GREENVILLE, S.C. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team saw its 2025-26 season come to an end in the wee hours of Thursday night, the 14th-seeded Quakers falling to third-seeded Illinois 105-70 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at BSW Arena.
 
The Fighting Illini (25-8) advance to Saturday's second round, where they will face 11th-seeded VCU which was an 82-78 overtime winner over sixth-seeded North Carolina in the first game of the night session at "The Well."
 
Penn finishes the season with an 18-12 record.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Illinois absolutely dominated the boards on Thursday night, outrebounding Penn 48-25 and grabbing nearly as many offensive boards (20) as the Quakers had overall; the Illini had 29 second-chance points to Penn's seven.
 
*Illinois also dominated on points in the paint (44-24) and turned eight Penn turnovers into 19 points while the Quakers turned just three Illini turnovers—fewest by an opponent this season—into only four points.
 
*Michael Zanoni led Penn with 20 points on Thursday night, his seventh such game this season.
 
*Senior Cam Thrower was the Quakers' only other double-digit scorer, with 14 points; he scored 44 points in his final three games wearing the Red and Blue.
 
*Junior TJ Power had missed Penn's practice day Wednesday due to illness; he gave it a go on Thursday night, playing nearly 30 minutes, and scored six points on a pair of three-pointers.
 
*Sophomore guard AJ Levine led Penn with four assists, adding five points and three rebounds.
 
*As happened over the weekend, Penn played without leading scorer Ethan Roberts; he traveled with the team but was unable to play due to injury.
 
*David Mirkovic led five Illini players in double figures in the scoring column, scoring 29 points and snaring 17 rebounds (eight on the offensive glass). Freshman sensation Keaton Wagler finished the night with 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Kylan Boswell (13 points), Tomislav Ivisic (12) and Ben Humrichous (12) also scored in double digits.
 
How It Happened
Zanoni and Thrower had the first two buckets of Thursday night's game, giving Penn an early 4-0 lead, but Illinois scored nine of the next 11 points and took a lead it would never relinquish. Jay Jones hit a driving layup to make it a 12-10 game, but the Fighting Illini got treys from Wagler and Mirkovic and that was the start of a 14-3 run which had them doubling up the Quakers, 26-13.
 
Penn came to life over a 100-second span at that point, Zanoni scoring six points and Lucas Lueth adding a triple. The 9-0 run made the score 26-22 at the under-8 media timeout. The margin was still four with five minutes left in the half, at 29-25, but Illinois scored 11 of the next 13 points to open things up again. Power came down the floor and drained a triple right at the halftime buzzer, making it a 10-point game at the break (40-30).
 
Zanoni hit a pair of treys in the first three minutes of the second half, both of them moving the margin to nine points—first at 44-35 and again at 47-38—but things quickly went south after that. Illinois scored the game's next seven points in a little more than a minute, bridging the under-16 media timeout, and after Dalton Scantlebury scored on a layup the Illini tacked on seven more. Overall, it was a 14-2 run that had the third seed leading, 61-40.
 
Niklas Polonowski finally scored on a layup with 13 minutes go to, then Levine followed up with a three-pointer to make the score 61-45. A Wagler trey was answered by another Levine jumper in the lane, but Illinois set off on a 12-2 run after that, building its lead up to 27 with nine minutes still to play.
 
Illinois' lead ballooned to 30 shortly after that (81-51 with 7:45 left) and crested at 40 (100-60 with 2:49 to play) before settling on the final 35-point margin.

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