PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball program announced its team award winners for the 2025-26 season at the team's annual banquet, which took place at The Palestra on Thursday, April 30.
 
Junior forward TJ Power was named recipient of the Arthur Kiefaber Most Valuable Player Award. A first-team All-Ivy and All-Big 5 selection, Power started all 30 games this season and was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com's Riley Wallace Award as the most impactful transfer in Division I men's college basketball. He also was named Most Outstanding Player of the Ivy League Tournament after recording double-doubles in both games, with 16 points and 12 rebounds in the semifinal win over Harvard and 44 points and 14 boards in the final victory over top-seeded Yale. The 44-point game against the Bulldogs was an Ivy Madness record and tied for the third-highest scoring game in program history and included a pair of three-point baskets in the final seven seconds to force overtime. Power led Penn this season with 492 points (16.4 ppg), 229 rebounds (7.6 rpg), and 79 three-point field goals and was second on the team in assists (71) and steals (33) and third in blocked shots (18). Power had a team-leading 25 games scoring in double figures, finished with six double-doubles, and led Penn in scoring in ten games and in rebounding 14 times. Nationally, he finished 15th in 3FG percentage (.432), 46th in defensive rebounds per game (5.93), 90th in 3FG per game (2.63), and 97th in rebounds per game (7.6). Among Ivy League players he was second in rebounding (7.6 rpg), third in 3FG percentage (.432) and 3FG per game (2.6), seventh in scoring (16.4 ppg), and eighth in steals per game (1.1).
 
Senior guard Cam Thrower was honored with the Bus McDonald Award as the program's Most Inspirational Player this season. Thrower appeared in 27 of 30 games on the season, making six starts including both Ivy League Tournament wins and the Quakers' NCAA game vs. Illinois. He finished the season with 163 points (6.0 ppg), 44 rebounds, 35 assists and 13 steals and hit 26 three-pointers on 62 attempts (.419 percentage). Thrower scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in the NCAA loss to the Fighting Illini and added four rebounds and two assists. This, after he earned all-tournament honors at the Ivy League Tournament by scoring 11 points in Penn's overtime win vs. Harvard in the semifinals and following up with a career-high 19 in the OT win against top-seeded Yale in the final.
 
Freshmen Jay Jones and Dalton Scantlebury shared the G. Fred DiBona Award as the team's top newcomers. Jones saw time in 27 of 30 games, scoring 104 points, grabbing 61 rebounds, and recording 33 assists and 13 steals. Scantlebury led all freshmen by appearing in 29 of Penn's 30 games, scoring 171 points (5.9 ppg) and grabbing 114 rebounds (3.9 rpg). He also led Penn and was sixth among Ivy League players with 25 blocked shots and added 21 steals and 16 assists. Scantlebury also was a two-time Ivy League and Big 5 Rookie of the Week honoree, sweeping both honors on December 1 and December 15.
 
The Jack Saxenmeyer Award was presented to sophomore guard AJ Levine as the program's Most Improved Player. Levine started all 30 games and averaged 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. He also led Penn in assists (119) and steals (55) and put up ten double-figure scoring games, eight of them coming in Ivy League play. Levine finished the season second among Ivy League players and 67th nationally in steals per game (1.8), third among Ivy players in assists per game (4.0), and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (2.02). This marks the first time the Saxenmeyer Award has been given since 2008-09.
 
First-year head coach Fran McCaffery also introduced two new awards for the 2025-26 season, as senior guard Ethan Roberts was named recipient of the "Quaker Award" while senior forward Johnnie Walter was honored with the Sportsmanship Award.
 
Penn finished the year with an 18-12 overall record and finished third in the Ivy League at 9-5. The Quakers then won the Ivy League Tournament, defeating second-seeded Harvard and top-seeded Yale in a pair of overtime games to become the first third seed to win the eight-year-old event. That put Penn in the NCAA Tournament, where the Red and Blue fell in the first round to a third-seeded Illinois team that eventually advanced to the Final Four.
 
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