• Season 9 SuperTicker presented by BLAPP
#TMM9

Recent Game Recaps

Epilogue, The Ninth: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Memories

So We Meet Again

Rte. 139 - End of the Line

Hanging On

A Championship in Pictures

This Time of Year

Dotson Leads Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen

Grizzlies Overwhelmed by Orangemen

Empire

Challenge 11: Final Four Memories

By George, UConn is Dead

Butler and Us

Donning the Black and Gold

Challenge 10: Tourney Memories

The Madness of the Horizon League

The Rare Ivy League Conference Tournament

MAC Madness

Anything Can Happen in the MAAC

Challenge 9: Shock The Neighborhood

A Youthful Surprise

From Worst to First

Peers and Seers

Big Five Love Note
January 21, 2013 10:33 pm ET by Jennifer Ahearn

Game #9-314: Saint Joseph`s Hawks at Pennsylvania Quakers

January 19, 2013 5:00 pm
The Palestra
BBState Stats/Recap

There's a website that came to my attention a few months ago called "Philly Love Notes," that collects essays and stories, with photos, of things that Philadelphians love about their city. It's the kind of website I love - using the internet to connect people to their surroundings and each other. I'm not a Philadelphian, of course, so I'm not at all qualified to write such a thing - but if I were, I'd write about the Big Five.

If you're a fan of TMM, you've certainly heard plenty about the Big Five. And there's no doubt that the "heyday" of the Big Five has long since passed. The big schools generally chafe at the impingement on their out of conference scheduling freedom, and a school like Penn can pretty easily go 0-fer in the series in any given year, which certainly doesn't help morale.

Lots of the positives of the Big Five that do remain aren't really that accessible to fans, other than built in chances for smack talk with your cube mates or neighbors from other local schools. (Coincidentally, the guy with the office next to mine in Washington, D.C. is a Villanova grad, so I guess that part of it does extend beyond Philadelphia.) We read stories about the camaraderie among the coaches, players, etc. But sometimes it can seem like not much more than a blip on the schedule.

Once a year, though, things are different.

Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid.
It's not a joke, kid--it's a curse.
My luck is changing--it's gotten
from simply rotten to something worse.

This has been a pretty difficult season for the Quakers. Ray outlined the team's struggles and difficulties quite fully. Even though I expected a step back this year, with not a single senior on the roster and a lot of minutes for young players, including multiple freshmen, the record is worse than I thought. Some of that couldn't have been anticipated - losing your leading scorer for seven games (and counting) to mono, for instance.

So even though I pretty well knew exactly what was coming when Penn faced off against St. Joe's (a 20-point smackdown), I was excited to go - just to have that Big Five experience. A full Palestra, with fans of both teams packed in, both bands playing, an afternoon game with light streaming in the windows? Hell yeah.

















Walking up to the arena, we were greeted with another Philadelphia phenomenon - Mummers.

Dream a while, scheme a while,
You're sure to find
Happiness and, I guess,
All those things you've always pined for.

Philadelphia: I can't give you anything but love, baby.

Penn / St Joes from Jen Ahearn on Vimeo.


And of course: Miles Cartwright sneaker watch:


However: just as Craig Hanford noted that Creighton's Gregory Echenique seemed to want in on the sneaker watch action, a few other Penn folks appeared to as well. Here's Henry Brooks:


And wait ... the entire Penn coaching staff?



Look carefully, and note that they let the head man, Jerome Allen, go with the flashy red soles. What did I say about the rebirth of the cool?

SAINT JOSEPH`S 79, at PENNSYLVANIA 59
01/19/2013

SAINT JOSEPH`S 10-6 (1-2) -- L. Galloway 7-12 0-0 20; C. Jones 4-10 5-5 15; C. Aiken 3-6 2-2 9; R. Roberts 8-11 0-0 16; C. Wilson 2-4 0-0 4; D. Quarles 3-5 1-2 7; P. Ndao 0-2 0-0 0; I. Miles 0-1 2-4 2; T. Trevisan 1-1 0-0 3; C. Coyne 1-1 0-0 3; C. Kelly 0-0 0-0 0; E. Kindler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-53 10-13 79.
PENNSYLVANIA 3-14 (0-1) -- D. Nelson-Henry 8-12 1-6 17; M. Cartwright 4-10 1-2 9; G. Louis 3-7 0-0 7; J. Lewis 1-5 0-0 2; S. Rennard 1-5 0-0 2; T. Hicks 2-7 2-4 8; H. Brooks 4-10 0-0 8; C. Crocker 0-3 1-2 1; P. Lucas-Perry 2-5 0-0 5; D. Jok 0-1 0-0 0; C. Gunter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-65 5-14 59.

Three-point goals: SJU 11-27 (C. Jones 2-5; C. Aiken 1-4; L. Galloway 6-10; D. Quarles 0-1; T. Trevisan 1-1; P. Ndao 0-2; C. Wilson 0-2; C. Coyne 1-1; I. Miles 0-1), PENN 4-21 (M. Cartwright 0-3; D. Jok 0-1; S. Rennard 0-2; C. Crocker 0-3; G. Louis 1-2; P. Lucas-Perry 1-4; T. Hicks 2-4; J. Lewis 0-2); Rebounds: SJU 34 (R. Roberts 12), PENN 30 (G. Louis 7); Assists: SJU 16 (C. Wilson 5), PENN 16 (M. Cartwright 4); Total Fouls -- SJU 12, PENN 15; Fouled Out: SJU-None; PENN-H. Brooks.