PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team continues its busy early-season schedule. The Quakers are in South Carolina for three games this weekend as part of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
 
The Myrtle Beach Schedule
THURSDAY: Penn will face Utah State, an NCAA Tournament participant last year, in Thursday's first round on ESPNU. That game will start approximately 25 minutes after the tournament opener between Davidson and New Mexico State at noon.
 
FRIDAY: Penn will face either the Wildcats or the Aggies in one of the early-afternoon games, time and opponent to be determined by whether the Quakers win or lose on Thursday. Friday's game will be on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
 
SUNDAY: Penn will face one of the other four teams in the MBI field: East Carolina, Indiana State, Oklahoma or Old Dominion. Time is still to be determined but will be one of the four: 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 8:30 p.m.
 
GAME 5 – PENN (2-2) vs. UTAH STATE (1-1)
Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021 | 2:30 p.m.
HTC Center | Conway, S.C.
Watch on ESPNU | Listen (USU) | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes | Utah State Game Notes
 
Penn vs. the MBI Field
• There are four teams in the field that Penn has never played in men's basketball. That includes the Quakers' first-round opponent, Utah State; a potential second-round opponent, New Mexico State; and potential Sunday opponents East Carolina and Old Dominion.
 
• Penn has played Davidson, the Quakers' other potential second-round opponent, 11 times. The most recent came on December 29, 2011, a 75-70 Wildcats win at Davidson. Overall, the Cats lead the series 6-5.
 
• Penn has played Sunday's other two potential opponents, Oklahoma and Indiana State, once each, in 1977 and 2003 respectively; we would be remiss if we didn't mention that the Quakers and the Sycamores made up half the field at arguably the most famous Final Four in history, with Michigan State and DePaul in 1979.
 
Busy Start to the Season
After not playing a regular-season game for 613 days—dating back to March 7, 2020 to be precise—Penn's game with Utah State will be its fifth in nine days. The Quakers then play again Friday and Sunday here at the MBI and are back on the road Tuesday at Towson.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
2 • Penn players who made their collegiate debuts last Wednesday despite being upperclassmen: senior co-captain Jelani Williams and junior Jonah Charles; in total, 11 of the 19 players on Penn's roster had never suited up for an NCAA Division I college basketball game entering the Florida State contest.
 
3 • Penn players with international playing experience: senior Michael Wang (China) and juniors Max Lorca-Lloyd (Chile) and Michael Moshkovitz (Israel). Of note, Moshkovitz started every game when Israel won the 2018 FIBA Under-20 European Championship in Germany, the first gold medal by an Israeli team at a FIBA event.
 
3 • 20-point games by sophomore Jordan Dingle already this season (23 at Florida State, 20 at George Mason, 24 at Bucknell); he had five such games as a freshman in 2019-20.
 
8 • Consecutive points scored by Dingle on Sunday at Bucknell, turning a 58-56 deficit into a 64-60 lead that the Quakers never relinquished.
 
9 • Games that Penn will play in November, with their 10th game coming on December 1; only one other team (Coppin State) will play as many or more than the Quakers this month.
 
14 • Three-point baskets by Charles this season; he has just three two-point baskets.
 
15 • Penn's 19-player roster features players from 12 different states, the District of Columbia, and two foreign countries (China and Israel).
 
19 • Turnovers committed by Penn over the last two games (9 at Bucknell, 10 vs. Lafayette); compare that to the first two games, when the Quakers had 41 (26 at Florida State, 15 at George Mason).
 
24 • Points by sophomore Clark Slajchert off the bench the last two games (13 at Bucknell, 11 vs. Lafayette).
 
41 • Three-point field goals made by Penn over its first four games (9 at FSU, 11 at Mason, 10 at Bucknell, 11 vs. Lafayette).
 
46.7 • Penn's three-point field goal percentage over the last two games (21 of 45); the Quakers were 10-22 at Bucknell and 11-23 vs. Lafayette.
 
613 • The number of days it had been since Penn last played a competitive intercollegiate game when they took the floor Wednesday night in Tallahassee. In its last game, Penn defeated Columbia 85-65 at The Palestra on March 7, 2020—and what a game it was. AJ Brodeur became the program's all-time leading scorer AND recorded the first triple-double in program history (21 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
 
1.000 • Field-goal percentage by freshman Nick Spinoso on Tuesday against Lafayette; he was 5-of-5 including a pair of three-pointers for his 12 points.
 
1,142 • Total collegiate points scored by the 19 players on Penn's 2021-22 roster entering the season. That includes just four players with more than 100 points: Dingle (338), Washington (261), Wang (222) and Martz (205). Total points by the eight players who have graduated since Penn's last game? 4,211.
 
1,789 • Days since Williams had played in a regular-season game, dating back to December 18, 2016 when he was a high-schooler at Sidwell Friends; he suffered three ACL injuries which wiped out his first three seasons at Penn, then the pandemic wiped out last season.