PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team is back from an abbreviated holiday break. The Quakers have two more non-conference games before getting into Ivy League play against Dartmouth on January 6. The first of those two contests comes on Saturday night, when the Quakers are in the Lone Star State to face third-ranked Houston.
 
GAME 14 – PENN (8-5) at #3/3 HOUSTON (12-0)
Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023 | 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EST)
Fertitta Center | Houston, Texas
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Houston Game Notes (PDF)
 
Ivy League on ESPN+
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all Penn home games, as well as road Ivy matches and select non-conference road games, on ESPN+ again this season with the same high broadcast quality you've come to expect. ESPN+ is a subscription-based service that offers monthly and yearly packages. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+!
 
The Series with Houston
*The Quakers and the Cougars are meeting for the first time in Penn program history.
 
*This will be Penn's first visit to the state of Texas since the 2019-20 season, when the Quakers were right here in Houston to face Rice (led by former Quakers assistant coach Scott Pera); the Owls defeated the Red and Blue in that game, 80-61.
 
Penn vs. The XII
Penn is 5-15 against the programs that currently constitute the Big 12 Conference; the Quakers' five wins...
  2.7.1922 - at Penn 36, West Virginia 9
  12.28.1955 - Penn 60, Texas Tech 58
    (All-College Tournament, Oklahoma City, Okla.)
  11.24.2001 - Penn 84, Iowa State 77
    (Las Vegas Invitational)
  12.12.2016 - Penn 58, at UCF 49
  11.28.2019 - Penn 68, UCF 67
    (Wooden Legacy, Anaheim, Calif.)
 
Penn vs. AP #3
Penn is 0-7 all-time when playing the No. 3 team in the AP poll and 1-24 against top five teams (0-4 vs 1, 0-5 vs. 2, 0-3 vs. 4, 1-5 vs. 5)
  3/3/1951 – #3 Columbia 63, at Penn 58
  12/30/1961 – #3 Duquesne 83, at Penn 67
  1/23/1965 – #3 St. Joe's 88, at Penn 72
  1/22/1966 – #3 St. Joe's 79, at Penn 69
  12/17/1981 – #3 Louisville 76, Penn 68
  11/29/2003 – at #3 Michigan St. 77, Penn 52
  12/13/2005 – #3 Villanova 62, at Penn 55
 
Road Trip!
Saturday's game marks the second of three in a row on the road for the Quakers, who scored a 77-73 overtime win at Rider a week ago...
 
*Following Saturday's game, Penn will fly directly to Auburn to ring in the New Year with the Tigers on January 2. Auburn's coaching staff includes Ira Bowman, who was the 1996 Ivy League Player of the Year as a Penn player then a Quakers assistant from 2013-18.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
2 - Non-conference opponents who are ranked in this week's Associated Press (AP) Top 25: in addition to Houston being third, Kentucky (who Penn played on December 9) is eighth. The Quakers' January 2 opponent, Auburn, is tops among teams receiving votes (so basically 26th).
 
2 - Penn players with a double-double this season: junior Nick Spinoso (11 pts/11 rbs at UMES, 19/11 at Rider) and freshman Tyler Perkins (24 pts/11 rbs vs. Bucknell). Spinoso flirted with a triple-double December 2 vs. La Salle with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
 
2 - Consecutive Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors won by freshman Sam Brown, after he was named on Tuesday for his play in Penn's win at Rider. Since we're in the Lone Star State, we would be remiss if we didn't point out that Sam is the son of current San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown.
 
4 - Overtime games played by Penn already this season. Only three teams in program history have played more: 1983-84 (6), 2010-11 (5), 2018-19 (5).
 
4 - 20-point games racked up by Perkins already this season; the last freshman with that many games was Jordan Dingle, who had five in 2019-20.
 
7 - Games in which Brown has hit at least three 3-point shots; he has hit four treys four times and currently leads the Ivy League in 3FG per game (3.0).
 
9 - Penn players with at least one double-figure scoring game this season.
 
12 - Double-figure scoring games by senior Clark Slajchert this season, including each of the last five; in the outlier game, a win over Monmouth on November 26, he was "held" to nine.
 
21 - Three-point baskets made by Penn in its December 6 win over Division III FDU-Florham, a program record; the Quakers shot 21-34 (61.8 pct) beyond the arc, and nine different players hit treys in the game—one shy of the NCAA Division I record the Quakers set against Delaware State on December 27, 2017.
 
22.0 - Slajchert's points-per-game average over the last four games; over that span he has shot 63.6 percent (35-55), and perhaps more impressively over the last five contests he is 63.3 percent from 3-point land (19-30).
 
26 - Of senior Andrew Laczkowski's 43 rebounds this season, 28 (or 65.1 percent) of them have come on the offensive glass; perhaps not surprisingly, the Texan—Laczkowski played his high school ball at St. Mark's in Dallas—is 27-34 (79.4 pct.) on 2-point FG.
 
45.0 - Penn's 3-point FG percentage over the last six games (76-169); the Quakers enter Saturday's game leading the Ivy League in overall 3FG percentage (40.2).
 
69 - Rebounds snared by Spinoso over the last eight games against Division I opponents (8.7 rpg).
 
76 - Three-point baskets made by Penn over its last six games (12.7 per game); the Quakers—whose 10.2 3FG per game is second among Ivy teams—have reached double digits in five of those contests and had nine treys in the sixth.
 
+85 - Penn's rebound advantage this season (511-426); the Quakers—whose +6.5 margin leads the Ivy League—have outboarded ten opponents so far this season including a 52-22 (+30) advantage against Bucknell, their largest margin against a Division 1 opponent since going +37 in a win over Columbia on February 2, 1974 (65-28).
 
108 - Points scored by Brown through nine games (12.0 ppg); he missed Penn's first four contests due to injury but has started the last seven and is shooting 46.6 percent on 3FG to date (27-58).
 
122 - Points scored by Slajchert in the five games Penn has played away from The Palestra this season (24.4 ppg)...
  - 27 at Saint Joseph's (11/10)
  - 31 at UMES (11/18)
  - 33 vs. La Salle at WFC (12/2)
  - 18 vs. Kentucky at WFC (12/9)
  - 14 last Saturday at Rider