Johnnie Walter

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

by

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 …

Read more

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

by

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 …

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 83-80 overtime loss at Maryland Eastern Shore

by

Penn followed up one of its best victories in years with one of its worst defeats.

The Quakers failed repeatedly to put away host and KenPom No. 352 Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in the second half and eventually got burned in a 83-80 overtime loss.

UMES is the worst-ranked team Penn (3-2) has ever lost to in the KenPom era (which has data going back to the 1998-99 season).

Penn’s loss was sealed by a three with nine-tenths of a second to play in overtime from UMES’ Elijah Wilson on a play that strongly resembled Kris Jenkins’ shot to win the 2016 national championship game for Villanova.

The shot spoiled a furious Penn rally that was led by freshman Sam Brown, who buried two three-pointers in an eight-second span to tie the game before the final sequence.

Penn should have sealed up a win easily well before Wilson’s shot, mostly because …

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 76-72 upset of No. 21 Villanova

by

With a little ball-fake and a half jab step, Tyler Perkins generated just enough space to rise up over Villanova’s Brendan Hausen and create a memory Penn fans will remember forever.

The freshman sensation used those moves to bury a corner three in front of the Penn bench that pushed the Quakers’ lead over the Associated Press No. 21 Wildcats to 11 points with four minutes to play and sent the Palestra into a frenzy. After weathering one last barrage of Villanova three-pointers, Penn sealed a stunning 76-72 upset over the Wildcats.

For the Quakers (3-1, 1-1 Big 5), the win was their first triumph over a ranked team since a nearly identical upset over Villanova at the Palestra in December 2018; that edition of the Wildcats was defending an NCAA title and entered ranked 17th in the AP poll.

The images the upset generated — Perkins throwing the ball into the air in joy as time expired, fans storming the court — are the ones that, in a perfect world, would create a whole new generation of dedicated Quakers fans.

What else can Penn fans hold onto from a magical Monday night?

Read more

Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 69-61 loss at St. Joseph’s

by
Penn senior guard Clark Slajchert notched 27 points in 38 minutes, shooting 5-for-8 from three-point range, in his team’s 69-61 loss at St. Joseph’s Friday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Penn’s first trip out of the friendly confines of the Palestra ended in disappointment after the Quakers couldn’t quite complete a valiant second-half comeback against Saint Joseph’s in a 69-61 loss at Hagan Arena.

Despite cutting a 19-point Hawks lead to just two points at three instances late in the second half, Penn (2-1, 0-1 Big 5) never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, thanks to a series of bad breaks and mistakes that were reminiscent of last season’s Ivy Madness loss to Princeton.

The backbreaking sequence came with just under four minutes left to play and the Quakers trailing just 61-59. Saint Joseph’s Kacper Klaczek bricked the front end of a one-and-one, but Penn surrendered an offensive rebound and layup to Rasheer Fleming to extend the Hawks’ lead to four.

On Penn’s next possession, normally-reliable free throw shooter Clark Slajchert missed the front end of a one-and-one. Nick Spinoso corralled the offensive board and looked like he had a clear shot at a layup, but got rejected by Klaczek.

There would be other miscues later on, including a blown fast break opportunity with two minutes to go that could have cut the Hawks’ back lead down to one possession, but that sequence hurt Penn the most.

The loss will give Penn fans plenty to mull over, like how …

Read more

Three Quakeaways from Penn men besting Bucknell, 80-61

by

Penn is off to its first 2-0 start since the 2018-19 season after a wire-to-wire win over Bucknell at the Palestra by a score of 80-61.

The Quakers had a few nervous moments in the second half after a stagnant stretch on offense allowed the Bison (0-2) to cut what had been a 20-point halftime lead to just nine as the clock neared the under-eight media timeout.

Instead of relying on one player to stop Bucknell’s run, Penn persevered by committee. Junior guard George Smith restored Penn’s double-digit lead by making a nice interior find to sophomore forward Johnnie Walter (more on him later) for an easy layup late in the shot clock.

Sophomore guard Cam Thrower added seven critical points down the stretch as well, including a difficult stepback two-point jumper and a deep three-pointer with 4:45 that pushed Penn’s lead to 21 and effectively iced the game.

Bucknell may not have been the most difficult opponent — the Bison entered Wednesday ranked 349th in KenPom — but the win left Penn fans with plenty of happy Quakeaways:

Read more

Ivy hoops roundup – July 1, 2023

by

As we enter the July 4th holiday weekend, we at Ivy Hoops Online wanted to round up some postseason updates:

Read more