Bernardini
ANAHEIM, Ca. – The reporters from California might not have been able to see it but it was there, buried beneath disappointment and press-conference clichés: For Tyler Bernardini and Miles Cartwright, Saturday’s game against UCLA was a special one.
“We talked about it a lot in the summer, coming back,” Cartwright said outside the locker room after Penn’s 77-73 loss to the Bruins. “When we got here, our teammates thought we were annoying because everyone was so tired from the flight but me and Tyler had the most energy. We were laughing, having fun on the bus. It was great – especially for Tyler, not being home in so long.”
Along with freshman reserve Camryn Crocker, Bernardini and Cartwright hail from Southern California, not far from the Honda Center in Anaheim, where the Quakers and Bruins faced off over the weekend.
And as much as Penn coach Jerome Allen tried to insist in the postgame press conference that this was just another road game, it wasn’t. Not for the California kids.
Playing his first college game in his home state, with his grandparents watching him play for the first time since he was in high school, Bernardini looked as determined as ever. He had an extra bounce in his step. He chased the ball ferociously on the defensive end. And, most noticeably to those fans at the Honda Center who had never before seen him play, he shot the lights out.
In the end, Bernardini – who was just named Ivy League co-Player of the Week - scored a career-high 29 points, making eight of the 12 three-point shots he attempted. For a player who has been through a lot of negative things at Penn, including an injury that wiped out just about his entire 2009-10 season, it was a special moment.
“I knew he was going to have a big game,” Cartwright said. “He told me to find him and that he was going to get open. And I knew he was going to knock ’em down.”
Cartwright wasn’t as fortunate in his California homecoming. After sitting out Penn’s last game because of a concussion he suffered in practice Monday, the Penn guard looked rusty for much of Saturday’s game. In the final few minutes, during an inspired Quaker comeback, he came alive with a three-pointer and a traditional three-point play. But the sophomore, who finished with just eight points, lamented his overall performance, especially as fellow guard Zack Rosen also had a rare off night shooting the basketball.
Cartwright
“I wish I was there a lot earlier,” Cartwright said.
Even still, the trip to California presented Cartwright with the rare opportunity to play against some friends (like UCLA’s Tyler Lamb) and also see his younger brother Parker play in his own game the day before. Parker Jackson-Cartwright – a sophomore at Loyola High School in Los Angeles and a top-level recruit – scored 11 points in a 60-56 win over Fairfax, and then left the Penn-UCLA game early to score 20 points in another victory Saturday.
“I tell him about Penn all the time,” Miles said about his kid brother. “But he was a little torn because UCLA is recruiting him hard and he loves the guys over there. As much as I want him to go to Penn, I want him to make the best decision for him.”
Deciding between UCLA and Penn may seem like an interesting choice, considering UCLA is perhaps the most storied college basketball program in the country while Penn plays in the less-heralded Ivy League.
But Miles Cartwright is quick to point out that Penn is a terrific program in its own right – which is why he didn’t feel any intimidation playing on the same floor as UCLA on Saturday, even though the trip to California was a special one.
“I think Penn has the same type of tradition, which a lot of people sleep on.” he said. “UCLA is great, and being from L.A., UCLA really defines Los Angeles basketball. But I really didn’t treat the game any differently in that sense.”
