Penn

Penn women’s basketball waltzes past Gwynedd Mercy

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When a good Ivy team plays a Division III team, the question isn’t “Who’s going to win?” It’s “Why bother?”
We’ll answer the first question first, though, in case you were anxious: Penn, 89-34.

Penn and Gwynedd Mercy both entered Sunday’s game with 7-5 records, but the similarities pretty much end there. Gwynedd has a successful D-III program, but it’s a small school, and every one of its players is from the Philly area — Pennsylvania and New Jersey, not even Delaware.

What the two schools have, though, are successful longtime Philly coaches (and former Philly Catholic high school players) who have known each other forever. Mike McLaughlin is in his 15th year at Penn, and before then he had 14 wildly successful years at his D-II alma mater, Holy Family. Keith Mondillo has been Gwynedd’s coach since 1995.

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 81-42 blowout loss at No. 3 Houston

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Senior guard Clark Slajchert didn’t return after rolling his ankle in Penn’s 81-42 loss at No. 3 Houston. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Penn was always going to have trouble competing on the road against Associated Press No. 3 Houston, which ranks first in overall efficiency margin and first in defensive efficiency on KenPom.

But what happened to the Red and Blue on Saturday was worse than what any Penn fan could reasonably have predicted. Houston delivered an 81-42 beatdown, which was the visitors’ worst loss since they endured a 114-55 humiliation at the hands of Duke on New Year’s Eve in 2009.

Houston (13-0) started the game on an 18-0 run. Penn (8-6) did not score until more than nine minutes had passed in the first half, when freshman Sam Brown drained a long contested three-pointer off a feed from classmate Tyler Perkins.

The ugly final score wasn’t even the worst thing about Saturday. Senior Clark Slajchert rolled his ankle midway through the first half and did not return.

There’s not much to take away from a “burn the tape game,” but you can start with how …

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Penn women’s basketball bests Maine, 72-69

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Bring on the Ivies!
The Penn women’s basketball team came out of a 20-day break for finals and Christmas by beating a strong Maine squad, 72-69, Saturday afternoon at the Palestra.
Freshman point guard Mataya Gayle had the hot hand and dropped 28 points, the highest total in her short college career. But this was a team effort for the Quakers against the Black Bears, and a great game if you just love basketball: The lead changed hands 20 times in 40 minutes, with eight ties. Maine hit five of its last seven shots but had to foul repeatedly to get the ball back, and Penn staved off the charge with clutch free throws.

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball escaping Rider with 77-73 overtime win

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Junior Nick Spinoso notched 19 points on 9-for-17 shooting in Penn’s 77-73 win at Rider Saturday. (Penn Athletics)

Penn men’s basketball picked up its first win outside of the friendly confines of the Palestra on Saturday, though it wound up being a much more circuitous path to victory than expected.

The Quakers (8-5) threw away a 13-point second-half lead at Rider in a collapse that brought back bad memories of last year’s Ivy title-deciding loss at Princeton. But they rebounded in overtime to escape Lawrenceville, N.J. with a 77-73 win.

Penn never trailed in the extra session. Junior Nick Spinoso opened the scoring with a putback and-one (he missed the free-throw), while freshman Tyler Perkins gave the Quakers some much-needed breathing room, hitting a banked-in three as the shot clock expired with 90 seconds to play in overtime to extend Penn’s lead to five points.

There’s a lot for Penn fans to be happy about but some reason for concern ahead of a road matchup next Saturday at Associated Press No. 3 Houston, starting with how …

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 78-68 win over Howard

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Penn senior guard Clark Slajchert notched 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 6-for-9 from three-point range, in his team’s 78-68 win over Howard Monday night. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Penn rebounded from Saturday’s loss to Kentucky with one of its cleanest and most efficient performances of the season. The Quakers scored 1.2 points per possession and hit 12 three-pointers in a 78-68 win over Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference favorite Howard at the Palestra.

