PHILADELPHIA – Kevin Baggett was fed up.
Once the whistle blew, triggering the timeout that he’d motioned for, Baggett locked eyes with Ife West-Ingram as he walked to the bench. West-Ingram had just been blown by for an easy layup by Ethan Roberts, extending Penn’s lead to 15 in the second half. Baggett did a few defensive slides to express his concerns.
“It was an easy switch that he could have switched on that he didn’t,” Baggett said. “Things that we work on, that he continues to do. The same breakdowns, and then guys got to acknowledge when they make mistakes and things, and I got guys who act like it didn’t happen. That pisses me off.”
Rider never led in its first trip to the Palestra in over a decade, falling 79-66 to Penn on Friday night. It’s the sixth consecutive loss for the Broncs after a 4-2 start to the season, with all four wins coming on the road.
Immediately after the timeout, West-Ingram came off the floor, and he didn’t return for the rest of the game.
The sophomore has played 19.3 minutes per game this year, but played just four in his hometown on Friday. When asked about how to grow his players’ accountability, Baggett was terse.
“Sit ’em on the bench,” he said. “The bench, that’s the accountability.”
West-Ingram wasn’t the only one who Baggett sat down for long stretches. After missing a mid-range jump shot with under seven minutes to play in the first half, Flash Burton was benched at the next whistle, and didn’t return until the second half.
As another Bronc playing in his hometown, Burton scored seven points in 16 minutes of action, but Baggett thought he wasn’t playing smart enough.
“You’ve got Flash coming in and taking poor shots when he’s only a freshman,” he said.
Burton also sat the final seven and a half minutes of the game after missing three shots in a row.
Tariq Ingraham sat the final 11:06, Jay Alvarez sat the final 7:30, Tank Byard played just nine minutes, and the Broncs had no answers for Penn on either end.
The Quakers had 40 points in the paint, mostly coming off of easy cuts, rolls, and finishes. Big man Nick Spinoso, who scored 19 points in Penn’s win over the Broncs in Lawrenceville last year, was unstoppable once again.
He led the way with 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting, throwing down a few dunks, and operating the Quaker offense out of multiple looks. In the first half, he got a mismatch on Jay Alvarez at the foul line and backed him all the way to the…
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