PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team closes out Big 5 play on Saturday, facing 33rd Street neighbor Drexel in the fifth-place game at the Big 5 Classic presented by Toyota. Following that, Penn jumps on a bus and heads to Richmond for its first-ever meeting with VCU on Monday night. In addition to airing on ESPN+, Monday's game will be broadcast live on MASN for those in that channel's viewing area.
 
GAME 9 – PENN (3-5, 0-2 Big 5) vs. DREXEL (5-4, 0-2)
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 | 2 p.m.
Philadelphia | Wells Fargo Center
NBC Sports Philadelphia+ | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
 
GAME 10 – PENN at VCU (7-2)
Monday, Dec. 9, 2024 | 7 p.m.
Richmond, Va. | Siegel Center
Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
 
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Drexel Game Notes (PDF) | VCU 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 both of these game, with Stan Pawlak providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
The Big 5 Classic presented by Toyota Schedule
Saturday's game with Drexel will take place at the Wells Fargo Center and is the first in a tripleheader at the WFC. Temple and Villanova meet afterward in the third-place game at 4:45 p.m., before A-10 rivals Saint Joseph's and La Salle renew acquaintances in the final at 7:30 p.m. The Hawks are the defending champions.
 
The Series with Drexel
*Saturday's meeting between the Quakers and Dragons is the 28th in the series, with Penn holding a 17-10 lead.
 
*Penn has won the last two meetings, the most recent being a 64-59 win on November 15, 2022 at the DAC. The Red and Blue also won on December 28, 2016 at The Palestra, 75-67, snapping a six-game win streak by the Dragons. The last Drexel win was December 22, 2015 at the DAC, 53-52 in overtime.
 
*This will mark a reunion of sorts, as Penn head coach Steve Donahue squares off against his longtime assistant coach at Cornell, Zach Spiker, who heads the Dragons.
 
The Series with VCU
*Monday represents the first meeting between the Quakers and the Rams in men's basketball.
 
*Fun fact: VCU is the only current Atlantic 10 program that Penn has never played.
 
*The Quakers are 99-121 all-time against current A-10 programs, including an 86-69 loss to Saint Joseph's on November 15. Penn's has another A-10 opponent still on the docket after Monday, traveling to George Mason on December 22.
 
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; he is averaging a team-high 7.1 boards per game so far in 2024-25.
 
9 – Rebounds snared by Gerhart at Lafayette on November 12, a season/career high for the sophomore.
 
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 Penn's home-opening win over UMES on November 7, 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.
 
13 – Free throws made (on 14 attempts) by Brown last Saturday vs. Maine; that is a Penn player high in the Steve Donahue era, breaking the previous mark of 11 set by Sam Jones against Cornell on February 26, 2016.
 
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 has four double-figure scoring games this season, most recently 12 in last Saturday's win over Maine.
 
29 – Starts made last year by Spinoso; he was the only player on the team to start all 29 of the Quakers' 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 on November 15; he has started every game since then and nearly had a triple-double (14 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) in Penn's win over Maine last Saturday.
 
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.
 
76 – Points scored last weekend by Roberts: 33 vs. Navy (a collegiate high), 23 vs. Maine (to go with 10 rebounds for his second double-double this season), and 20 vs. Elon. That was the game high in all three contests and earned him Cathedral Classic Invitational all-tournament honors as well as Ivy League Player of the Week honors, the first for a Penn player this season.
 
228 – Assists dished out over the last two-plus seasons by Spinoso (28 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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