PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team has another busy Thanksgiving weekend ahead, competing in the Cathedral Classic Invitational presented by Toyota at The Palestra. The Quakers are part of the tournament's four-team field along with Elon, Maine and Navy.
 
The Cathedral Classic Invitational presented by Toyota will feature doubleheaders on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the twinbills starting at 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and noon on Sunday. Penn will play in the second game all three days.
 
2024 CATHEDRAL CLASSIC INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY TOYOTA SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 29
  *Elon (3-2) vs. Maine (3-3), 2 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn (2-3) vs. Navy (2-4), 4:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
Saturday, Nov. 30
  *Elon vs. Navy, 2 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn vs. Maine, 4:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
Sunday, Dec. 1
  *Navy vs. Maine, noon – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn vs. Elon, 2:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
 
Ivy League on ESPN+
A reminder that the Ivy League is paired with ESPN and you will be able to find all six games this weekend on ESPN+ 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 throughout the weekend, with Brad Fadem providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
Penn at the CCI
This is the third straight year Penn has played in this multi-team event, which started in 2022. The Quakers were 3-0 in 2022 with wins over Hartford, Colgate and Delaware. Last year, the Red and Blue went 2-1, sandwiching wins over Lafayette and Monmouth around an overtime loss to Belmont.
 
The Series with Navy
*The Quakers and Midshipmen are meeting for the 86th time, with Penn holding a 59-26 lead in the series.
 
*Penn has not played a non-Ivy, non-Big 5 opponent more than Navy.
 
*The last regular-season meeting took place early in 2017, Penn winning at The Palestra, 66-45.
 
The Series with Maine
*The Quakers and the Black Bears are meeting for the first time.
 
*Penn is 13-2 all-time against programs that currently constitute the America East Conference.
 
The Series with Elon
*The Quakers and Phoenix played a home-and-home series across two seasons in calendar year 2007, Penn winning both meetings.
 
*Penn is 52-22 all-time against teams currently in the Coastal Athletic Association; the Quakers' next game is also against a CAA opponent, Drexel, at the Big 5 Classic (2 p.m. tipoff at the Wells Fargo Center).
 
*Elon has a Penn connection, but not on its team or its coaching staff. Rather, it's with Athletic Director Jenn Strawley, who played college softball for the Quakers.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
2 – Consecutive one-point wins by Penn to start the season; the last time the Quakers had two straight one-point wins was the 1978-79 Final Four season (59-58 in OT over Princeton on 1/13, then 43-42 over Saint Joseph's on 1/16). Prior to this season, the last time Penn even won ONE one-point game was February 19, 2022, an 89-88 decision at Brown.

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.
 
9 – Points scored by Roberts in the final 5:38 of the season opener 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 last Thursday's home-opening 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 in the opener 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 at NJIT, leading the Quakers; he scored 11 points last Tuesday at Lafayette and 10 Friday night against Saint Joseph's.
 
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).
 
34 – Consecutive starts made by Spinoso—in fact, he had started 58 of the Quakers' last 59 games—before he came off the bench against Saint Joseph's; he was back in the starting lineup at Villanova.
 
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.
 
63 – Games played by Spinoso without hitting two three-pointers in the same contest, before he did so last week at Villanova; his last two-trey game came in an 2022 Ivy League Tournament semifinal against Yale.
 
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