity to trap. Surrounded by two defenders and one (or two) out of bounds lines, the recipient of the pass has nowhere to go and often turns it over. We saw this a lot against La Salle, helping to create 17 turnovers.

2) Guarding skilled swingmen:
There’s not much to say here besides that the lanky 6-foot-10 swingman Pat Calathes torched Penn, and anyone the Quakers could throw at him. In the first half, when the outcome was still in doubt, Calathes went 4-for-8, 3-for-3 from three and 14 points, and that included four missed free throws and two missed dunks.
He either flew by any guard that was put on him in Penn’s three-guard lineup, or just shot over him. And we’re not talking about some 6-1 speed demon. Ryan Wittman is licking his chops.

3) Inability to get inside:
When faced with tough perimeter defense, Penn just shoots threes. As I mention in my sidebar, the Quakers attempted 27 threes against St. Joe’s, and it’s not like they did it because they were behind. Penn shot 12 in the first half, making only one, and missed 10 straight to close out the half (down by 24). Against La Salle, Penn got around its inability to penetrate by passing it to the forwards inside. But this failed as well against the Hawks, resulting in 5-for-27 shooting from long distance.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Greetings from about two blocks away from the Miami Hurricanes’ BankUnited Center, where the Quakers will try not to set any more dubious NCAA scoring records Wednesday night.

As of midnight, Penn is a 20- or 21-point ‘dog, and it’s not hard to see why. The ‘Canes were ranked for two weeks, then suffered their first loss (to Winthrop) and fell out of the Top 25, but they’re still a darn good team on paper.

No way will Penn come out as flat as it did against Florida Gulf Coast, but the Quakers just don’t seem to match up well in this game. Miami shoots the lights out from three-point land (nearly 44%), which has killed the Quakers all year. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior Jack McClintock has been particularly ridiculous in this department; he leads the ACC with 2.91 threes per game and a 54.2% clip from deep and has a 20-point scoring average. James Dews, a sophomore with a bit more size, is a distant second in the conference in three-point percentage (47.9) and scores nearly 12 per game.

According to Penn’s game notes, Brennan Votel, Harrison Gaines and Michael Kach are doubtful again after missing the FGCU game, which means we’ll see plenty of Aron Cohen (who’ll start) and Andreas Schreiber, plus some more Kevin Egee, Conor Turley and possibly Cameron Lewis as well.

Check back here at 8 p.m. where I’ll be blogging the game live. Afterwards, myself and fellow DP Sports Editors Krista Hutz and Sebastien Angel will all have stories on dailypennsylvanian.com breaking things down.

As promised, here are my personal Ivy Rankings, Edition 2. (Here’s No. 1.) RPI is included this time as well, and starting in the next edition I’ll include how each team’s RPI moved in the previous week.

1. Cornell (6-4, Previous Ranking: 3, RPI: 118). The Big Red had the best-quality win of the week — Stony Brook — so the No. 1 spot is theirs by default.
2. Columbia (5-7, Previous Ranking: 4, RPI: 203). 46-point victories are in short supply around the Ivy League, even against an opponent like Polytechnic.
3. Brown (6-5, Previous Ranking: 1, RPI: 119). The Bears got blown out by Notre Dame, but the Irish are 10-2, so Brown only moves down two spots.
4. Harvard (4-11, Previous Ranking: 7, RPI: 301). Harvard is still losing, but by smaller and smaller margins. I’m predicting a win over Dartmouth on Saturday.
5. Princeton (2-10, Previous Ranking: 8, RPI: 291). Still not much for the Tigers to be proud of, but their nine-point loss to Monmouth this week pales in comparison to what the three teams below them did.
6. Yale (3-7, Previous Ranking: 6, RPI: 158). 35-point loss. (Kansas.)
7. Dartmouth (5-7, Previous Ranking: 5, RPI: 241). 35-point loss. (Siena.)
8. Penn (4-8, Previous Ranking: 2, RPI: 255). 30-point loss. (Florida Gulf Coast.) Pick the outlier in that group. Sorry, Quakers, but last place is a lock this week.

