PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team dropped its Big Five opener to #6/6 Villanova, 71-56, on Wednesday evening in front of a sizable crowd of 6,255 at The Palestra.
The Quakers (3-7, 0-1 Big Five) fell at home for the first time this season while the Wildcats (5-2, 2-0 Big
Five) won their second straight city series game at The Palestra by double digits.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn hit a season-high 13 three-pointers in the game. It marked the most made shots from beyond the arc since the Quakers hit 14 at Howard in December of 2019.
*That said, Penn took exactly twice as many three-point shots (34) as two-point shots (17) on Wednesday night.
*The Quakers turned the ball over just ten times on Wednesday night, one more than the Wildcats and the fewest in a game since they had ten against Lafayette the last time they were home.
*Sophomore
Jordan Dingle led the Quakers with 21 points, already his sixth 20-point game this season.
*Dingle also matched his season high with five three-point baskets.
*Sophomore
Max Martz matched his season high with 12 points, scoring them on four treys which is a season best.
*Junior
Jonah Charles scored nine points on the strength of three triples; he has hit 30 three-point baskets this season and just four two-point baskets.
*Senior
Michael Wang made his first appearance since Penn's last game at The Palestra—November 16 vs. Lafayette—and contributed four points, two rebounds and an assist in nearly 17 minutes of action.
*Junior
Lucas Monroe had three assists, a season high.
*Penn played without big men
Max Lorca-Lloyd and
Nick Spinoso, both of whom are in boots these days.
*For Villanova, Collin Gillespie led the way with 26 points while Brandon Slater hit for 16 (on 7-of-8 shooting) and Caleb Daniels scored 12. Justin Moore nearly had a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
How It Happened
Villanova came charging out of the gates, opening the contest on a 9-1 run over the first three minutes of play. The Red and Blue answered with a 5-0 surge of their own courtesy of a dunk from Dingle and a three-pointer in transition from Martz which cut the deficit to three at 9-6 heading into the under-16 media timeout.
The Quaker run extended to 8-0 as Dingle knocked down a three from the top of the key following a Villanova turnover to tie the game with 13:49 left in the opening half.
Following a timeout, the Wildcats responded with a spurt of their own and gained separation that they never relinquished. Villanova scored the next 13 points and held Penn scoreless for 6:48 of game time and constructed a 13-0 run that built a double-digit edge before Charles ended the skid with a triple that made the score 22-12 in favor of the Wildcats.
Martz jarred three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring the Quakers back to within 10 at 28-18 with a little more than three minutes left in the opening half. Villanova scored the next five points before Charles beat the first-half buzzer with a trey from the corner to make it a 33-21 game at the break.
Six of Penn's seven made field goals during the opening 20 minutes came from beyond the arc while Villanova got nearly half of their first-half points in the paint (16).
The Big Five rivals traded baskets to start the second half as a
Michael Moshkovitz bucket in the post brought Penn to within 13 at 39-26 with 16:01 left in the game.
Down 16 at 43-27, Penn used a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to nine with just over 11 minutes to go, the crowd getting louder with every bucket. During the swell,
Michael Wang scored on a hook shot,
Clark Slajchert knocked down a contested three, and Dingle hit a mid-range jumper as the Quakers held the Wildcats scoreless for two and a half minutes heading into the under 12 media timeout.
Villanova extended its lead back to 15 before a four-point play from Dingle cut the deficit to 11. After a Wildcat turnover, another bucket from Wang in the post made it a three-possession game at 52-43 with seven minutes left.
Villanova stretched its lead back to double digits with three and a half minutes remaining thanks to six straight points from Gillespie, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year. That gave the guests a 64-49 advantage and the Wildcats coasted from there.
Up Next
Penn continues Big Five play on Saturday with a road contest at Temple. The tilt with the Owls will be nationally televised on ESPNU and is scheduled to tip at 4 p.m.
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