PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team gets a chance to add an indelible chapter to what is arguably the most heated rivalry in all of Ivy League sports on Saturday. The Quakers are at Princeton and will face the Tigers in a season finale that sees the winner earning at least a share of the Ivy League title and the loser having to chomp at the bit until Ivy Madness next weekend.
 
Saturday's title tilt will air live to a national audience on ESPNews. Please note this game will tip off at noon, a change that was made several weeks ago after it was originally scheduled for 4 p.m.
 
GAME 29 – PENN (17-11, 9-4 Ivy League) at PRINCETON (18-8, 9-4)
Saturday, March 4, 2023 | Noon
Jadwin Gym | Princeton, N.J.
Watch Live on ESPNews ($) | Listen Live on QAN | Live Stats
Penn Game Notes | Princeton 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 Saturday's game, with Brad Fadem providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
The Championship Situation
The winner of Saturday's game will clinch at least a share of the Ivy League regular-season title. Yale (also 9-4) can split the crown with a win at Brown later in the day, tipping off with the Bears in Providence at 7:30 p.m.
 
P-P Winner Takes All, Chapter 4
Penn and Princeton have played three previous winner-take-all games, all of them Ivy playoffs after the teams tied for the Ivy regular-season title...
  3/4/80 - Penn 50, Princeton 49
  3/10/81 - Princeton 54, Penn 40
  3/9/96 - Princeton 63, Penn 56 (OT)

In addition, Penn and Princeton have ended the regular season with each other 31 times previously in the Ivy League era. This 32nd such meeting be the sixth out of those contests in which the Ivy League title has been in play, but the first where the winner of the game will win the title while the loser will be denied the crown.

Ivy Madness Ticket Punched
Penn and Princeton have already punched their tickets for the 2023 Ivy League Tournament (along with Yale). Ivy Madness will take place next weekend right back at Jadwin Gym, with both of Saturday's semifinals (11/1:30) airing live on ESPNU and Sunday's final (noon) on ESPN2.
 
The Series with Princeton
*The Quakers and the Tigers are meeting for the 247th time in their storied men's basketball rivalry, with Penn holding on to a 126-120 advantage in the series.
 
*Princeton has held the upper hand in recent years, however, with seven wins in a row and a 23-6 mark over Penn dating back to the 2008-09 season. That includes a 72-60 victory on January 16 at The Palestra in Philadelphia.
 
*Junior Jordan Dingle led Penn offensively with 21 points, while sophomore Nick Spinoso added 12 points. Overall, though, the Quakers struggled at the field, shooting just 33.3 percent (21-of-63).
 
*Of particular note, Penn was held without a three-point basket for the first time since November 24, 2009 against Drexel, going 0-for-12 in the contest.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
0 - Penn losses in February (6-0 record); the last time the Quakers had a perfect February was the 2002-03 season (9-0).
 
2 - Double-doubles collected by senior Lucas Monroe in recent weeks; he had 12 points and 13 rebounds against Cornell on February 4, then 13 points and 10 boards last Saturday vs. Dartmouth.
 
3 - Ivy League road wins for Penn this season, tied for second among Ancient Eight programs behind only Princeton (4); the Quakers, Harvard and Yale can all get their fourth road win on Saturday.

4.9 - Points-per-game difference between Ivy League games (11.1) and non-conference games (6.2) by sophomore Nick Spinoso; he has 119 points across the Quakers' last ten Ivy contests (11.9 ppg) with a 61.5 FG percentage in that span (51-83).
 
7 - Consecutive Ivy League wins by Penn, its longest streak since the 2017-18 team opened its Ivy campaign 7-0 en route to the regular-season co-championship at 12-2; that team would later win Ivy Madness at The Palestra.
 
8 - Consecutive wins overall by Penn, its longest streak since the 2006-07 squad ended the regular season with 10 straight victories.
 
10 - Penn players with at least one double-figure scoring game this season; the Quakers have had at least 10 players with a double-digit scoring game in five of Coach Donahue's seven seasons, after doing it just eight times from 1951-2015.
 
11 - Dingle's standing on Penn's all-time scoring list, with 1,489 points; Stan Pawlak (1964-66) is ninth with 1,501 points, while Ibrahim Jaaber (2004-07) is eighth with 1,518.
 
12.8 - Scoring average over the last five games for junior Clark Slajchert; he has hit double figures in four of the last five games—including 19 against Brown and 17 vs. Dartmouth in Penn's last two games—after seven single-digit outings.
 
13.8 - Scoring average over the last eight games for junior Max Martz, including 18 points in each of Penn's last two games; he also had 10 rebounds against Brown two weeks ago for his second collegiate double-double.
 
15 - Three-point baskets hit by sophomore George Smith over Penn's last nine games after he had just eight treys in the Quakers' first 19 contests.
 
21 - 20-point games by Dingle this season, after he had a game-high 27 last Saturday vs. Dartmouth; the junior already has 42 such games for his career, tied with Stan Pawlak (1964-66) for third on Penn's all-time list behind Ernie Beck (54 from 1951-53) and Keven McDonald (43 from 1976-78).
 
23.4 - Dingle's scoring average entering the weekend, second nationally behind Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis (28.4); he has 602 points already this season, tied for the fifth-most in a season in program history with Zack Rosen (602 in 2011-12).
 
35 - Consecutive double-figure scoring games by Dingle, the fifth-longest streak in program history; McDonald is fourth, at 38 straight games.
 
41.1 - Penn's overall FG defense in Ivy play entering the weekend, tops among Ancient Eight programs.
 
48.2 - Penn's shooting percentage in Ivy play entering the weekend, tops among Ancient Eight programs.
 
60.0 - Penn's shooting percentage across the last two games; the Quakers shot 61.5 percent last Saturday vs. Dartmouth (32-53), their best performance since February 4, 2011 when they shot 62.8 percent (27-43) against…Dartmouth.
 
+81 - Penn's rebound margin in the nine games since last playing Princeton (and getting outrebounded by the Tigers, 44-36); the Quakers outboarded their opponent in all nine games, including a +7 margin last Saturday vs. Dartmouth (28-21).
 
93.1 - Dingle's FT percentage across Penn's last five games (27-29) after he went 7-8 last Saturday vs. Dartmouth.