PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team is 2-0 by the skin of its teeth, grabbing a pair of one-point wins the first week of the season. The Quakers will look for a little less drama as they strive for their first 3-0 start since 2018-19 on Tuesday night in the Lehigh Valley.
 
GAME 3 – PENN (2-0) at LAFAYETTE (0-2)
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024 | 7 p.m.
Easton, Pa. | Kirby Sports Center
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
 
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Lafayette 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 games 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+!
 
Quaker Audio Network (QAN)
Penn fans can listen to all of the 2024-25 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 Tuesday's game, with Brad Fadem and Vince Curran providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
Early Start
Penn's 58-57 win at NJIT last Monday marked the earliest start to a season, by date, in program history. Prior to that, the earliest start date was November 5, set in 2019 when the Quakers traveled to Alabama and beat the Crimson Tide in what was Nate Oats' first game as Bama's head coach, 81-80.

Good Start
Penn is 2-0 for the second straight season and the fourth time in the Steve Donahue coaching era (the others coming in his first season, 2015-16, and in 2018-19. The last time the Quakers won three in a row was 2018-19, when they started the campaign 4-0.
 
The Series with Lafayette
*A fixture on the regular-season schedule for several decades now, the Quakers are facing the Leopards for the 57th time. Penn leads the series, 46-10.
 
*Penn has won the last three meetings and six of the last seven, after dropping four in a row from 2013-16.
 
*These teams met in the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic over Thanksgiving weekend last year at The Palestra, Penn taking a 74-72 decision.
 
*Penn is 13-8 all-time in Easton, including a 74-68 overtime win two seasons ago.
 
*Penn is 172-59 all-time against the programs that currently comprise the Patriot League.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
1:09 – Game time in which Penn led in last Monday's season-opening win at NJIT.
 
3 - Transfers who have joined the Penn roster for the 2024-25 season: Ethan Roberts (Drake), Dylan Williams (Triton College) and Michael Zanoni (Mercer). Of the group, Roberts is the most decorated as he was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year at Army in 2022-23 before spending last season at Drake (missing the campaign due to injury). Williams, meanwhile, started at point guard for a Triton team that went 34-3 last season and advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship game.
 
7 - Total newcomers on the 2024-25 roster: in addition to the trio of transfers mentioned above, the Quakers also have the freshman quartet of Bradyn Foster, AJ Levine, Alex Massung, and Michelangelo Oberti.
 
7 - Returning players who have recorded at least one double-figure scoring game during their collegiate career: seniors Reese McMullen, Nick Spinoso and George Smith; junior Cam Thrower; and sophomores Sam Brown, Augustus Gerhart and Niklas Polonowski.
 
7.9 - Rebounds per game last season by Spinoso, which was fourth among Ivy League players; he led Penn with seven boards Monday at NJIT and added eight more Thursday vs. UMES.
 
9 – Points scored by Roberts in the final 5:38 of Monday's game at NJIT; he had nine of Penn's last 10 points in the contest, including the winning free throw with 1.6 seconds left.
 
10 – Free throws taken—and, thankfully, made—in the final minute of Thursday's win over UMES, eight of them from Brown and two by Roberts. Penn needed all of them in taking an 85-84 win, as the Hawks scored a staggering 18 points in that same time.
 
10 – Rebounds grabbed by Roberts in the UMES win, to go with a game-high 23 points for his first double-double at Penn; he had two double-doubles as a freshman at Army in 2022-23, one of them in Patriot League play against Boston University.
 
14 – Points scored by Smith against UMES, his first double-figure scoring game in nearly a year and most points in a game since he dropped 14 in back-to-back games against Harvard and Columbia his sophomore season.
 
17 – Deficit that Penn made up last Monday at NJIT; the Quakers were down, 52-35, with just over 13 minutes left but outscored the Highlanders 23-5 the rest of the way. It marked the largest comeback in a Penn victory in the Steve Donahue coaching era. (The Quakers made up a 21-point deficit at Princeton on January 7, 2017 but ultimately lost to the Tigers, 61-52.)
 
17 – Points scored by Williams in last Monday's win, leading the Quakers.
 
29 - Starts made last year by Spinoso; he was the only player on the team to start all of the Quakers' 29 games. Other returnees who were regular starters are Smith (19), Brown (18), and Thrower (9).
 
61 - Three-pointers knocked down by Brown last season, on 141 attempts (.433); he finished third among Ivy League players in 3FG percentage and fourth in 3FG per game (2.44). Brown's 61 treys were the second most by a freshman in program history, behind only Jackson Donahue who had 62 in 2015-16.
 
208 - Assists dished out over the last two-plus seasons by Spinoso (eight so far in 2024-25, 93 in 2022-23, 107 last season); he finished fourth among Ivy League players in assists/game last season (3.69) and was the only big man among the top 12.
 
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