PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team got off to a slow start and never recovered on Saturday afternoon at Temple. The Owls took advantage and held off a late charge by the Quakers to take an 81-72 decision at the Liacouras Center.
 
Penn falls to 3-8 overall, 0-2 in Big 5 play, while the Owls are 5-3 and 2-0 in the city series.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn lost despite turning the ball over just seven times, one shy of the fewest by a Penn team in the Steve Donahue coaching era.

*Sophomore Jordan Dingle once again led Penn in scoring, with 22 points. He has surpassed 20 points seven times already this season and led the Quakers in scoring in nine of the ten games he has played.
 
*Dingle also led the Quakers with four assists, one shy of his season/career high.
 
*Senior Michael Wang was the revelation, scoring 21 points with 17 of them coming in the game's final 15:10; he entered Saturday's game with 20 points for the season.
 
*The 21 points were two shy of Wang's career high—he had 23 against Miami (Fla.) on December 4, 2018—and his first double-figure scoring total since he had 11 vs. Brown on February 8, 2019.
 
*Wang also had eight rebounds and three assists, one shy of career highs he set during his freshman season in 2018-19.
 
*Sophomore Max Martz had another strong game, with 14 points and eight rebounds. He shot 6-of-8 from the field, making both of his three-pointers, and also dished out three assists, one shy of the season/career high he set against Old Dominion.
 
*Junior Lucas Monroe set a season high with six rebounds, tied a season best with three assists, and also chipped in four points.
 
*Freshman George Smith saw major minutes on Saturday (27) and recorded five points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
*Penn played the game without regulars Max Lorca-Lloyd (injury), Nick Spinoso (injury) and Clark Slajchert (health protocols). Colin Chambers also did not travel due to health protocols.
 
*Temple was led by third-year freshman Damian Dunn, who scored 27 points. Jake Forrester nearly had a double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Jeremiah Williams added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists.
 
*Temple shot 50.9 percent from the field, the fourth of Penn's last six opponents to shoot better than 50 percent.
 
*Temple took 25 foul shots to Penn's six. The Owls made 19, the Quakers five.
 
*The Owls had eight blocked shots, most by a team against Penn this season and one shy of the opponent high in the Donahue era, and also committed just six turnovers which was an opponent low this season.
 
How It Happened
A frustrating start to this game as Temple punched Penn in the mouth early and Quakers simply didn't respond. The host Owls attacked the rim from the jump while the Quakers seemed content to fire three-pointers. It was 16-6 and Coach Donahue was forced to take a timeout before the first media even arrived.
 
The margin fluctuated between eight and 12 for several minutes after that, before Temple's Zach Hicks hit a three-pointer that let the Owls double up the Quakers, 30-15. Dingle immediately responded with a trey, and shortly after that he hit a floater in the lane that was followed by five straight Martz points which cut Temple's lead to 32-25 and forced an Owls timeout. The hosts came out of that stoppage and got Dunn open for a trey that he banged home to reset the margin at 10.
 
Both teams struggled with offense the rest of the period and went to the locker rooms with Temple holding a 39-27 halftime lead.
 
Dingle and Martz scored on Penn's first two possessions of the second half, but an eight-point TU run put the Owls in front 49-31 less than three minutes into the period.
 
It was still an 18-point game (68-50) when the Quakers began stirring. Wang hit a turnaround, and then Smith nailed a trey off a Dingle feed. When Dingle shook free for a layup after the under-8 media timeout, it was 68-57. Forrester got an and-1 putback that reset Temple's lead at 14, but on consecutive possessions Monroe hit a hook shot, Smith nailed a second-chance bucket, and Wang knocked down another turnaround. With three minutes left it was 71-63, Penn was the closest it had been since 35-27, and Coach McKie was taking a timeout to settle his Owls.
 
Out of that break Temple got one…two…three chances before finally putting the ball home and getting its margin back to double digits. Penn got within seven points two more times—Dingle making it 75-68 on a triple with 1:53 left, then 77-70 with a pair of free throws inside the final minute—but could get no closer.
 
Up Next
Penn continues this three-game Big 5 road swing next week, traveling to City Avenue to take on Saint Joseph's Wednesday at 7 p.m. It will be just the Quakers' third trip all-time to Hagan Arena.