PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team last played a road game on December 9. That ends on Tuesday night, when the Quakers make the short trip North to face off with archrival Princeton. Amazingly, it will be Penn's first Ivy League road game of 2017-18; the Red and Blue are the last team in the country to play a conference road game this year.
 
The Quakers and the Tigers are slated to tip off at 6 p.m. Tuesday's game will be televised live to the nationwide audience on ESPNU as part of ESPN's "Rivalry Week."
 
GAME 22 – PENN (15-6, 5-0 Ivy League) at PRINCETON (11-9, 3-2)
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 * 6 p.m.
Jadwin Gym (Princeton, N.J.)
 
THE SERIES WITH PRINCETON
• These teams are meeting for the 239th time with Penn leading the series, 125- 113; the Quakers have not played any other opponent more than the Tigers.
 
• When Penn beat Princeton exactly a month ago at The Palestra, 76-70—a game that was delayed a day due to inclement weather in Philadelphia—it snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Tigers. In fact, Princeton entered that game having won 11 of 12 over the Quakers, and 16 of the last 18.
 
• In that game a month ago, sophomore Ryan Betley scored 21 points (19 in the first half) and led the way as all five Penn starters reached double figures.
 
• That game last month represented the earliest meeting, by calendar date, between these Ivy rivals since they met on January 5, 1980. For decades, they met on a Tuesday in February and then closed the season with each other on the Tuesday after Ivy weekend play concluded. That final Tuesday contest is no longer feasible with the addition of the Ivy League Tournament.
 
• Princeton swept all three games last season, including a 72-64 overtime decision in the first Ivy League Tournament game ever played. In that crazy contest, Penn never trailed in regulation and then the Tigers never trailed in the extra session.
 
• Then there was the Penn-Princeton game at Jadwin last year. The Quakers scored just 17 first-half points and trailed early in the second half, 39-18. At that point they rallied and erased all of that 21-point deficit to tie the score at 44-44 with seven minutes remaining. However, the Tigers scored seven in a row after that and ended up pulling away for a 61-52 victory.
 
THE PENN-PRINCETON RIVALRY
A few notes about the most historic rivalry in the Ivy League, and arguably the nation given the stakes every year (until two years ago)...
 
• Penn and/or Princeton won every Ivy League title from 1989-2007 (Penn 9 outright, Princeton 8 outright, 2 shared).
 
• From 1959-2007, Penn and/or Princeton won at least a share of the Ivy League title all but three years (Cornell won the title in 1988, Brown did it in 1986, and Yale did it in 1962).
 
• In 2008, ESPN.com rated the most prestigious college basketball programs of all time; Penn came in 34th, while Princeton was 40th.
 
• In 2005, The Sporting News rated the greatest college basketball programs of all time; Penn came in 16th, while Princeton was 19th.
 
PENN BY THE NUMBERS
0 • Ivy League road games played by Penn so far this season. Tuesday night will be the Quakers' first of 2017-18, their first five were played at home in The Palestra. According to the NCAA, Penn is the last Division I team to play a conference road game this season.
 
3 • Overtime games played this season by Penn, after Friday's 95-90 win against Brown. The others were a 2OT loss to La Salle on November 13, and a 4OT win at Monmouth on November 25. The last time the Quakers had three overtime games in a season was 2010-11, when they played five.
 
4 • Three-point baskets hit by senior Caleb Wood (22 points) and junior Antonio Woods (21) in the win over the Bears; for Antonio, that tied a season/career high.
 
5 • The number of categories in which Penn entered the week leading the Ivy League: overall scoring margin (+7.4), FG defense (.413), 3FG defense (.298), rebound margin (+2.4), and assist/turnover ratio (1.23).
 
5.3 • Yale's three-point field goal percentage in Penn's 59-50 win on Saturday; the Bulldogs went 1-of-19 beyond the arc.
 
6 • Six different players have led Penn in scoring in a game this season: Wood; juniors Woods and Max Rothschild; sophomores Betley and Brodeur; and freshman Jarrod Simmons.
 
8 • Consecutive double-figure scoring games by sophomore Ryan Betley (15.5 points per game in that span) after he went for 16 against Brown and 12 vs. Yale over the weekend. Betley has double digits in 15 of Penn's last 16 games and a team-high 18 overall.
 
9.4 • Brodeur's rebounds-per-game average in Ivy League play, tops in the league. He had 13 boards against Brown on Friday, a career high, and has 33 over the last three contests.
 
12 • Penn has had 12 different players reach double figures in scoring in a game this year. Only Savannah State (13) has more, while Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and Texas State join the Quakers with 12.
 
12 • Penn is 5-0 in Ivy League play for the first time in 12 seasons (2005-06). That team ended the year 12-2 in Ivy play and won the league title.
 
15 • Penn has won 15 games this season, just the second time that has happened since the 2006-07 season. The 2011-12 team finished with 20 victories.
 
59 • Days since Penn's last road game. That was December 9, when the Quakers went to Dayton and knocked off the Flyers, 78-70.
 
78.6 • Penn's Ivy League win percentage since a 64-49 loss to Princeton in this game 364 days ago. At the time, the Quakers were 0-6 in League play; since then, they are 11-3 against Ivy foes with the losses coming by three points at Columbia; by two points at home to Dartmouth; and by eight points in OT to Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament.
 
90 • Penn has reached 90 points five times this season, the most since the 1994-95 squad did it 10 times.
 
156 • Penn's NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) entering the week, tops among Ivy programs. Tonight's opponent, Princeton, was second at 171.
 
185 • Combined points scored Friday night between Penn (95) and Brown (90); the Quakers have had just five Ivy League games in history with more combined points.