PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team used a strong second-half performance to defeat Rice, 92-76, on Friday night at Macquarie Court at The Palestra. The Quakers were up just two at halftime, 37-35, but blew out to a double-digit lead in the first six minutes of the second period. The Owls never got the margin back into single digits the rest of the way.
 
Penn improved to 2-0 on the young season, while Rice fell to 1-1. The game marked a homecoming of sorts for Rice head coach Scott Pera—a Pennsylvania native who was an assistant coach for the Quakers for two seasons—and Owls graduate transfer Dylan Jones who was a four-year player in the Penn program.
 
Notes
*Penn shot 82.1 percent from the foul line on Friday (23-28), just three days after shooting 33.3 percent at the charity stripe in its opener (6-18).
 
*Penn is 2-0 for the first time since 2015-16, Coach Donahue's first season at Penn.
 
*The win was head coach Steve Donahue's 50th at Penn and his 250th overall as a head coach.
 
*Penn reached the 90-point mark for the first time this season, the seventh time in the last two seasons, and the ninth time overall in the Donahue era.
 
*Penn improved to 2-1 in the all-time series with Rice, and is now 6-3 all-time against programs currently in Conference USA.
 
*Junior AJ Brodeur led all players in scoring with 23 points; it was his 45th double-figure scoring game at Penn and his ninth time reaching the 20-point mark.

*Brodeur has reached double figures in the scoring column in eight-straight games dating back to last season, averaging 17.6 points per game in that span.
 
*Brodeur also led all players in assists (5) and blocked shots (3).
 
*Senior Jake Silpe scored a career-high 16 points, surpassing his previous high of 13 set as a freshman vs. Dartmouth. It was Silpe's sixth double-figure scoring game as a Quaker.
 
*Silpe also matched a career high with five steals, set in that same Dartmouth game.
 
*Junior Devon Goodman scored 15 points, his seventh double-digit scoring game. Twelve of those points came in the second half.
 
*Senior Max Rothschild had his 16th career double-digit scoring game with 11 points, going 7-of-8 at the foul line; he also led all players with seven rebounds and dished out three assists.
 
*Freshman Bryce Washington made his first collegiate start in place of the injured Ryan Betley and opened Penn's scoring with a three-pointer. He ended up with three treys for nine points.
                                                                                                                
How It Happened
After two of last year's captains, Matt MacDonald and Darnell Foreman, unveiled the latest banner in the Palestra rafters—signifying last year's Ivy League co-championship—Penn asserted itself early by scoring 12 unanswered points to turn a 7-5 deficit into a 17-7 lead. That got the Homecoming crowd of 2,256 revved up.
 
The lead nudged up to 11 on a few occasions after that, before a 9-0 Rice run—the last seven of those coming from Jack Williams—got the Owls within two points, at 26-24. Brodeur ended the streak with an and-1 layup and free throw, but Rice tied it up at 31-31 on a Robert Martin three-pointer and then took a 35-34 lead on a Josh Parrish layup.
 
Goodman tied it back up on the next Penn possession with a foul shot, and Silpe gave the Quakers the 37-35 advantage heading into the locker room with a steal and layup just ahead of the halftime buzzer.
 
As it turned out, Penn would never trail again.
 
Rice scored the first points of the second half, Drew Peterson tying it briefly with a jumper, but two Rothschild free throws were followed by two Goodman layups and the Quakers were up 43-37. It was still 48-43 when Goodman stuck yet another layup and then found Washington on an inbounds play that led to the freshman draining his third trey of the night. That made the score 53-43, and Rice would never get back within single digits again.
 
Penn's biggest lead of the night was 17 points, at 91-74.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home on Tuesday night, hosting Lafayette and another former Penn assistant coach, Fran O'Hanlon. The Quakers and Leopards will tip off at 7 p.m.