ST. THOMAS, V.I. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team dropped its first game of the 2018-19 season on Sunday night, taking a 64-48 loss to No. 12 Kansas State in a Paradise Jam semifinal at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports & Fitness Center.
 
Penn fell to 4-1 with the loss, while the Wildcats remained unbeaten at 4-0. KSU will face Missouri in the Paradise Jam championship game on Monday at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 EST).
 
Up Next
Penn will face Oregon State in the Paradise Jam third-place game on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. (5:30 EST). The Beavers opened the tournament with a 61-56 win over Old Dominion before falling to Missouri in Sunday's other semifinal, 69-63.
 
Notes
*After going 20-0 in such games dating back to the start of the last season, Penn lost despite shooting more free throws than its opponent; the Quakers took 22 foul shots and KSU took 18. (Both teams made 14.)
 
*Penn made just 15 field goals, a team low in the Steve Donahue coaching era, and had just four three-pointers which is one above the team low in the Donahue era.
 
*Junior Devon Goodman scored 18 points, giving him 45 points in two games here at Paradise Jam and 76 in Penn's last four games.
 
*Freshman Michael Wang matched his season/career high with 14 points and snared a seven rebounds, a season/career best.
 
*Senior Antonio Woods had a career-high 10 rebounds, leading all players in that category.
                                                                                                                
How It Happened
Penn was solid through the first 15 minutes on Sunday night with Kansas State. After trading baskets with the Wildcats through some choppy opening minutes, the Quakers went on an 8-0 run to go ahead 17-10 as Michael Wang and then Jake Silpe knocked down consecutive three-point baskets.
 
The Quakers' lead was still 21-15 after a Devon Goodman layup with 4:59 left in the period; however, those were the last points the Quakers scored in the half as Kansas State asserted itself after that. Using strong defense at one end and an active inside game on offense, the Wildcats scored the last 13 points before halftime and took a 28-21 lead into the locker room.
 
The closest Penn got in the second half was three points, when Devon Goodman hit a three-pointer that made the score 30-27. However, the Red and Blue hit another offensive slump, scoring just four points over the next six minutes as Kansas State scored 12 of the game's next 16 points to go up 42-31.
 
Penn scored the next five points as the game heated up, both sides getting called for a pair of technical fouls. It was still 46-40 when the Quakers once again went dry, going scoreless for more than four minutes as KSU pushed its lead back into double digits. It would stay there the rest of the way.

Penn struggled all night against a ferocious Kansas State defense. The Quakers shot just 30.6 percent from the field, the first time they were below 50 percent this season, and especially had trouble inside against an active and bouncy KSU frontcourt. Penn also had just eight assists and turned the ball over 19 times, leading to a 22-8 Wildcats advantage in points off turnovers.