PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team is past fall-term exams and ready to get back to game action. The Quakers' first test during the holidays comes Saturday night, when they travel to Rutgers for the first meeting with the Scarlet Knights in more than 50 years.
 
Saturday's game will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
 
GAME 11 – PENN (6-4) at RUTGERS (5-5)
Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025 | 8 p.m.
Piscataway, N.J. | Jersey Mike's Arena
Watch on BTN ($) | Listen on QAN | Live Stats
 
Penn Game Notes (PDF) | Rutgers Game Notes (PDF)
 
Quaker Audio Network (QAN)
Fans can listen to the entire 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 again this season, with Stan Pawlak providing analysis. To access the Quaker Audio Network, simply type www.pennathletics.com/audio into your computer or device.
 
The Series with Rutgers
*The Quakers and the Scarlet Knights are meeting for the 24th time overall, with Penn holding a 19-4 lead in the series.

*Penn and Rutgers were regular rivals through the 1950s and 1960s, but this will be the first meeting since they played each other at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 1975 (the Scarlet Knights winning, 95-80).

*Penn is making its first trip to Piscataway since 1969, when the Quakers escaped with an 80-71 victory. Penn's only loss in seven trips to Rutgers came on December 15, 1959 (51-44).
 
*The first meeting took place almost exactly 111 years ago as Penn beat Rutgers, 41-18, on December 19, 1914.
 
*Penn is 85-63 all-time against the programs that currently make up the Big Ten. The Quakers' most recent game against a Big Ten opponent came last year, a 77-57 loss at Penn State, and Penn's last win over a Big Ten team was a 62-37 throttling of the Nittany Lions on November 23, 2002 at The Palestra.
 
*While Penn has not played Rutgers in more than a half century—literally, it will have been 50 years and nine days when they tip off Saturday night—the Quakers' head coach is quite familiar with the Scarlet Knights. Fran McCaffery, who spent the last 15 seasons at Iowa, went 13-3 against Rutgers during his time in Iowa City.
 
Penn MBB by the Numbers
1.000 - Freshman Dalton Scantlebury's field-goal percentage in Penn's Cathedral Classic win against Merrimack on November 28 (10-10); he is tied for third among Ivy League players so far this season in overall field-goal percentage (33-55, .600).
 
2.00 - Penn's assist/turnover ratio in its most recent win, December 8 over Lafayette (18/9); overall this season, the Quakers' 1.27 ratio is third among Ivy League teams.
 
2 - Starting lineups so far this season for Penn; the Quakers had gone with the same starting five in each of their first nine games before having to deviate due to injury.
 
2.80 - Offensive rebounds per game averaged by Scantlebury; that is second in the Ivy League (behind only Brown's N'famara Dabo's 2.83 orpg) and 100th nationally. Scantlebury is also fourth among Ivy players in blocked shots per game (1.30).
 
3 - Wins against Big 5 rivals this season, as Penn defeated Saint Joseph's and Drexel in the new pod play format and gained a non-pod victory over La Salle at the Cathedral Classic. The last Quakers team with at least three Big 5 wins was the 2018-19 Big 5 champions, who went a perfect 4-0 in the old round-robin format.
 
3 - Penn players who have been named Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week this season: Michael Zanoni (11/17), Ethan Roberts (11/24), and TJ Power (12/1). In addition, Scantlebury is already a two-time Rookie of the Week honoree from both the Ivy League and the Big 5.
 
4.0 - Assists per game averaged by sophomore AJ Levine; that is third among Ivy League players behind Brown's Jeremiah Jenkins (4.9 apg) and Yale's Will Townsend (4.7). Levine —who set a career high with eight assists against Lafayette—also is third among Ivy players in assist/turnover ratio (40/18, 2.22).
 
6 - Different players who have led Penn in scoring in a game this season.
 
6 - Offensive rebounds grabbed by Lucas Lueth in the Quakers' win over the Leopards last week; the sophomore transfer had seven overall, his Penn career high so far.
 
7.6 - Rebounds per game by Power, second among Ivy players behind only Dartmouth's Brandon Day-Mitchell (8.2) and 99th nationally. Junior Augie Gerhart is fifth among Ivy players in the category (6.2 rpg).
 
15 - Points scored by Gerhart in Penn's win over Lafayette, a career high for the junior; all of them came in the first half.
 
16.0 - Points-per-game average for Power in Penn's nine Division I games this season; he has hit double figures in all nine after opening the season with six points against D3 Rowan.
 
18 - Consecutive free throws made by Zanoni to start the season; his streak came to an end on his third and final foul shot in the Lafayette victory.
 
49.6 - Penn's overall shooting percentage during its four-game win streak over Saint Joseph's, Drexel, Merrimack and La Salle (112-226). Of particular note, the Quakers shot 53.9 percent (83-154) on two-point attempts.
 
+50 - Penn's free-throw advantage over its nine Division I opponents. Hofstra and Villanova are the only teams to shoot more foul shots than Penn in a game this season, the Pride winning the category by a narrow 18-17 and the Wildcats by a 13-12 margin.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.