VILLANOVA, Pa. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team was buried in an avalanche of Villanova three-point baskets during the first half of Wednesday night's game at the Finneran Pavilion, and the Quakers never recovered in taking a 70-59 loss to the Wildcats.
 
Villanova had 11 baskets in the first half; 10 of them came from beyond the arc. The result was a 10-point lead at halftime, and while Penn had its moments in the second half—especially junior guard Jordan Dingle—the Quakers were never able to seriously threaten the Wildcats.
 
Penn fell to 5-7 overall and is now 0-3 in Big 5 play. Villanova improved to 4-5 overall and is 2-1 in the city series.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn played its second straight game without its second-leading scorer, Clark Slajchert.
 
*This was another game that had some weird vagaries, as Penn shot a better percentage from the field (42.9) than Villanova (42.0) and outrebounded the Wildcats by nine, 34-25.
 
*One critical factor was turnovers; Penn had 14, Villanova had six. The Wildcats had 10 steals on Wednesday and a 23-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
*After a quiet first half with just two points, Dingle came back with 23 of Penn's 33 points in the second half including a stretch from 13:59 until just nine seconds remained where he scored 18 points in a row for the Quakers.
 
*Dingle extended his streak of 20-point games to nine, the longest by a Penn player since Ernie Beck ended his career with nine such games in 1952-53. (Beck also had a 16-game streak of such games that same season.)
 
*Dingle has now scored in double figures in 20 straight games dating back to last season.
 
*Dingle also had nine rebounds on Wednesday, a career high, which left him one board shy of his first collegiate double-double.
 
*Junior Max Martz scored 15 points on Wednesday night, his best effort since scoring 15 against Hartford on November 25.
 
*Sophomore Eddie Holland III scored six points and grabbed five rebounds; the board total is a season/career high.
 
*Villanova was led by freshman Cam Whitmore's 21 points and six rebounds. Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels added 12 points each, while Brandon Slater scored 10.
 
How It Happened
The early part of the first half was fairly back and forth, Penn holding the scoring edge predominantly thanks to Martz who had eight points early. His backdoor dunk gave the Quakers their biggest lead at 16-11.
 
A Holland turnaround jumper with 8:07 left put Penn up by four, at 18-14. Unfortunately, that would be the last field goal the Quakers would make until just a few seconds were left in the period. Villanova took advantage, going on a 16-2 run that included four three-pointers. The Wildcats took a 36-26 lead into the break.
 
Villanova then opened the second-half scoring, but Penn eventually got it back within six points when a Martz hook shot made the score 42-36. It was still an eight-point game, at 46-38, when the Wildcats asserted themselves at the offensive end with seven straight points. That made the score 53-38 at the under-12 media timeout.
 
Just when it looked like Villanova might run away with it, Dingle took over. He went on a personal seven-point scoring spree, unanswered by the Wildcats, and that forced Nova to take a timeout with its lead whittled down to eight at 53-45 and 8:36 still left on the clock.
 
The teams essentially traded points the rest of the way after that. The closest Penn got was seven, at 61-54, on a Dingle and-1 with 5:22 to play. It was all Villanova after that, however, the Wildcats scoring five in a row and then responding to another Dingle bucket with four more. That made the score 70-56 and put this game to bed.
 
Up Next
Penn concludes Big 5 play on Saturday, hosting Temple on Saturday at 1 p.m. at The Palestra.