Clark Slajchert

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 92-87 win at Columbia

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NEW YORK CITY — In an otherwise lost season, Sam Brown delivered an evening of pure joy for Penn on Saturday night.

 

The sophomore guard accomplished something no Penn player had since Hassan Duncombe in December 1989: score at least 40 points in a game. Brown’s virtuoso 42-point showing carried the Quakers to a 92-87 win over Columbia.

 

It didn’t mean much in the standings, save for assuring that Penn (8-18, 4-9 Ivy) would avoid finishing last place in the Ivy League. That spot is now reserved for the Lions (12-14, 1-12), whose season has nosedived after a promising nonconference campaign. It seems likely that both teams will have new coaches next season.

 

Penn never trailed on Saturday, but there were more than a few perilous moments. Things got especially dicey when Columbia star Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa intercepted an inbounds pass from Nick Spinoso and drained a three to cut Penn’s lead to 86-85 with 30 seconds to play. 

 

But Brown calmly converted all six of his free throw attempts to assure the Lions would get no closer.

 

Brown was the biggest story of Saturday night. What made his evening so special?

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 86-66 loss at Penn State

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Playing on the road as a 25-plus-point Vegas underdog without your best player is typically a recipe for disaster. Penn learned that the hard way roughly this time last year against Houston when star guard Clark Slajchert suffered a season-ruining ankle sprain in an 81-42 beatdown.

By those standards, the Quakers’ Sunday trip to the Bryce Jordan Center to face Penn State was a (relative) success. Despite being without the services of junior wing Ethan Roberts, Penn went toe-to-toe with the Nittany Lions for roughly 25 minutes in an 86-66 defeat.

The Quakers (4-9) went to the locker room down just 34-31 at halftime and were within two points of Penn State (11-2) after senior big man Nick Spinoso bounced in a three-pointer from the left wing to make it a 38-36 game with 17:40 to go in the game. The Nittany Lions responded with an extended 13-3 run to push their advantage to double digits and built a bigger lead from there.

Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored five points in the game-deciding run. He finished with a 19-point, 15-rebound double-double.

What could Penn fans take away from a respectable showing against an NCAA Tournament contender?

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Impressions from Ivy League men’s basketball Media Day

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The Ivy League hosted media day on Tuesday for the upcoming men’s basketball season.  

Here’s one key impression from interviews with players and coaches from each of the eight Ancient Eight programs:

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Ivy men’s basketball Media Day highlights

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With the non-conference schedule set to begin in less than three weeks, the Ivy League held its annual Media Day on Tuesday afternoon. The three-hour event, hosted by Lance Medow, featured coaches and players from each of the eight programs.

Fans can check out the recording on the conference’s YouTube channel.

Below are some highlights:

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Q&A with Penn men’s basketball coach Steve Donahue, part 2

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(Steve Donahue X page)

Media expectations for Penn basketball are the lowest they’ve been since coach Steve Donahue’s first season on campus in 2015. The Quakers were tabbed to finish seventh in the Ivy League, ahead of only Dartmouth. 

Predictive analytics websites have a slightly rosier outlook and project Penn to be in the mix for a third or fourth-place finish, which would be good enough to earn a trip to Ivy Madness in Providence.

With the season just three weeks away, Ivy Hoops Online spoke with Donahue to take a deep dive into how the Quakers will operate with seven new players on the roster.

Both questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length:

Check out part 1 of the conversation here. 

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Princeton men picked as preseason Ivy favorites in media poll

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Princeton, last year’s undisputed regular season champions, were picked to take home the 2025 Ivy title in the preseason media poll released on Tuesday.

Led by junior forward Caden Pierce, the 2024 Player of the Year, and first team All-Ivy junior guard Xaivian Lee, Mitch Henderson’s Tigers picked up 15 of 16 first place votes and 127 of a maximum 128 points.

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Q&A with Yale men’s basketball transfer Matt Knowling

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Matt Knowling is headed for Southern California to be a Trojan. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale senior Matt Knowling, from Ellington, Conn. recently announced his decision to continue his basketball career as a graduate transfer at USC. Knowling was a First Team All-Ivy selection is 2022-23.

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball adding Mercer transfer Michael Zanoni

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Michael Zanoni (Mercer Athletics)

Penn made its first transfer portal addition of the 2024 offseason when ex-Mercer guard Michael Zanoni revealed Monday that he had committed to the Quakers.

Zanoni, a sophomore, missed most of the 2023-24 season with a fractured foot and received a medical redshirt. He entered the portal with three years of eligibility remaining. In his 2022-23 freshman campaign, Zanoni appeared in all 33 of the Bears’ games, making 13 starts. He shot 35.6% from deep for the season on 104 attempts, averaging 6.2 points per game.

There’s a lot to like about Zanoni’s game and the broader implications of his decision to come to Penn, such as how …

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2023-24 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Wednesday. But we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2023-24 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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LISTEN: Tiger Takeaways from Princeton men’s basketball’s win at Penn to clinch Ivy title

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Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his thoughts on a 105-83 win for Princeton (24-3, 12-2 Ivy) at Penn (11-18, 3-11) Saturday that clinched the Tigers an outright Ivy League championship: