Khalil Alford can be a spark off the bench. (John Blaine photo)

Some leftover thoughts from Rider's 73-57 victory over Penn, which evened the Broncs' record at 1-1 following an opening-nigh loss to Princeton.

1. Khalil Alford can be instant offense: The junior forward came off the bench to score 10 points, eight of which came consecutively in the first half with Rider leading 21-20. They helped spark a 19-3 run that gave the Broncs a 17-point cushion.

"He's a big-time player," junior guard Zedric Sadler said. "We're going to need him to step up and do what he did tonight every game."

Alford's offense has never been in question. It's the other end of the floor which gets coach Kevin Baggett worried.

 "The one thing we know is Khalil can score," Baggett said. "He struggled a little bit defensively with a couple breakdowns late up at Princeton. I got on him quite a bit after the game because I didn't think he had the right energy for us coming off the bench. He responded tonight. I can talk about the points, but he came in and did a good job defensively, and then ignited us offensively."

2. Penn isn't very good: The Quakers are going to struggle, especially early as Jerome Allen tries to mold a young group. He played four freshmen at least 23 minutes Tuesday night.

"It's tough because you want to make sure these guys have a winning experience as soon as possible because it's kind of the only way they buy into the process," Allen said. "If there was one teaching tool to the young guys, it would be regardless of the score, just leave it on the floor."

It didn't help that center Darien Nelson-Henry got in early foul trouble and was limited to 15 minutes, while high-scoring guard Tony Hicks (31 points vs. Delaware State) couldn't shake free of Sadler and finished with 11 in 28 minutes.

3. Up next: Rider plays its home opener against Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks pushed nationally-ranked Villanova in their opener, losing by 11, but suffered a surprising home loss to Canisius Tuesday night.

Brett Reed's squad will come to Alumni Gym at 0-2.