Penn (7-5) took a series of early punches to the mouth from the Bison. Howard started the game on a 7-0 run and then added a 15-2 flurry midway through the first half to build a 28-17 lead.

Clark Slajchert almost singlehandedly flipped the game around for the Quakers. Slajchert scored all 20 of his points in a stretch that spanned the final eight-plus minutes of the first half and first two minutes of the second half.

The senior put Penn ahead for good with 1:34 to go in the first half when he drained an open three from the right wing through heavy contact from Howard guard Isaiah Warfield during his follow-through. Slajchert finished off the four-point play at the free throw line, then added another three 29 seconds later off a slick feed from freshman Sam Brown.

Penn fans have plenty of happy Quakeaways to hold onto as the team heads into a long layoff for finals, starting with how …

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Penn women’s basketball falls flat at Temple in 61-47 defeat

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Well, that was ugly.
Two days after the Penn women’s strong win at Merrimack, they had their weakest game of the season at Temple, losing 61-47.
Yes, the Owls threw a frustrating, fast-handed defense at them, but the Red and Blue had the larger role in the loss, shooting a meager 28% from the field (to the Owls’ 38%) and committing 28 turnovers (leading to 31 — just over half — of Temple’s points).

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 81-66 loss to No. 16 Kentucky

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PHILADELPHIA — Clark Slajchert took a quick dribble as Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard flew by, freeing the senior up for a wide open three from the wing he routinely hits.

If it went down, it would have pushed Penn to a 49-47 lead over the Associated Press No. 16 Wildcats with 15 minutes to play, completing a comeback from 16 points down.

The shot looked good but came up a little short. It was a microcosm of the afternoon for the Quakers, who gave Kentucky fits for the better part of 30 minutes in what wound up being an 81-66 loss.

Despite having the ball with a chance to tie or go ahead three times in the second half, Penn (6-5) never could quite get over the hump against the Wildcats. A 9-0 Kentucky run around the under-eight media timeout, capped by an open Antonio Reeves three, pushed the Wildcats’ lead from four points to 13 and put the game out of reach.

What could Penn fans take away from a solid showing against one of the most decorated programs in college basketball?

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Jordan Obi shines as Penn women’s basketball beats Merrimack, 71-62

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Senior forward Jordan Obi led Penn to a 71-62 win at Merrimack Friday night. (Penn Athletics)
At this point in her career, Penn forward Jordan Obi doesn’t have to open her mouth to trash-talk. Anywhere inside 15 feet, her body declares: The ball’s right here, the rim’s right there, and you can’t do a damn thing to stop me.
But is it trash talk if it’s true?

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Quakeaways heading into Penn men’s basketball’s showdown with No. 16 Kentucky

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Senior guard Clark Slajchert enters Penn’s tilt versus Kentucky averaging 19.3 points on 50% shooting through 10 games this season. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

After taking a gut-punch loss to La Salle on Saturday, Penn responded by easily brushing aside Division III Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham on Wednesday at the Palestra, 111-57.

As is expected in a game against a Division III team, Penn could give regulars like Nick Spinoso, Tyler Perkins and Clark Slajchert light workloads. Slajchert scored 17 points on eight shots in just 15 minutes of action; he got virtually the entire second half off.

By the end of the evening, 14 different Quakers had scored. Penn also hit a program-record 21 three-pointers.

There aren’t many meaningful Quakeaways one can take away from a Division III tune-up game. But there’s certainly much to mull over ahead of Penn’s big-time game on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center against Associated Press No. 16 Kentucky.

Maybe these can be Palestra Ponderings on a possible path to victory instead.

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Penn women’s basketball’s comeback falls short at Villanova

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You’re playing at Villanova, which has beaten you 45 out of 48 times. You’ve been behind all game, your top scorer is struggling, your hot-shooting freshman guard is on the bench in foul trouble, and a 9-0 Nova run puts you 16 points down in the third quarter.
Looks bleak. But the Penn women nearly pulled off the upset Tuesday night, ultimately falling to Villanova, 68-62.

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