PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team is ready for the second annual Ivy League Tournament, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday at The Palestra. Ivy League co-champions of the regular season with Harvard, the Quakers are the second seed behind the Crimson and will play third-seeded Yale on Saturday at 3 p.m., following the Harvard-Cornell semifinal which tips off at 12:30 p.m.
 
Penn's game with Yale will air nationwide on ESPN2. The winner of that game will advance to Sunday's championship game against the winner of Harvard-Cornell. Sunday's final will tip off at noon and air on ESPN2.
 
Fans in the Philadelphia area can listen to Saturday's game on WNTP 990 AM, Matt Leon and Stan Pawlak will be on the call. The entire Ivy League Tournament also will be on Westwood One Radio nationwide, with Scott Graham and Kelly Tripucka on the call.
 
GAME 31 – PENN (22-8, 12-2 Ivy League) vs. YALE (16-14, 9-5)
Ivy League Tournament Semifinal
Saturday, March 10, 2018 * 3 p.m.
The Palestra (Philadelphia)
 
THE SERIES WITH YALE
• The Quakers and Bulldogs are meeting for the 229th time, with Penn holding a 148-80 lead in the series.
 
• After losing nine in a row, Penn won two in a row in the series, a 71-55 decision last year in New Haven and a 59-50 victory one month ago at The Palestra. Yale won the most recent meeting, an 80-79 decision in New Haven last Friday.
 
• This will be the first meeting between Penn and Yale in the Ivy League Tournament, but it is the second postseason meeting between the programs. They met in an Ivy League playoff on March 9, 2002, the Quakers taking a 77-58 decision in Easton, Pa., to clinch the league's NCAA bid that year.
 
GAME 1 (2/3) - AT PENN 59, YALE 50 (Box Score)
It was 19-18 before Penn went on a 10-2 run, holding the Bulldogs scoreless for more than three minutes and to just one field goal over a span of 7:18. At the half, the Quakers' lead was 31-25.
   Ryan Betley hit a three-pointer to open the second-half scoring, and then Max Rothschild hit a layup to make it 36-25. Yale eventually got within three points, at 43-40, but sophomore Jake Silpe—who had hit just two three-pointers all season—knocked down a pair of treys on consecutive possessions and then Betley hit a layup that pushed the lead back up to double digits at 51-40.
   Amazingly, neither team scored for the next 5:27 after that, before AJ Brodeur scored his only points of the night to make it 53-40. Paul Atkinson finally scored for Yale, ending a Bulldogs drought of 7:23, and that sparked the visitors to a 10-2 run that made the score 55-50 with 1:03 still to play before Penn closed it out.
 
GAME 2 (3/2) - AT YALE 80, PENN 79 (Box Score)
Penn looked like it was clinching a share of its first Ivy League title in 11 years with just 46 seconds left. The Quakers were up by five, 73-68, and had their best free-throw shooter at the foul line in Ryan Betley.
   Instead, Betley missed the front end of a 1-and-1—something Darnell Foreman would do just one second later—and overall the Red and Blue would shoot just 6-of-10 (not including those missed front ends) from the foul line down the stretch.
   Yale took advantage, getting within a point in the game's final seconds, then forcing a turnover on a Penn inbounds pass with 3.4 seconds left on the clock. The Bulldogs inbounded in front of their bench across the court to Miye Oni, who drove into the lane and found Paul Atkinson for a layup with just 0.3 seconds left.
 
PENN IN THE IVY TOURNAMENT
Penn was the fourth seed and played in the first semifinal at last year's inaugural Tournament, falling to top-seeded Princeton in overtime, 72-64. Amazingly, the Quakers never trailed in regulation but then never led in the extra session. Ryan Betley led Penn with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while AJ Brodeur also had a double-double (10 points, 11 boards). Darnell Foreman added 11 points.
 
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW...
• Penn enters the Ivy League Tournament having won five of its last six, ten of its last 12, 13 of 16, 17 of 21, and is 22-6 since dropping its first two games this season.
 
• Penn's Ivy League title was its 26th overall, but its first since 2006-07. This is the fifth time the Quakers have shared the championship, the other years being 1979-80 (Princeton), 1980-81 (Princeton), 1995-96 (Princeton), and 2001-02 (Princeton/Yale).
 
• Penn went 7-0 at home against the Ivy League this season, the 24th time that has happened since conference play began but the first time since 2006-07.
 
• Penn entered the weekend as Ivy League leader in four conference categories: scoring margin (+7.2), FG percentage (.477), 3FG percentage defense (.272), and A/TO ratio (1.34).
 
• Penn is 15-0 this season when making as many or more free throws than its opponent, and 16-0 when taking as many or more free throws that its opponent.

• Penn is 20-2 this season when shooting a better field-goal percentage than its opponent.

• Penn is 17-3 this season when leading at the half. The three "blown" leads? Four points to Toledo, one point to Temple, one point to Yale.