<em>College Basketball: </em> Penn Spending the Weekend in New York
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - After a couple of heartbreaking losses, the Penn Quakers are spending the weekend in New York State -- starting things off with a game tonight in Ithaca against Cornell.
The Quakers are 3-2 in the Ancient 8, the first of the two losses coming in double-overtime against Harvard and the second in overtime this past Tuesday against Princeton -- the top two teams in the league.
Quakers head coach Jerome Allen says his team is taking the positives away from those two difficult losses.
"They look at it and say, 'Well if everyone on the periphery is saying they are the better two teams in the league, than what are we? Because we should have won both games.' Hopefully, from a mindset standpoint, we walk into contests expecting to win. Not saying we didn't do that prior, but the expectations kind of motivate the legs a little bit. Expect, demand maximum effort out of yourself, and that kind of translates into winning," Allen told KYW Newsradio today.
Hear the entire Jerome Allen interview in this CBS Philly SportsPod...
Cornell is the three-time defending Ivy League champion, but they have fallen on hard times this season with a 5-15 record. Steve Donahue, the coach behind those titles, is now at Boston College.
Allen says that despite the struggles of this year's Big Red squad, they are still dangerous.
"Coach (Bill) Courtney has done a tremendous job of just getting his guys to play extremely hard. Wins and losses... put those out of the way and they probably compete just as well as anybody in our league," Allen says.
On Saturday, the Quakers visit Columbia University.
Penn is 9-10 this season. Last year they handed the Big Red their only Ivy League loss, a 79-64 decision at the Palestra.
Reported by Matt Leon, KYW Newsradio 1060.
