Scouting Report: Penn Quakers

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scouting-report-penn-quakers — Photo via Penn Athletics

Games seem to be coming few and far between right now. The layoff feels even longer than a week coming off of a loss. Kentucky has had a full week to stew over their home loss to UNC Wilmington. Uncharacteristic turnovers, poor defense, and an off shooting night led to Saturday’s disappointment. Now, the ‘Cats will return to action at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia against the Penn Quakers. Playing what is essentially a road game against a team that is shooting the lights out from three-point range isn’t the easiest bounce back spot, but that is what the Wildcats are up against in this one. With the North Carolina Tar Heels looming a week away it will be important for Kentucky to get right and get back in the win column against the Quakers.

Last season, Penn featured the second leading scorer in Division I basketball as Jordan Dingle averaged 23.1 points per game. He has moved on to play for Coach Rick Pitino at St. John’s, but the Quakers can still put points on the board. They return several rotation pieces from a team that finished third in the Ivy League a year ago including reigning player of the week Clark Slajchert. So far this season Penn is shooting 41.5% from three-point range which puts them just a tick behind Kentucky in sixth place nationally. In their last three games, the Quakers have shot 45-84 from deep including a 21-34 performance on Wednesday. The Wildcats defense must do a better job of taking away the three-point shot this Saturday than they did last Saturday.

As always, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s latest opponent. We will take a deep dive into the Quakers’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the ‘Cats. Let’s dive in and get to know more about the Penn Quakers.

Penn Quakers Personnel

Starters

#0 Clark Slajchert: 6’1″ 170 lbs, Senior Guard

19.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.4 apg

Primary ball handler. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Shooting over six 3’s per game and making 44.3%. You need to be tight to him at all times to take him away from 3. Pick him up out beyond the 3-point line so he can’t dribble into a deep one. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to switch anytime there is too much space to get out and take him away from 3. When you switch you need to switch out aggressively to take him away from 3. Absolutely no help off of him. You do not have other responsibilities aside from taking him away from 3. Get up and pressure him. He is going to drive it right when you take him away from 3, but we’d rather make him finish 2’s. Take him away from 3!!!

#11 Sam Brown: 6’3″ 180 lbs, Freshman Guard

11.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.3 apg

Lefty. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 32 of 42 shots have been 3’s. Shooting the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. You need to be tight to him at all times to take him away from 3. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to switch anytime there is too much space to get out and take him away from 3. When you switch you need to switch out aggressively to take him away from 3. Absolutely no help off of him. You do not have other responsibilities aside from taking him away from 3. Get up and pressure him. He is hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s. Doesn’t really want to drive it, but will drive it LEFT. Find him in transition. Absolutely no 3’s for him!

#4 Tyler Perkins: 6’4″ 205 lbs, Freshman Guard

15.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.4 apg

Lefty. Strong and athletic. Shooter! 37.5% from 3 on nearly two makes per game. Need to play him as straight up as possible as he is also an excellent left-hand driver. No left hand drives!!! Be there on the catch to take away the initial catch-and-shoot and then bounce back to guard against the left hand drive. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to switch anytime there is too much space to get out and take him away from 3. When you switch you need to switch out aggressively to take him away from 3 and then bounce back to guard against the left hand drive. Always going to come back left to finish. Likes to turn his drives into post moves. Stay down, wall up, and make him finish over you. Contest everything.

#40 George Smith: 6’4″ 205 lbs, Junior Guard

5.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.7 apg

Lefty. Plays the role of a stretch 4-man for them. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 30 of 38 shots have been 3’s. Shooting the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. He is hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s. You need to SWITCH anytime he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. He won’t shoot them coming off of screens as much as the other guys, but still CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Absolutely no help off of him. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Good passer. Get up and pressure him on the perimeter. Make him uncomfortable. He will drive it left when you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s, but he is mostly driving to pass. Don’t over help when he drives it. Make him finish over you from 2. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#13 Nick Spinoso: 6’9″ 240 lbs, Junior Forward

9.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.5 apg

Lefty. Skilled forward. Leads them in assists. Excellent passer. Plays out on the perimeter a lot, but he is a non-shooter. Left hand driver. No left hand drives!!! You want to be out there to deter his passing angles some, but you can’t get beat to his left hand. Loves to turn his drives into post moves. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Need to stunt and fake at him to try and make him pick it up. Can’t let him be too comfortable. When he dribbles it three or more times he is likely going to score. However, we can’t double too aggressively because of their shooters and his passing ability. Stunt and fake. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. He is always coming back to his left hand, right shoulder. Be physical. Box out! No easy right shoulder baskets.

Bench

#10 Ed Holland III: 6’6″ 210 lbs, Junior Guard/Forward

6.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.9 apg

Bigger backup wing. Right hand driver! No right hand drives! He is only going to shoot the wide open, catch-and-shoot 3’s. You can closeout a step or two short and guard against the right hand drives. Hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. You can go up through downscreens and under the flares. You are guarding him in a way so that he cannot beat you off of the dribble. Concentrate when closing out to him and recognize he is wanting to drive it right. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short. Be physical at the end of his drives. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Will crash the offensive glass hard from the perimeter. Box out. No right hand drives! No layups for him!

