ITHACA, N.Y. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team finished arguably the most improbable Ivy League Tournament championship in the event's short history on Sunday, coming back to knock off top-seeded Yale in overtime, 88-84, at Cornell's Newman Arena.
The Quakers are the first third seed to win the eight-year-old event, and they needed overtime wins over second-seeded Harvard and the Bulldogs to win the championship. With the victory, Penn earned the Ivy League's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which will be the program's 25th overall and first since 2018.
In addition, head coach
Fran McCaffery—who, of course, attended and played for Penn and has returned to coach his alma mater—leads his fifth different program into March Madness, having already coached Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa in the Big Dance. He is just the fifth coach to accomplish the feat, the others being Rick Pitino (who has led six programs to the NCAA Tournament), Steve Alford, Lon Kruger, and Tubby Smith.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn improved to 2-0 when playing in the Ivy League Tournament championship game, the other win coming in 2018 over Harvard.
*Penn is now 2-1 in its Ivy Madness series with Yale.
*Penn's win snapped a streak that saw Yale win six in a row and nine of the last ten against the Quakers.
*For the second time this season, Penn was perfect at the foul line (16-16); the other time was the Ivy League regular-season opener at Princeton, when the Quakers set a program mark by going 19-19.
*Yale (17) actually took more free throws than Penn (16). That doesn't often happen: Penn improved to just 2-6 in such games this season.
*Penn hit 14 three-point shots on Sunday, a high for this season, and shot exactly 50 percent behind the arc.
*Junior
TJ Power had one of the most amazing performances ever seen in the Red and Blue uniform on Sunday, scoring half of Penn's points (44 of 88) and grabbing 14 rebounds for his second double-double in as many days. Not surprisingly, he was named Most Outstanding Player following the event.
*Power's 44-point performance is tied for the third-highest-scoring game in program history with Hassan Duncombe, who scored 44 at Navy on December 8, 1989. The two performances ahead of them were set by Ernie Beck (47 vs. Duke on December 30, 1952 and 45 vs. Harvard on February 6, 1952).
*Power drained seven treys on 14 attempts—most by a Penn player in a game since January 25, 2025 (
Sam Brown 8 vs. Columbia)—and was a perfect 9-9 at the foul line.
*Power set Ivy League Tournament records for points in a game (44) and a tournament (60), and his 14 rebounds were one shy of the ILT mark.
*Playing in what could have been his last game for Penn, senior
Cam Thrower kept his career alive with a career-high 19 points and grabbed four boards. He was 6-10 from the field, knocking down four of his six three-point attempts, and was named to the all-tournament team.
*Sophomore guard
AJ Levine scored nine points and led all players in assists (6) and steals (4) before fouling out in OT.
*
Michael Zanoni scored eight points, junior
Augustus Gerhart added four in the second half, and
Jay Jones and
Lucas Lueth scored two each.
*Yale was led by Isaac Celiscar, who had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds as well as five assists. Trevor Mullin topped the Bulldogs with 22 points while Nick Townsend recorded 17 points, 7 boards and six assists and Casey Simmons also scored 17 points.
How It Happened
Yale scored the first five points in Sunday's final, but Zanoni and Thrower triples were part of an 8-0 run that gave Penn the lead. Yale responded with an 8-0 run that extended to 12-2, going up 17-10, but Power got things back to 19-16 with a trey out of the under-12 media timeout. Yale's lead extended to 25-16, Zanoni hit a triple and Power went to work from there with Penn's next seven points. A Lueth dunk, his only points of the day, put the Quakers in front, 28-27.
The Red and Blue kept that lead the rest of the period and took a 41-39 advantage into the locker room. Power led the way with 23 points in the period.
Yale opened the second half with five straight points, but Thrower leveled things with a trey. Penn's lead was still 50-46, but Yale ripped off eight of the next ten points. At that point Jones scored his only points on a driving layup, and Gerhart followed up with a baby shot in the lane, pushing Penn back in front 56-54.
Yale used a 7-0 run to take a 63-58 lead with 8:04 left, and Eli's edge was still 67-65 when Penn had a chance to draw level. However, Power lost the ball and Simmons finished at the other end, then Levine took an ill-advised shot and Townsend made Penn pay. Power hit a 1-and-1 out of the under-4 media timeout, making the scored 71-67 Yale with 2:58 to play.
Townsend missed his shot on the right baseline, the ball going out of bounds to Penn, and then Power scored from under the hoop to get the Quakers within two as the clock neared two minutes.
Those were the only points until the final few seconds. Penn ultimately was forced to foul and unfortunately they chose Mullin, who hit both of his free throws to make the score 73-69. Power got it back to a one-point game with a quick triple, but again the Quakers fouled Mullin and again he hit both. No matter: Power drove down the right sideline and, with Simmons closely guarding him, hit still another three-pointer to tie things at the buzzer.
Penn won the opening tip in overtime and Levine was quickly fouled, hitting both shots to put Penn in front. Samson Aletan got one of those points back, then Simmons turned an Aletan steal into a transition dunk to put Yale up, 78-77. Power hit two shots to put Penn back in front, and then Thrower swished a triple with 1:59 left to make the advantage four, at 82-78.
Celiscar quickly answered with his own long-distance call, but Thrower followed his own miss in the lane and put it back to make it 84-81 with 1:21 left. Yale's next possession went empty, Celiscar missing a triple and then the Bulldogs turning it over on a shot-clock violation, but Penn handed it right back to Yale on the ensuing inbounds and Yale took a timeout.
The top seed got the ball to Mullin but he was off the mark with his three-point attempt, and Power soared for the rebound. He was fouled and hit both foul shots with 17.9 seconds left, making the score 86-81. Riley made it nerve-racking for Penn fans, hitting a three-pointer with 11 seconds still to go, but Penn inbounded to Zanoni who was fouled and hit both of his shots. That closed it out.
Up Next
Penn will learn its NCAA Tournament fate during the Selection Show, which will air tonight at 6 p.m. on CBS.
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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