Tyler Perkins

Five things I think I think about Penn men’s basketball, post-Ethan Roberts commitment

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The great Peter King, dean of football writers in America, retired earlier this year. I would put King — the longtime Sports Illustrated columnist and reporter — right up there with Lawrence Taylor, my father and Steve Sabol among the people who helped spark my lifelong love affair (obsession?) with sports.

In honor of King, I have a few more thoughts than usual on Penn’s position in the Ivy League landscape — and college basketball at large — after it picked up a high-upside transfer in the form of ex-Drake guard Ethan Roberts, a sophomore, last week.

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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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Danny Wolf enters transfer portal after standout season for Yale men’s basketball

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Danny Wolf averaged 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds as a sophomore forward in 2023-24 before entering the transfer portal. (Yale Athletics)

Danny Wolf, a 2023-24 First-Team All-Ivy selection as a sophomore forward for Yale, has become the latest top-shelf Ivy talent to enter the transfer portal, extending a string of standouts leaving or poised to leave the Ivy League.

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Q&A with Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones

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James Jones led Yale men’s basketball to its second ever NCAA Tournament win last week. (James Jones’s Twitter page)

Ivy Hoops Online caught up with Yale coach James Jones Wednesday following his return from Spokane, Wash., where his team notched the second ever NCAA Tournament win in program history last week with a triumph over Auburn before falling to San Diego State in the Round of 32:

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Quakeaways from Tyler Perkins entering transfer portal to leave Penn men’s basketball

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New transfer portal occupant Tyler Perkins averaged 13.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 29.8 minutes per game as a freshman in 2023-24. (Penn Athletics)

Penn’s offseason got off to a depressing start on Monday when standout freshman guard Tyler Perkins entered the transfer portal.

With the caveat that I possess no inside knowledge, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Georgetown fans who have been salivating over the Lorton, Va. native since the summer of 2023 finally got their wish.

The Quakers have now lost their best returning player for two consecutive offseasons. At least Perkins ripped the band-aid off early, hopping into the portal on the first day of its 45-day window. Jordan Dingle entered the portal more than a month later in 2023.

Much of this analysis could be rendered obsolete by the time the portal closes, but here’s a first stab at what Perkins’ departure means in the grand scheme of things for both the Quakers and Ivy League at large:

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 105-83 loss to Princeton

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Penn’s Ivy campaign came to a miserable end on Saturday night as the Quakers made history for all the wrong reasons.

The Quakers turned in a defensive no-show against rival Princeton in a 105-83 loss at the Palestra. The 100-piece was the first time either Penn (11-18, 3-11 Ivy) or Princeton (24-3, 12-2) scored 100 points in a rivalry that has spanned 250 games (shoutout to Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steven Tydings for the lookup).

Princeton sealed an outright Ivy League title and kept its hopes of attaining an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament alive with the breezy victory. The Tigers never trailed on Saturday night and shot an absurd 17-for-27 from three-point range, good for a 63% clip. Princeton has now beaten Penn 11 times in a row.

After a nonconference campaign that inspired reason for genuine hope, Penn wound up posting its worst Ivy season since 1956-57. That iteration of the Red and Blue also went 3-11 in league play.

What could Penn fans take away from a moribund evening?

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 87-81 loss to Cornell

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Penn did just about everything right against Cornell on Friday night at the Palestra.

The Quakers came out with more energy despite having no postseason hopes, forcing eight turnovers in the game’s first eight minutes. They hit 15 three-pointers on 33 attempts.  They built a 14-point lead in the second half.

It still wasn’t enough.

The Big Red staved off a Quakers upset bid thanks to the efforts of AK Okereke, who backed up into an uncontested go-ahead three-point jumper with 2:12 to go that put Cornell up for good in an 87-81 win. Okereke finished with a team-high 18 points for Cornell (21-5, 10-2 Ivy).

Penn (10-17, 2-10) got two clean three-point looks to tie from star freshmen Sam Brown and Tyler Perkins in the final two minutes, but neither went down. It’s been that kind of season for the Red and Blue.

What did Penn fans learn from a game effort against one of the best teams in the Ivy League?

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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 82-69 win at Dartmouth

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Penn’s long nightmare is finally over.

The Quakers snapped their eight-game losing streak in style on Friday with an easy win over Dartmouth, 82-69.

Penn (10-15, 2-8 Ivy) led by as many as 24 points in the second half and never trailed after the 12:20 mark in the first half.

The Quakers won on the road for just the second time all season and picked up their first win on the road against the Big Green (5-18, 1-9) in five years.

Penn’s postseason chances may be exceedingly slim — more on that later — but there were plenty of positive signs for the future and a bevy of happy Quakeaways for the first time in nearly two months:

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 76-62 loss to Yale

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PHILADELPHIA — For about 12 minutes in the first half, it looked like Penn and Yale were gearing up for another classic battle Friday at the Palestra.

Then the Bulldogs flipped the switch. Yale used an extended 25-4 run at the end of the first half to take control of the game and never let the hosts back in it in the second half. Final score: Yale 76, Penn 62.


The catalyst for the decisive run came right at the under-eight media timeout for Yale.


Penn junior Nick Spinoso was called for a foul while trying to defend a transition layup attempt from Ivy Player of the Year candidate Danny Wolf, then got a technical foul for arguing with the referees. Wolf and Yale junior guard John Poulakidas sank four free throws on the other side of the break to give the Bulldogs their first multi-possession lead of the game.

Yale (17-6, 8-0 Ivy) and Penn (9-14, 1-7) are two teams heading in opposite directions. Yale has now won 10 games in a row and looks like a team that is justifying every bit of its lofty preseason expectations. The Red and Blue have now lost seven straight, the worst losing streak of Steve Donahue’s coaching tenure at Penn.

There’s not much to say about another generally miserable affair, other than …

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