#5 Cam Thrower: 6’3″ 190 lbs, Sophomore Guard

6.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.8 apg

Shooter! No 3’s! 29 of 50 shots have been 3’s. Shooting nearly the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. We aren’t worried about him beating us as a right hand driver. Get him off of the 3-point line and make him finish 2’s. When he drives it he is primarily driving it to pass. Do not over help when he drives it. You need to be tight to him to take him away from 3. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to switch anytime there is too much space to get out and take him away from 3. When you switch you need to switch out aggressively to take him away from 3. No help off of him. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. He is hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#15 Andrew Laczkowski: 6’6″ 200 lbs, Senior Guard

5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.4 apg

Backup guard. Not super aggressive offensively. Right hand driver! No right hand drives! Capable shooter when he is wide open, but much more dangerous around the basket. Uses his size and length to finish inside. Be physical with him around the basket. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. He primarily scores off of offensive rebounds. Averaging 2.5 offensive rebounds per game in just over 15 minutes per game. You must go FIND him and BOX HIM OUT. Can’t let him hurt us on the offensive glass. He is going to fly in from the perimeter. Go find him and make contact. Closeout a step or two short to him on the perimeter. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it. No right hand drives. No offensive rebounds!

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#25 Augustus Gerhart: 6’9″ 235 lbs, Freshman Forward

3.2 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.8 apg

Backup 5-man. Not super aggressive offensively. He is primarily in there to ballscreen and roll to the basket. They will throw it to him on the roll some. However, we are more concerned about containing the ball and not “tagging” on the roll to stay with shooters than we are about them throwing it to him on the roll. If he starts to beat us by scoring it on the roll we will adjust how we defend the ballscreens. Don’t help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Physical on the offensive glass. Box him out!

Penn Quakers Offense

Kentucky went through a stretch of playing some of the most uptempo teams in the country. Then, even UNC Wilmington who is generally much more deliberate, played at 77 possessions in their upset win at Rupp Arena. The Penn Quakers are definitely going to look to slow it down and control the pace even more so offensively. They run a lot of 5-Out Motion as the ‘Cats have become accustomed to seeing and will space the floor with four shooters at all times. There won’t be nearly as much ball screening as you see with some teams. Instead, the Quakers run a lot of Princeton type action with off-ball screening and cutting. Kentucky must do a good job of not getting lose off of the ball, concentrating enough to stay tight to shooters, and take these guys away from 3.

Here is a look at some of the 5-out action the Penn Quakers will run in the half court. Whether it be as a ball screener, passer, or driver, a lot of their offense is triggered by #13 Spinoso at the top of the key. This zoom action with #40 Smith setting it is really hard to guard. We REALLY want to SWITCH anytime #40 screens. That would help us keep a guy on a guy and take him away from 3. He is pretty much only in there to shoot catch-and-shoot 3’s. By not switching the downscreen here the defender had to drop and take the roll man with nobody on #40 near the corner. Good job taking away #0 Slajchart off of the zoom, but we also can’t leave #40. Communicate and concentrate.

You can expect to see some Princeton action from Penn in the half court. This possession is with their backup 5-man #25 Gerhart in, but it is even more effective when #13 Spinoso is in the lineup. Here they go three-man side into a roll and replace ballscreen. Especially with #25 in there we want to make them try and throw it to the roll man. You cannot tag the roll this much off of #11 Brown. He is a 50% 3-point shooter. If we start getting beat on the roll time and time again we can adjust what we are doing on the ballscreens, but we can’t start by giving up 3’s to #11. You aren’t responsibility for tagging here, only taking away the 3.

Look the ball movement and pace that the Quakers play with here in this clip from their upset win over Villanova. These guys cut HARD. If you aren’t 100% locked in at all times you are going to get left in the dust either on a basket cut or them running off of a screen for a 3 on the perimeter. Ultimately, this possession ends with #13 Spinoso backing down his defender from the elbow. He will do this a lot when he has space. It is really hard to come double him because he is such a great passer. However, we need to aggressively stunt and fake at him to try and get him to pick up his dribble. When he has this much time it is hard to keep him from scoring. Left hand, right shoulder.

When the ball gets to #13 Spinoso in the post you need to be really active. We don’t want to run at the ball and double because he will find the open guy for a 3. However, you need to stunt and fake at him MORE than you see here. #21 for Monmouth does a good initial stunt, but then essentially turns his back. More activity might have kept him from getting to the midline which set up his move back to his right shoulder.

At times against Villanova the Penn Quakers had the best player on the floor. #4 Perkins might be a freshman, but he is an outstanding basketball player who can play anywhere in the country. He is capable of making some really tough shots and straight up beating you in a one-on-one battle. However, you just need to make it as difficult on him as possible. He likes to use his size and strength to operate inside and will turn some drives into post moves. This is good defense, but an even better shot. Contest everything.

Penn Quakers Defense

There is certainly a chance that the Penn Quakers mix in some 2-3 Zone defense on Saturday afternoon. They’ve played zone on nearly 25% of their defensive possessions this season, per Synergy, but that has primarily come in two specific games. Coach Donahue went heavily zone against Villanova and Belmont. It worked in their upset over the Wildcats as they shot just 9-33 from deep. However, Belmont exploited it for an 11-29 performance. It is hard to zone this Kentucky team, but don’t be surprised if they mix in a few possessions of it if they are struggling to get stops. Overall, the Quakers have really struggled defensively this season ranking 303rd in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric.

Keys to the Game

Contain them from 3-point range. Your goal needs to be taking away ATTEMPTS. No 3’s for #0 Slajchart, #11 Brown, #4 Perkins, or #40 Smith. Need to hold those four guys to no more than 6 combined 3’s.
Win the battle on the glass. Despite being undersized, the Penn Quakers have been a very good rebounding team this season. We need to be 77% or better on the defensive glass.
Get back to taking care of the ball. Uncharacteristic turnovers cost us the game against UNC Wilmington. They will be even more costly on the road in this one. Turnover percentage below 13%.
Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.