VILLANOVA, Pa. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team gave No. 23 Villanova all it could handle on Wednesday night in its first visit to the recently renovated Finneran Pavilion. However, like all of the previous 11 visits to the Main Line campus the Quakers were unable to finish the job, falling to the Wildcats, 80-69.
 
Penn was down by just four, 70-66, when Devon Goodman finished a nice feed from AJ Brodeur with just under three minutes to play. However, the Quakers hit just one of their six shots the rest of the way—Goodman completing a hoop-and-harm three-point play—and Villanova was a perfect 8-of-8 at the foul line down the stretch to pull away.

Penn fell to 5-4 with the loss in its final game before the fall-term exam break, and saw its six-game win streak in Big 5 play (which extended back to the 2017-18 season) come to an end. Villanova won its second Big 5 game in four days and improved to 6-2 overall.
 
Notes
*Penn had 20 assists on 29 baskets on Wednesday, the third straight game the Quakers have had 20 or more assists.
 
*Over its last four games, Penn has 85 assists on its 116 baskets (73.3 ratio).
 
*Penn had a five-game streak of reaching double figures in three-point baskets snapped; the Quakers were 7-of-19 beyond the arc on Wednesday.
 
*Senior AJ Brodeur led Penn with 18 points and a season-high 14 rebounds; in two Big 5 games so far this season he has 38 points, 27 rebounds and 10 assists.
 
*Brodeur's double-double was his sixth in nine games so far this year and his 25th at Penn.
 
*Brodeur also had six assists, giving him 25 in Penn's last three games, and tied a season high with three blocked shots for the second straight game.
 
*Freshman Jordan Dingle tied Brodeur atop Penn's scoring list on Wednesday, with 15 of the 18 coming in the second half; so far this season, Dingle has 35 first-half points and 104 second-half points.
 
*Dingle hit four three-point shots against Villanova, giving him 14 treys across Penn's last three games.
 
*Senior Devon Goodman scored 16 points, his fourth straight game in double digits and his sixth in the last seven contests. (He had nine in the outlier game.)
 
*Goodman also had five assists, giving him 12 in the last two games (12/3 assist/turnover ratio in that span).
 
*Senior Ryan Betley scored 13 points, his seventh double-figure scoring game this season, and tied his season high with four assists for the second straight game.
 
How It Happened
Villanova's offense early: give the ball to Bey, get out of the way. The sophomore Saddiq Bey was simply a beast on the blocks, scoring the Wildcats' first six points; he had 16 by halftime and finished the night with a game-high 27.
 
As has been customary of late, Penn's offense was far more democratic. Five different players had scored by the time the Quakers got to 15 points, and when Ryan Betley hit a layup in the paint from a Jarrod Simmons pass the Red and Blue's lead was 17-13. The lead was still 23-21 when Villanova went on a modest six-point run, but AJ Brodeur and Lucas Monroe got it back level at 27-27. It was still 30-30 when Penn went cold, going scoreless for the final 3:24 of the first half. Villanova took a 36-30 lead into the locker room.
 
Penn would never lead in the second half, but they hung around. Down 48-42, the Quakers got a steal and dunk from Goodman and then a Jordan Dingle three-pointer that made it a one-point game with 12:54 to play. Villanova's Collin Gillespie answered Dingle's trey with one of his own, but then Dingle took a feed from Betley for another score to keep it within two.
 
The teams traded points for several minutes after that, but the Quakers missed an opportunity to do some damage when they went scoreless for a 2:20 span. Villanova took advantage to up its lead from 61-59 to 66-59, before Goodman scored off a Betley feed. Justin Moore (17 points) quickly answered for the Cats, but then Dingle hit a three-pointer to make it 68-64 with 4:19 left.
 
Penn had a chance to get closer after that, but Dingle missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and then after Max Martz worked hard to get the offensive rebound the Quakers turned it over. That led to a Moore bucket and restored the six-point lead, before Goodman's bucket that made the score 70-66.
 
Villanova went to the hot hand Moore (11 second-half points) and he delivered, scoring in the paint while being fouled and making the free throw for 73-66. Penn missed a three-pointer and then, after a defensive stop, a contested layup underneath. With just 1:17 left, the Quakers started fouling and Villanova took full advantage of the free-throw parade.