PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team opened the Fran McCaffery Era with a record-setting offensive performance Friday night, defeating Division III Rowan University 119-72 at The Palestra.
 
The 119 points were a program record for a single game, breaking the previous mark of 115 scored on December 1, 1969 against Muhlenberg. It was the Quakers' first 100-point game since a 111-57 victory over FDU-Florham on December 6, 2023.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The game was the season opener for both teams.
 
*Penn shot 39-of-71 from the field (54.9 percent)
 
*Penn took an outrageous 49 free throws, making 33 as Rowan committed 31 fouls (22 of them in the second half). The last time the Quakers shot that many foul shots was their four-overtime game at Monmouth on November 25, 2017 (50), and the last time they made 33 or more was January 25, 2014 when they shot 35-of-43 from the line against NJIT.
 
*Penn outrebounded Rowan on Friday 59-29; the +30 differential was the largest since the Quakers outboarded Bucknell 52-22 almost exactly two years ago (November 8, 2023) and the 59 boards were the most the Red and Blue snared in a single game since they had 59 against Haverford College on December 18, 1993.
 
*Senior Ethan Roberts led all scorers with 28 points and did so in just 18:12 of game time, going 8-of-11 both from the field and at the foul line. That included a 4-of-5 performance from beyond the arc.
 
*In his collegiate debut, freshman Dalton Scantlebury posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The last Penn player to record a double-double in his debut was AJ Brodeur; the program's all-time scoring leader dropped 23 points and 11 rebounds at Robert Morris on November 11, 2016. Scantlebury also had three steals and all of Penn's four blocked shots.
 
*Junior Augustus Gerhart nearly had his first collegiate double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine boards. Both numbers matched his career highs in those categories.
 
*After missing all of last season due to injury, senior Cam Thrower played nearly 15 minutes on Friday and finished with 10 points and four assists with just one turnover.
 
*Junior TJ Power missed most of the preseason with an injury but was in the starting lineup on Friday night and finished with six points and nine rebounds including five on the offensive glass.
 
*Sophomore guard AJ Levine dished out seven assists, a career high, and also had four rebounds and two steals.
 
*In his first collegiate game, freshman Jay Jones finished with eight points and three assists.
 
*Ten players saw at least 13 minutes on Friday night, and all but two of the 15 who played in the game scored at least four points.
 
*Rowan was led by Nafi Muhammad, who had 15 points, while Khalil Baker came off the bench to score 11 and grab seven rebounds.
 
How It Happened
Penn set the tone for the night in the game's first minute—a Levine steal led to him taking a three-pointer that was off the mark, but Power rebounded the miss and fed Roberts who drained the second-chance trey. That was the impetus for an 8-0 run to start the game. Things really took off five minutes in, after Dan Mason drained a triple for Rowan to make the score 14-8; the Profs wouldn't score again for more than four minutes, and during that time Penn ripped off 17 straight points with Roberts scoring eight of them. The lead opened up to 30 shortly after the eight-minute timeout and crested at 31 (45-14) before Rowan found some momentum and scored 11 in a row. The score was 53-32 at the break.
 
A Brycen Williams triple got Rowan within 20 early in the second half, at 55-35, but that was as close as the Profs got the rest of the way. Instead, Penn kept pushing the ball and used a 10-0 run over a span of 1:53 to push its lead up to 38 points (83-45) with nearly 12 minutes still to play. At that point, it was only a matter of figuring out when the Quakers would reach 100 points, and they did so when Alex Massung hit a pair of free throws with 5:20 to play. Freshman William Kruse had the honor of scoring the record-setting points, the big man draining a three-pointer in the final minute to get the Quakers to 117 on the way to their 119 final total.
 
Up Next
The Quakers are on the road for their next two games, taking on Patriot League champion American Sunday in the nation's capital before heading North to face Providence on Tuesday night. Tipoff with the Eagles is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday, with the game against the Friars scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.