George Smith

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 86-69 loss to Saint Joseph’s

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PHILADELPHIA — There are losses, and then there are capital L “Losses” that are so embarrassing and so complete that they force you to reevaluate your priors about the team you cheer for.

The 86-69 beating Penn took at the hands of Saint Joseph’s on Friday night at the Palestra falls into the latter category.

The Quakers (2-2, 0-1 Big 5) were never seriously competitive against the Hawks (3-1, 2-0) in their sole nonconference home game against a premier opponent. The Hawks used a 14-2 run early in the first half to break a 9-9 game wide-open, then tacked on a 15-2 run midway to expand its lead to a high of 32 points.

As of early Saturday, Penn has fallen nearly 75 spots in KenPom’s rankings in less than two weeks of play, plunging from 186 to 260.

Red flags abounded on Friday, starting with how …

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 65-63 loss at Lafayette

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Penn’s undefeated start to nonconference play wasn’t going to last forever. But it certainly didn’t need to end the way it did on Tuesday night.

The Quakers lost a very winnable game on the road against a shorthanded Lafayette squad, 65-63, thanks in large part to a dreadful performance at the free throw line.

Penn (2-1) shot 14-for-24 from the charity stripe, which comes out to a ghastly 58.3% shooting percentage.

The game’s deciding points came with 2.5 seconds to go when Leopards sophomore guard Mark Butler drove into the lane, drew contact from Penn reserve forward Johnnie Walter and calmly drained two free throws.

Penn tried for a home-run pass to set up either a tying or game-winning buzzer-beater, but Nick Spinoso’s inbounds pass to a waiting George Smith at midcourt was deflected away.

There’s much to think about ahead of a Friday home contest against a Saint Joseph’s team coming off a statement win against Villanova, starting with how …

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball eking out win over UMES

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After another frenetic final minute, Penn is 2-0.

The Quakers had to survive an 18-point barrage from Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in the game’s last 60 seconds but escaped with an 85-84 win in their opening game at the Palestra.

Penn moved ahead for good with 7:13 to go in the first half after senior forward Nick Spinoso laser-beamed an excellent pass to classmate George Smith, who hit a nice layup to give the Quakers a 20-19 lead they would not surrender.

Strong shooting performances in the second half from sophomore Sam Brown (22 points) and Ethan Roberts (23 points) helped Penn build a lead of as many as 16 points, but the Hawks got hot enough to make the end a nail-biter.

How stressful did it get? After Brown drained two free throws to give the Quakers a game-sealing 85-81 lead with 0.8 seconds left, UMES rolled the ball inbounds into the arms of junior guard Jose Cuello, who casually picked up the ball and drained a three from beyond half-court.

So, what have we learned about Penn after two victories against ostensibly inferior competition that were closer than expected?

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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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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 74-70 loss to Harvard

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The dagger is officially in Penn’s season after the Quakers took a difficult-to-swallow road defeat at Harvard, 74-70.

Penn (10-16, 2-9 Ivy) completed a comeback from 17 points down in the second half after Clark Slajchert drained an open three from the right wing off an offensive rebound to tie the game at 62 with 5:45 to play.

But the Quakers were ultimately undone by a terrible break on a 50/50 ball when it mattered most.

With Penn down two points and the clock ticking below 3:45 to play, junior Nick Spinoso poked the ball free from Harvard’s Louis Lesmond in the post. Freshman Sam Brown dove but couldn’t come up with the loose ball. Instead, Harvard’s Malik Mack was able to recover it and swing the ball to Lesmond for an open corner three out of the scramble. Lesmond drained the shot to put the Crimson (14-10, 5-6) up two possessions.

Truth be told, Penn’s season effectively ended well before Saturday. That’s what happens when you lose eight games in a row during a 14-game conference season.

All that’s left to play for now is pride and future development. There’s plenty to rue about Saturday, starting with how …

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 84-81 loss at Columbia

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NEW YORK — Penn’s season is on the verge of flatlining after a pitiful defensive performance.

The Quakers squandered a golden chance to gain sole possession of the fourth and final spot in Ivy Madness in a dispiriting 84-81 loss to Columbia.

The coup de grâce came when freshman point guard Sam Brown lost the handle as he sprinted down the floor to try and get a look at a game-tying three before the buzzer sounded. But the Quakers have much more to regret than one possession.

Penn (9-10, 1-3 Ivy) allowed Columbia (10-7, 1-3) to score 1.35 points per possession, according to KenPom, the single-worst showing the Red and Blue have put up on the defensive end against any opponent all season.

The only saving grace is that Dartmouth managed to upset Brown, which creates a five-way logjam for fourth in the Ivy League. But right now, there’s little reason to hope that Penn can emerge out of that pileup. Not after how …

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 88-68 loss at No. 25 Auburn

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Chalk up game one of life without Clark Slajchert as a mixed bag for Penn.

The Quakers, playing in their first contest without their injured leading scorer, had a few strong stretches but ultimately couldn’t hang with Associated Press No. 25 Auburn in an 88-68 road loss to round out Penn’s nonconference slate.

Auburn, which entered the game shooting about 33% from deep, hit six three-pointers in the game’s first eight minutes to put Penn (8-7) in a 15-point hole and led by as many as 20 points early on.

A Quakers flurry early in the second half — capped off by an open Niklas Polonowski three from the left wing — cut the deficit to nine points, 57-48, but Penn could get no further. At any rate, it was a far more competitive effort than what the Quakers put forth on Saturday at AP No. 3 Houston, when Slajchert rolled his left ankle in a 39-point loss.

Penn is on somewhat unsteady ground ahead of Saturday’s Ivy opener against Dartmouth. It all begins with how …

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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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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 93-92 loss to La Salle

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For 45 minutes on Saturday, Penn played gorgeous and free-flowing basketball against La Salle.

Penn’s reward for its efforts? A spot on the wrong end of a SportsCenter Top 10 moment.

The Explorers’ Khalil Brantley banked in a three-pointer from nearly halfcourt as the overtime buzzer sounded, sending Penn to a brutal 93-92 loss in the third-place game of the Big 5 Classic at the Wells Fargo Center.

Clark Slajchert hit what should have been a game-winning layup with four seconds left in overtime, which counted as the final two points of his 33-point scoring effort, tying a career high. Penn (5-4, 1-2 Big 5) defended La Salle’s desperation scramble well, with George Smith getting an outstretched arm right in Brantley’s face.

Fate had other plans for Penn.

Zooming out, Quakers fans learned plenty about their team on Saturday. Such as how…

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 74-72 win versus Lafayette

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Penn avoided a second consecutive disastrous loss thanks to some heroics from its upperclassmen Friday.

The Quakers opened the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic with a narrow 74-72 win over Lafayette after junior guard George Smith buried a go-ahead three-pointer from the right wing with 33 seconds to go on a broken play.

Smith and the rest of the Quakers (4-2) definitely owe senior guard Clark Slajchert a big thank you. Slajchert set Smith up for the game-winning shot after he recovered a deflection in the backcourt and found the open shooter following a mad scramble for the ball.

Slajchert finished with a team-high 18 points and tied a career high with five assists. The senior played 37 minutes, so load management for Slajchert will be something to monitor as the Red and Blue play three games in as many days this weekend.

It’s (mostly) happy Quakeaways for the day, led by how …

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