Penn Basketball: Injuries finally catching up to ailing Quakers

Penn basketball’s season has gone better than most expected after the loss of Ryan Betley, but the Quakers have had a difficult time with the losses of other key contributors

2018 was quite a year for Penn basketball. Led by sophomores Ryan Betley and AJ Brodeur, the Quakers stormed to a 12-2 finish in the Ivy League a season ago, sharing the regular season crown with Harvard and beating them in the final of the conference tournament in an absolute classic at the Palestra to send Penn to the NCAA Tournament. They followed up their championship effort with a 10-2 start to their 2018-19 campaign, beating both Miami and Villanova on the way.

Penn was looking at completing one of their best seasons since Fran Dunphy coached them to a three-loss season and a No. 11 seed in the tournament in 1994; a 12-2 record before their first Ivy game was a real possibility, and finishing the Ivy season with only one or two losses, or even undefeated, was not out of the question for the Quakers. Ending the regular season as a two or three or four-loss team wasn’t a distant aspiration for UPenn, it became the expectation for Steve Donahue’s squad. A high enough seed to seriously expect a shot at a Sweet Sixteen run and a top-25 ranking was probably on the mind of Penn fans and players.

Penn’s injury woes began five minutes into the season when leading scorer Ryan Betley went down with a season-ending knee injury against George Mason. Suddenly, after returning a junior leadership core that seemed poised to return the Quakers to the top of the Ivy League, Penn’s season was in doubt.

In place of the injured guard came Bryce Washington, but his production was replaced by highly-touted freshman Michael Wang, a 6-foot-10 forward who continued to come off the bench to join Max Rothschild and AJ Brodeur in Penn’s frontcourt. Wang was an immediate offensive difference-maker, and Penn hadn’t skipped a beat with the loss of Betley. Wang scored 14 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in Penn’s big upset of Villanova.

Wang did crack the starting lineup when Max Rothschild went down with a back injury sustained in the middle of December, and without a second starter from opening night and a senior leader in Rothschild, Penn went out to New Mexico and beat the Lobos by ten at the Pit.

Then came the Toledo game. Toledo emerged as one of the tougher mid-majors in the country and was ranked No. 65 in KenPom heading into their game with Penn a few days after Christmas. What would’ve been a significant barometer for the Quakers (a win that could’ve even begun at-large talks) turned into a nightmare scenario for Steve Donahue’s team. Eight minutes in, Wang rolled his ankle on the foot of a Rockets’ player and took himself out of the game a few plays later. Brodeur managed 19 himself, but no other Penn player broke double digits. A scrambling Steve Donahue would end up playing 14 players to try to plug the holes in his lineup, but Penn would lose by more than 30.

Penn seemed to get a break with winless Monmouth coming into the Palestra on New Year’s Eve; Rothschild and Wang remained sidelined for the game, but there were few teams in the country Penn fans would’ve preferred to see on their schedule with three impact players unable to go.

But under-performing Monmouth, who was picked to finish 5th in the MAAC’s preseason poll, used the opportunity to exploit a weakened Penn squad and win their first game of the season. The back and forth thriller went to overtime where the Hawks would win 76-74. Now gone was any hope of an at-large bid for the Quakers, and if they did manage to repeat in the Ivy, so affected was their seeding by the two difficult results they endured heading into the New Year.

The injury bug has finally caught up with the Quakers. Currently sitting at 10-4, Penn will open Ivy play away at bitter rival Princeton, who already hold a victory over Arizona State. Wang and Rothschild are described at “day-to-day” by Steve Donahue, and the expectation is that both will be back for Saturday’s showdown at Jadwin.

Staying healthy has become the x-factor for the Quakers success; any extended stretch without Wang or Brodeur would likely derail Penn in the conference season. If they can stay healthy, expect them to be playing a meaningful basketball game on March 17th in New Haven.