PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team used Monday night's season opener against NCAA Division III opponent John Jay as a nice tune-up, defeating the Bloodhounds 102-57 at The Palestra.
 
Penn hit the 100-point mark for the 38th time in program history—the first time since 2019—as five players reached double figures in the scoring column and all 14 players who dressed got on the scoresheet.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn scored 61 points in the first half, a program high in the Steve Donahue coaching era (previously 60 against Stockton on November 24, 2018).
 
*Penn shot 37-of-69 from the field overall on Monday night, a 53.6-percent night.
 
*Penn also drained 12 three-pointers in the game and outrebounded John Jay, 49-33.
 
*Penn had 26 assists on its 37 baskets and had a 26/13 assist/turnover ratio.
 
*Eddie Holland III led all scorers with 16 points, going a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. It's the second-best shooting night by a Penn player in the Donahue era, surpassed only by Eddie Scott's 8-of-8 night at Monmouth on November 25, 2017.
 
*Holland also had five rebounds, matching his career high, and blocked two shots.
 
*In his first collegiate game, freshman Tyler Perkins got the start and stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points—13 of them coming in the first half—six rebounds, and game highs in assists (5) and steals (3).
 
*Senior Clark Slajchert scored 14 points—all in the first half—on a 5-of-9 shooting night, draining a trio of treys, and had four assists.
 
*Sophomore Cam Thrower scored 12 points (one shy of his career high), grabbed six rebounds (doubling his previous high), and had two assists.
 
*Freshman Augustus Gerhart had 10 points and five rebounds and led all players with three blocked shots in his collegiate debut.
 
*Junior Nick Spinoso played just 12 minutes but led Penn with eight rebounds to go with two points—coincidentally, the first two points of the game and season—and four assists.
 
*All the newcomers got on the scoresheet—Johnnie Walter (5 points), Niklas Polonowski (3), Chris Ubochi (1) and Jake Hsu (1) joining Perkins and Gerhart—while senior Colin Chambers knocked down his first collegiate three-pointer.
 
How It Happened
Penn won the opening tip, and Spinoso scored just 21 seconds into the contest to give the Quakers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. John Jay pushed tempo which played right into Penn's hands, and the Red and Blue had dropped 20 points by the time the first media timeout came with 15:20 left in the first half. An Andrew Laczkowski bucket pushed the margin to 21 less than seven minutes into the contest, and the lead bulged to 30 briefly with more than five minutes left in the half. Penn's advantage was 61-34 at the break.
 
The offense settled down in the second half, the Quakers scoring 20 fewer points as the bench got a ton of run and everyone but Spinoso and Slajchert scored. The Quakers' biggest lead came with 2:28 left in the contest, Chambers' trey making the score 101-53.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at The Palestra on Wednesday night, hosting Bucknell at 7 p.m. The Quakers are then at Saint Joseph's to open Big 5 play on Friday night, tipping off with the host Hawks at 6:30 p.m.