Sorry, Andrew, one post illustrating what happened last night is not enough.

Penn’s six points, 5.9 percent shooting and one field goal in the first half were all the worst by any Division I basketball team in the shot clock era. Even the 30-point total was Penn’s worst in 40 years. Here are a few stats that I found must supplement the last post:

• Penn had 16 turnovers and 12 missed shots before scoring a single point
• 10 players attempted a three pointer for Penn, seven of which didn’t make one
• Nine players had multiple turnovers, five (Brian Grandieri, Jack Eggleston, Tyler Bernardini, Justin Reilly and Andreas Schreiber) had four or more
• The five starters (Grandieri, Eggleston, Bernardini, Reilly and Cohen) had eight more turnovers (21) then points (13)
• The starters had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.095
• Six players had more turnovers than points
• Schreiber (2-for-5) and Bernardini (2-for-9) were the only players to make more than one basket

I could go on, but I don’t want to see grown men crying before New Years. Here are some quotes from Penn head coach Glen Miller after the game:

“That’s probably the worst performance that any of my teams have ever had — and I’ve been a head coach for a long time. I’m very disappointed.”

“We were just very lethargic and unsure of ourselves. We certainly didn’t handle the five days we had off. We’re a much better team than that.”

“I want to give [the Eagles] credit. I think they’re a better basketball team than their record [4-9] and I think that will come through when they get in league play.”

Since it’s a new year coming up soon, Penn fans can look on the bright side:

• Penn’s 36 rebounds equaled FGCU’s total
• Joe Gill, playing in the first half for (I believe) the first time in his career had a wonderful game, hitting his only shot attempt, scoring four points, and dishing out one assist to no turnovers in seven minutes
• None of this matters until the Ivy League

Scoring or passing? Talent or experience? When it comes to point guards, Glen Miller seems to be valuing the latter in each case, which is how Harrison Gaines has ended up with a reduced role in Penn’s last two games. Aron Cohen dished five assists in 25 minutes Thursday; Gaines had four fouls — chalk up at least one to frustration — in 15 minutes.

It seemed like Gaines had secured the spot before stepping on campus — and he essentially had. Before the season, Miller and his staff were telling anyone who would listen that Gaines was going to start and that he would wow them all. But Miller acknowledged after the Elon game that the dynamics at the position have changed. Gaines has lost that favor, at least for the time being.

“We were high on Harrison,” Miller said. “But he’s a young point guard … He’s learning, he’s getting to see a lot from the bench, and Aron’s done a good job of organizing us in practice, getting us into [our] offense, and on the defensive end he’s done some good things too … Right now Aron has more experience and that experience has come to the forefront.”

Putting both of them on the floor wouldn’t make much sense because it would require keeping a better scorer — Mike Kach, for example — on the bench. So who should the every-day point guard be come Feb. 1? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Thursday’s game had the feel of a bad dinner party. Not as many people showed up as you would have liked, and everyone couldn’t wait to get out of dodge once it was over.

The most-beleagured-award goes to Elon, though. The team drove from Chattanooga to Philadelphia after losing the night of the 18th; after losing to Penn, the team packed up for a bus ride that night to Charlotteville to play Virginia tomorrow afternoon. Three games in five days and 1,600 travel miles, according to the Elon athletic department. And still no road wins this year. Next time people get down on Penn basketball, remind them that the Quakers program is good enough that it can avoid anything near that scheduling hell (thanks to the Big 5, Drexel, preseason tournaments in Philadelphia and eager-to-play schools sprinkled throughout Jersey). Give some holiday thanks for that.

Phoenix coach Ernie Nestor said he made the decision to bus the entire trip because of “economics.” No kidding.

