PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team enters the 2023-24 season with a lot of question marks after losing a large class and some surprising departures. The first answers will come this week, when the Quakers play four game in an eight-day span to tip off the campaign. The first of those come at home on Monday and Wednesday, when the Red and Blue host NCAA Division 3 foe John Jay and Patriot League rival Bucknell.
 
GAME 1 – PENN vs. JOHN JAY
Monday, Nov. 6, 2023 | 6 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
 
GAME 2 – PENN vs. BUCKNELL
Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023 | 7 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Bucknell Game Notes (PDF)
 
Quaker Audio Network (QAN)
Penn fans can listen to most of the 2023-24 Penn's men's basketball season through the Quaker Audio Network, a free Internet-based audio streaming service. Matt Leon will be on the play-by-play call for Monday and Wednesday's games, 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 John Jay
This is the first meeting between the Quakers and the Bloodhounds in men's basketball.
 
The Series with Bucknell
*Despite their relative proximity, the Quakers and the Bison are meeting for just the seventh time in Penn's long basketball history and only the fourth time this century.
 
*Penn leads the series, 5-1, and has won the last four meetings dating back to the 1997-98 season. That includes a 3-0 mark here in Philadelphia and a 2-0 mark here at The Palestra. (Yes, the first meeting took place in 1924, before The Cathedral of College Basketball was built!)
 
*The most recent meeting took place two years ago in Lewisburg, Penn escaping with a 73-68 victory.
 
Penn Picked Fifth in Ivy Preseason Media Poll
Penn was picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League's Preseason Media Poll, which came from the votes of two members of each school's media contingent. The poll was announced on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
2023-24 Ivy preseason media poll (first-place votes in parentheses)
  1. Yale, 124 (14)
  2. Princeton, 110 (2)
  3. Cornell, 80
  4. Brown, 77
  5. Penn, 68
  6. Harvard, 66
  7. Dartmouth, 28
  8. Columbia, 23
 
THAT'S NOT ALL...
A quick scan of some other preseason predictions for the Quakers...
 
*Blue Ribbon picked Penn second, selected senior Clark Slajchert for its preseason all-conference team, and selected freshman Tyler Perkins as its preseason Newcomer of the Year.
 
*Lindy's picked Penn fourth and selected Slajchert as second-team All-Ivy.
 
*KenPom rates Penn fifth among Ivy League teams and 215th overall in NCAA Division 1.
 
Bucknell in the Preseason
The Bison were picked ninth in the Patriot League's preseason poll, earning 50 voting points from that league's 20-member panel of coaches and athletic communications personnel.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
2 - Games played by Penn at what is now the Wells Fargo Center. The Quakers split a pair of games with Villanova back when it was called the First Union Center, losing 80-51 on February 6, 2001 and winning 72-58 on December 10, 2003. Penn will double that number in one week this season, playing there on December 2 (Big 5 Classic) and 9 (Kentucky).
 
3 - Non-conference opponents who are ranked in the Associated Press (AP) Preseason National Poll: Houston (#8), Kentucky (#16) and Villanova (#22). A fourth non-conference opponent, Auburn, is sixth among the teams also receiving votes in the poll.
 
3 - Returnees who made a start in 2022-23: senior Clark Slajchert (26) and juniors Nick Spinoso (26) and Reese McMullen (4).
 
4 - Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors won in 2021-22 by Slajchert (3) and junior George Smith (1); Slajchert also was Ivy League Player of the Week once last season. Sophomores were eligible for the rookie award in 2021-22 because there was no 2020-21 season (COVID-19).
 
6 - Returning players who have had at least one double-figure scoring game during the course of their Penn career: Slajchert (31),  Spinoso (18), Smith (8), senior Andrew Laczkowski (2), junior Eddie Holland III (1), and sophomore Cam Thrower (1).
 
6 - Newcomers added to the roster for 2023-24: freshmen Sam Brown, Augustus Gerhart, Tyler Perkins, and Niklas Polonowski; sophomore transfer Johnnie Walter (from CSU-Northridge); and sophomore walk-on Jake Hsu (who played football for the Quakers last year).
 
16 - Double-figure scoring games by Slajchert last season, including a pair of 30-point outings—33 vs. Colgate, 31 in the Ivy opener at Brown—and four others with at least 20 points.
 
40.7 - Percentage of points returning to the lineup in 2023-24 (915 of 2,249) including three of the team's five leading scorers from last year: Slajchert (13.6 ppg in 2022-23), Spinoso (8.8 ppg) and Smith (5.6 ppg).
 
93 - Assists dished out last season by Spinoso, the team high; that included an 11-assist game against Saint Joseph's and ten others with at least four dimes. Spinoso also was second on the team in rebounds (168) and third in both steals (22) and blocked shots (13).