Zack Rosen, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard from Colonia, N.J., can score with the best of them. Rosen averages 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game and is tied for first in the league with an astounding 17.6 points per game. Not only has he produced big numbers all season, but Rosen’s play is beginning to peak at just the right time for the Quakers—during the heart of conference competition.
Through the first nine conference games of the season, Rosen maintains a 19.1 point-per-game average. He has posted high scoring efforts in games against Cornell (22), Brown (29), and Yale (27).
Rosen, who plays the most minutes in the Ivy League at 37.3 per game, is a pivotal part of Penn’s offense. Rosen said, “I’ve got to do it all. I have to fill the stats sheet. I’m responsible for my teammates. I have to score. I’m a do-it-all guy”.
Rosen described the team as “aggressive.” “We want to be aggressive and loose,” he said.
After a rough start to the season and going a winless 0-7, Penn decided to go in a new direction by parting ways with coach Glen Miller. The Quakers replaced Miller with interim coach Jerome Allen, an all-time great guard for Penn and assistant with the team.
Rosen has a lot of confidence in Allen. When asked whether Penn should hire Allen as the head coach, Rosen responded, “Yes. 100 percent. He knows this game in and out. He knows what this place is all about. He has a great ability to motivate people. He has all the right tools to be a great coach.”
In fact, it was the tradition and history that attracted Rosen to Penn in the first place. “I was very excited for the opportunity to be a part of that,” he said.
Rosen thinks that this relatively young squad responded very well to its slow start and coaching change. “Everyone is working extremely hard,” he said.
With an improved 5-18 record (4-5 Ivy), Rosen believes that this team has a lot of potential looking forward. However, the star guard remains focused on this season. “These next five games are very important for us. We want to make a statement to go into next year. I’m excited,” he said.
The road ahead begins on Friday night in Levien Gymnasium. In its first meeting this season, Columbia defeated Penn 66-62 while holding Rosen to just 11 points, the fewest he’s scored in conference play this year.
Columbia head coach Joe Jones attributes a lot of the Lions’ success against Rosen to senior guard Kevin Bulger, who covered him most of the night. “Kevin Bulger’s a great defender,” Jones said. “I thought Kevin did a nice job. I thought our guys off the ball were in great position. I thought our ball screen defense was very sound the first time around.”
Of Rosen, Jones said, “He’s a terrific player. He’s gotten better. He’s a guy that just lives in the gym, that just loves basketball. I mean he’s a throwback kind of guy. ... We’re going to have our hands full with him, and we just hope that we can contain him. Because he’s really the key to their team, and he’s able to score the ball, especially in transition—he’s tough. So we have to get back in transition, keep him out of the lane, and guard him off ball screens. That’s how you got to handle him.”
Penn has shown flashes of brilliance this season, most notably in its 79-64 win over Cornell, who was ranked 22nd in the country at the time. “We just had a different level of focus that night,” Rosen said. “We shot the crap out of the ball and executed our game plan extremely well.”
If the Quakers can stay focused and get the production Rosen has shown lately, they’re going to have a very good chance of leveling the season series with the Lions this weekend.
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