PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team has another busy Thanksgiving weekend, competing in the fourth annual Cathedral Classic at The Palestra. The Quakers are once again part of the tournament's four-team field along with Hofstra, Merrimack, and fellow Philadelphia Big 5 member La Salle.
 
The Cathedral Classic will feature doubleheaders on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with twinbills starting at 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and noon on Sunday. Penn will play in the second game all three days.
 
2025 CATHEDRAL CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 28
  *La Salle vs. Hofstra, 2 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn vs. Merrimack, 4:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
Saturday, Nov. 29
  *Hofstra vs. Merrimack, 2 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn vs. La Salle, 4:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
Sunday, Nov. 30
  *La Salle vs. Merrimack, noon – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | Live Stats
  *Penn vs. Hofstra, 2:30 p.m. – Watch on ESPN+ ($) | 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 2025-26 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 Stan Pawlak providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
Penn at the Cathedral Classic
Penn has been in the field for all four iterations of this tournament, which originally launched in 2022. The Quakers were 3-0 that first year—the wins coming against Hartford, Colgate and Delaware—then went 2-1 in 2023, sandwiching wins over Lafayette and Monmouth around an overtime loss to Belmont. Last year Penn was 1-2 at this event, falling to Navy on Friday and Elon on Sunday but getting a 79-64 win over Maine in its Saturday game.
 
The Series with Merrimack
*Friday's meeting will be the first between the Quakers and the Warriors, who are in their seventh season as an NCAA Division I member and a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
 
The Series with La Salle
*The Quakers and Explorers will tip off Saturday for the 77th time overall, with Penn holding a 42-34 lead in the series. The last meeting, of course, was at the inaugural Big 5 Classic, La Salle hitting a half-court shot at the overtime buzzer for a 93-92 victory at what is now Xfinity Mobile Arena. It was the Explorers' third straight win in the series after Penn had won four of the previous five. The last two and three of the last six meetings have needed overtime—their game on November 13, 2017 needing two extra periods—and Penn's last win in the series came on November 13, 2019 (75-59 at The Palestra).
 
The Series with Hofstra
*Sunday's meeting with the Pride will be just the third in program history. The first matchup took place during the 1996-97 season, Penn winning 83-55 on Long Island, and then two years later these teams played in the ECAC Holiday Tournament final at Madison Square Garden with Hofstra winning, 67-62.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
1.000 - FT percentage by Michael Zanoni so far this season (13-13); another player who has been money at the charity stripe this season so far is senior Cam Thrower (14-15, .933).
 
7 - Assists dished out by sophomore AJ Levine last Friday at Drexel, a career high against a Division I opponent; perhaps most impressive, he did not have a turnover.
 
7:30 - The game time of Penn's contest at the Big 5 Classic next Saturday at Xfinity Mobile Arena; the Quakers will face the winner of the Temple-Villanova game that takes place Monday out on the Main Line.
 
11 - Rebounds secured by junior Augustus Gerhart November 9 at American, his career high and tops among all players in the game. Gerhart is second on the team in rebounds per game (8.0) and has grabbed 15 of his 32 boards on the offensive glass (46.9 percent).
 
12 - Lead changes in last Monday's game between Penn and St. Joe's; the teams also were tied 15 times. The final score (83-74) marked the largest margin in the game for either team. Compare that to last Friday, when Penn never trailed at Drexel and were only tied once, at 2-2.
 
15 - Rebounds pulled down by junior TJ Power last Monday against Saint Joseph's, the most by a Penn player since Lucas Monroe grabbed 16 on November 30, 2022 against, you guessed it, the Hawks.
 
24.6 – Points-per-game average for senior Ethan Roberts entering the Thanksgiving week; that has him third nationally in scoring, behind only Kansas State's PJ Haggerty (28.0 ppg) and Utah's Terrence Brown (25.2) and just ahead of another Ivy Leaguer, Cornell's Cooper Noard (24.4).
 
+29 - Penn's margin in FT attempts through four Division I games so far this season; the Quakers have taken 107 foul shots to a combined 78 by American, Providence, St. Joe's and Drexel.
 
41.6 - Penn's shooting percentage from three-point land in four games against Division I competition so far this season (37-89); that is only slightly lower than the Quakers are shooting inside the arc (65-147, 44.2 percent).
 
49 - Free throws taken by Penn in the season opener against Rowan; the Quakers made 33. The last time the Red and Blue shot that many foul shots was their four-overtime game at Monmouth on November 25, 2017 (50), and the last time they made at least 33 was January 25, 2014 (35-43 vs. NJIT).
 
50 - Points scored by Zanoni in Penn's first two Division I games this season; he had 20 at American, then dropped a career-high 30 last Tuesday at Providence. Perhaps most impressively, Zanoni shot 61.1 percent from three-point land in the two games (11-18).
 
54 - Combined points scored by Roberts (31) and Power (23) last Monday against the Hawks. It marked the first time the Quakers had a 30-point scorer and a 20-point scorer in the same game since December 2, 2023 (Clark Slajchert 33, Tyler Perkins 20 vs. La Salle). Good time to note that Power's scoring output has jumped in every game this season: 6 points vs. Rowan, 10 at American, 15 at Providence, 23 vs. St. Joe's.
 
61 - Points scored in two Big 5 games last week by Roberts—31 against Saint Joseph's (24 of them coming in the second half) and 30 at Drexel (19 in the first half); the last Penn player with back-to-back 30-points games was Jordan Dingle in 2021-22 (31 vs. Yale, 31 vs. Brown), and before that it hadn't happened since Keven McDonald dropped 35 points vs. Tennessee and 32 vs. Ohio State on back-to-back days at the 1975 Sugar Bowl Classic.
 
89.0 - Penn's points-per-game average entering the weekend, tied with Cornell for first among Ivy programs—both teams have scored 445 points in their first five games.
 
119 - Points scored by Penn in the November 7 season opener against the Profs, a program single-game record. The previous mark was 115, scored on December 1, 1969 against Muhlenberg.
 
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