PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team is home for its next three games, starting this weekend when the Quakers host Yale and Brown in one of the most highly anticipated weekends in conference history.
 
Penn's game with Yale on Friday will air nationally on ESPNews, while Saturday's contest with Brown will be part of the Ivy League's package on ESPN+.
 
The top four teams in the Ivy standings—the Quakers, the Bulldogs, the Bears, and Princeton—will all face each other across Friday and Saturday night. Never in league history have the top four teams all been within a game of each other and played each other in a true Ivy weekend this late in the season.
 
With 6-4 Penn hosting 7-3 Yale on Friday and 6-4 Brown playing at 7-3 Princeton that same night, It is conceivable the Ivy League standings could have a four-way tie at the top going into Saturday's contests. Add in the fact that 5-5 Cornell and 5-5 Dartmouth meet each other in Ithaca, also on Friday, and every game takes on significant importance as the league gets down to its final three weekends (four games) in the race to make the top four and earn an Ivy Madness bid.
 
GAME 26 – PENN (14-11, 6-4 Ivy League) vs. YALE (17-6, 7-3)
Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 | 7 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPNews ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes | Yale Game Notes
 
GAME 27 – PENN vs. BROWN (13-10, 6-4)
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023 | 6 p.m.
The Palestra | Philadelphia
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
Brown Game Notes
 
Quaker Audio Network (QAN)
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 for both of this weekend's games, with Brad Fadem providing analysis. Vince Curran also will be on Friday's call to make it a three-man booth. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
The Series with Yale
*The Quakers and Bulldogs are meeting for the 238th in men's basketball, with Penn holding a 152-85 lead in the series. Yale has won the last three meetings, but the teams are 6-6 over the last 12 including a split of two Ivy League Tournament semifinals (Penn winning in 2018, Yale winning last year at Harvard).
 
*Yale won the first meeting this season, overcoming a three-point halftime deficit for a 70-63 victory in New Haven. For Penn, Jordan Dingle led all scorers with 27 points while Nick Spinoso had 11.
 
The Series with Brown
*The Quakers and the Bears are meeting for the 142nd time, with Penn holding a substantial 113-28 lead in the series including four in a row and nine of the last 10 matchups.
 
*Penn used a big second half to defeat Brown in Providence on January 2, scoring 51 points en route to a 76-68 victory. Clark Slajchert led the Red and Blue with 31 points, Dingle added 20, and Spinoso had his first collegiate double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds).
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
5.2 - Points-per-game difference between Ivy League games (11.4) and non-conference games (6.2) by sophomore Nick Spinoso.
 
11 - Three-point baskets made by sophomore George Smith over Penn's last six games, after he had eight across the Quakers' first 19 contests; after hitting double figures just once in Penn's first 21 games, he has 48 points over the last four.
 
13 - Junior Jordan Dingle's standing on Penn's all-time scoring list, with 1,432 points; Bruce Lefkowitz (1984-87) is 12th with 1,443 points while Tyler Bernardini (2008-12) is 11th with 1,456.
 
13.4 - Scoring average for Max Martz over his last five games; the junior has hit double digits 13 times in his last 20 appearances—he had 12 at Harvard last Saturday—and three nine-point games.
 
15 - Of junior Andrew Laczkowski's 36 rebounds this season, 15 have been on the offensive glass; he matched a season high with seven points and set a career best with two blocked shots two weeks ago vs. Columbia here at The Palestra.
 
20 - 20-point games by Dingle this season, including the last seven in a row; the junior already has 41 such games for his career, good for fourth on Penn's all-time list behind Ernie Beck (54), Keven McDonald (43) and Stan Pawlak (42).
 
23 - Free throws made by Penn last Saturday at Harvard, a season high and most by the Quakers since December 11, 2018 when they made 25 in a win over Villanova here at The Palestra.
 
24.0 - Dingle's scoring average, second nationally behind only Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis (27.7 ppg); the junior earned some national recognition as Rece Davis' "Dude of the Day" during ESPN's College Gameday last Saturday.
 
30.6 - Penn's three-point FG defense in Ivy League play entering the weekend, tops among Ancient Eight programs.
 
32 - Consecutive double-figure scoring games by Dingle, the sixth-longest streak in program history; AJ Brodeur (2017-20) has the fifth-longest streak, at 34 games.
 
+33 - Penn's rebound margin over its last four Ivy League games, all wins; the Quakers' 48 boards against Cornell on February 4 were a season high.
 
40.7 - Penn's overall FG defense in Ivy play entering the weekend, tops among Ancient Eight programs.
 
49 - Rebounds grabbed over the last five games by Lucas Monroe; the senior had his first collegiate double-double against a Division 1 opponent February 4 vs. Cornell (12 pts/13 rbs), then finished one point shy of a double-double last Saturday at Harvard (9 pts/10 rbs).