Not that the Quakers were riding on easy street, either. Miller praised his team for getting by during finals on miniscule doses of sleep and practice and still coming ready to play against Elon. Brian Grandieri called the last two weeks “miserable” and did his best to expedite the postgame proceedings. When Tyler Bernardini began to respond to the final question with an anecdote from his high school days, Grandieri slapped his leg, laughed, and gave the freshman a wrap-this-thing-up look. Bernardini obliged, and the Quakers were mercifully out the door, free to enjoy their first winning streak of the season.

A couple thoughts after last night’s game at Lafayette:

I am really starting to think that Harrison Gaines is the most important player on the Quakers. Grandieri might know the offense inside and out, but Gaines is the spark that gets everything going. Moreover, he practically cannot be subbed out — at least not until Kevin Egee and Aron Cohen prove they can play defense and control the offense without turning it over. It seems that Gaines’ play — more than that of any other player — is very closely correlated with the Quakers’ success.

Last night, Lafayette tough perimeter defense and good interior help gave Gaines a lot of trouble. He wasn’t able to pass the ball inside with ease and he wasn’t able to use his quickness to get inside. He had an awful game — got beat on defense a few times and made some very poor decisions on offense — but experience is a good teacher.

Just look at Mike Kach. The senior had to face the same perimeter defense that Gaines did and is probably just a little more athletic. But he made the right decisions and was crafty enough to have a great game. He had to create his own shot all game, and when he wasn’t able to, he found the open man and crashed the boards. A great all-around game from him.

Here are the +/- numbers from last night. Minutes played are in parentheses, and the season total is the last number:

Grandieri: -13 (35) -22

Kach: -3 (25) -31

Votel: 0 (3) -4

Eggleston: -8 (31) -10

Reilly: -4 (13) -7

Gaines: -6 (28) +22

Cohen: -3 (15) -31

Schreiber: -2 (6) +6

Bernardini: -4 (25) +6

Lewis: -4 (5) +3

Cofield: -6 (6) -10

Egee: -5 (8) -28

I wasn’t at the 89-68 thrashing the Quakers took in Baltimore to Loyola on Sunday afternoon, so all I can go by is the live blog and the boxscore, but here are some interesting things to note from Game 2:

Penn had its chances down the stretch to win the game, but in the end, Drexel just made more big shots. A lot of that was due to the fact that the Quakers were not getting the ball to the right guys in the right spots. When they most needed shooters on the floor, there were none to be found.

Tyler Bernardini, tentatively labeled “maybe the best shooter” on the team, played four minutes total. Aron Cohen, who had the hot hand in the game, didn’t even attempt a shot in overtime. But six of the final nine treys the Quakers attempted were from big men Jack Eggleston and Brennan Votel (and of those six, they made only one). Not having Darren Smith out late definitely hurt the Quakers’ versatility, but it was still hard to swallow watching five guys stand on the perimeter and the center taking the shot.

I thought Harrison Gaines was the Quakers’ third-best player out there. He was very patient in the half-court, showed some deft passing and a nice handle, and was solid in man defense. Three dimes and a steal in 13 minutes is more than enough for a first outing. While I thought he made a premature exit, it was probably the right move if Miller took him out in favor of experience.

Speaking of experience, Brian Grandieri stepped up when he had to. At first, things looked shaky and Miller even sat him for a long stretch in the first half. But around midway into the second, he seemed to shift a few gears up, and grabbed some big offensive boards, got in the lane, and got to the line. Before the game, Miller said that he wasn’t sure if Grandieri “would have to score 18 to 20 a game or if he was even capable of that.” Well, he scored 23 (8-14 FG, 7-12 FT) and was the main reason Penn got back into the game.

On the bright side, the Quakers’ defense looked very sharp in the second half. The team did a good job of sealing off the leaks from the first half. While in zone, they rotated better to cover the corners and rebounded well, and in man they were generally tight and disciplined. Nonetheless, it’s hard to win a game shooting 31/22/50 (FG/3PT/FT). The right guys need to be able to get the right looks, and someone is going to have to emerge as a viable isolation threat.