PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team started Big 5 play with a tough overtime loss to Saint Joseph's on Wednesday night. There's little time to dwell on the setback, however, as the Quakers continue their two-week run through the city series on Saturday with La Salle at The Palestra.

TOYS FOR TOTS: For all men's and women's basketball games from December 3-11, the programs are inviting fans to bring toys and games to donate to Toys For Tots. The programs will in turn donate them to Toys For Tots ahead of the holidays. For men's games, that includes Saturday's contest and next Saturday's game against Temple (1 p.m. start).

GAME 11 – PENN (5-5) vs. LA SALLE (3-4)
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022 | 2 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes | La Salle Game Notes
 
Quaker Audio Network (QAN)
Again this season, Penn fans can listen to most of Penn's men's basketball games through the Quaker Audio Network, a free Internet-based audio streaming service. Matt Leon will be on the play-by-play call on Saturday, with Brad Fadem providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
The Series with La Salle
*The Quakers and the Explorers are meeting for the 75th time, with Penn holding a 42-32 lead including victories in four of the last six matchups.
 
*La Salle won last year's meeting at the Gola, 76-74, which snapped Penn's modest two-game winning streak in the series (including a 75-59 win the last time they met at The Palestra).
 
*Josh Nickelberry led five Explorers with 15 points in last year's victory, while Jonah Charles scored 18 points and Jordan Dingle had 14 for the Quakers. Ten different players reached double figures in the scoring column across the two teams, five on each side.
 
*This is the second of four games in a row Penn will play against Big 5 rivals; the Quakers lost to Saint Joseph's on Wednesday night, are at Villanova Wednesday, then host Temple next Saturday.
 
A Friends And Family Matchup
*Saturday's matchup, of course, pits head coach Steve Donahue against La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy. It was Dunphy who originally brought Donahue to Penn as an assistant coach.
 
*Dunphy, of course, was Penn's head coach for 17 seasons, from 1990-2006, and is the program's winningest coach with 310 victories. His Quakers teams won 10 Ivy League titles and three Big 5 championships. (Dunphy also spent 13 seasons as Temple's head coach, from 2007-19.)
 
*Saturday's game is also a family affair, as assistant coach Joe Mihalich Jr. can look over to the La Salle bench and see his father (and namesake) Joe Mihalich, who serves as the Explorers' special assistant to the head coach. A La Salle alum, this is Mihalich Senior's third stint at his alma mater; previously he also was head coach at Niagara and Hofstra.
 
Penn MBB By the Numbers
2 - Ivy League players who were named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List by CollegeInsider.com: Princeton's Tosan Evbuomwan and Jordan Dingle. The Henson Award is presented annually to the top mid-major player in the country.

2 - Honors picked up by Dingle on Monday, as he was named Ivy League and Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week; it was his third career Ivy POTW and fourth Big 5 POTW honor.

3 - Non-conference opponents who were picked in the preseason to win their respective leagues: Iona (MAAC), Towson (CAA), and Colgate (Patriot League). Penn was picked by the Ivy League media to win the Ancient Eight.

4 - Consecutive double-figure scoring games by junior Max Martz (13.8 ppg) before he was held to nine in Sunday's win over Delaware; Martz missed Wednesday's loss to Saint Joseph's due to illness but is expected back today.

7 - Consecutive 20-point games registered by Dingle entering tonight's game (22.5 ppg); the last Penn player to accomplish such a feat was Tony Price,who had eight such games in a row late in the 1978-79 season.
 
8 - Penn players with a double-figure scoring game this season, after Eddie Holland III hit for 10 points Wednesday; the Quakers return nine players who had at least two such games in 2021-22.
 
9 - Free throws made, out of nine attempts, by junior Clark Slajchert in Wednesday's game; it matches the best free-throw performance by a Penn player in the Donahue era (Dingle at Brown, 2/19/22).

11 - On November 11 at Missouri—or 11/11, you might say—Penn went 11-of-11 at the foul line, the third time the Quakers have shot 100 percent at the foul line in the Steve Donahue coaching era.


16 - Penn also tied a program record with 16 three-point baskets at Mizzou, a mark that had been met twice before.

16 - Rebounds by senior Lucas Monroe on Wednesday; that is tied for the most by a Penn player in the Donahue era (AJ Brodeur at Cornell, 2/1/19; Darien Nelson-Henry vs. Cornell, 2/13/16).

18 - Consecutive double-figure scoring games by Dingle dating back to last year; he missed Penn's game at West Virginia due to injury.

42 - Assists dished out by Penn over the last two games, on 60 baskets.

28 - Assists dished out by sophomore Nick Spinoso over Penn's last three games (8 vs. Colgate, 9 vs. Delaware, 11 vs. Saint Joseph's); the 11 he had on Wednesday were the most by a Penn player in the Donahue era, the last time a Quaker had 11 dimes was March 7, 2015 (Antonio Woods vs. Cornell).
 
33 - Three-point baskets hit by Penn in the three Cathedral Classic games (12 vs. Hartford, 11 vs. Colgate, 10 vs. Delaware); the Quakers—who hit nine more treys Wednedsay—shot 33-of-69 (47.8 pct) beyond the arc at the event.
 
54.4 - Penn's overall field-goal percentage at the Cathedral Classic (92-of-169); that includes a 60.4-percent game vs. Colgate (32-53), just the second time the Quakers bettered 60 pct from the field in the Donahue era.
 
57 - Games Dingle needed to reach 1,000 points for his career (he reached the mark 11/25 vs. Hartford); only three players reached 1,000 points faster than Dingle, and all of them started their varsity careers as sophomores: Ernie Beck (50 games), Keven McDonald (50), and Stan Pawlak (52). Ron Haigler and Joe Sturgis hit the mark in Game 58.
 
88.5 - Percentage of Penn's points that return from last season (1,785 of 2,017); that includes the Quakers' top four scorers in Dingle (20.8 ppg), Slajchert (10.7), Martz (10.0) and Charles (6.7).

100 - Wins at Penn for head coach Steve Donahue; he has 300 wins as a collegiate head coach after the Quakers defeated Delaware last Sunday, 86-73.

138 - Combined points scored by Slajchert (70) and Dingle (68) at the Cathedral Classic; both were named to the all-tournament team.