The University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team is preparing for its second game in the Big 5 pod, facing Drexel on Friday night. The outcome will determine if Penn advances to the Big 5 Classic championship at Xfinity Mobile Arena on December 6.
Friday’s matchup marks one of the shortest road trips in Division I basketball, with just a half-mile separating Penn’s Palestra and Drexel’s Daskalakis Athletic Center. The game will be broadcast nationally on FloCollege and locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
According to the University of Pennsylvania, “Friday night’s meeting between these University City rivals will be the 29th in the series, with Penn holding a 17-11 lead.” In recent years, however, Drexel has been more successful, leading 11-10 since play resumed in 1988. Last year, Drexel defeated Penn in the Big 5 Classic fifth-place game after outscoring them in the second half.
If Penn wins this week, they secure a spot in the championship game. If Drexel wins, both teams would finish pod play with Saint Joseph’s at 1-1 records. The tiebreaker would be determined by the first NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking when it is released.
In the other Big 5 pod, Temple and Villanova have each beaten La Salle. The winner of their upcoming match will face either Penn or Drexel in the final.
Penn enters Friday’s contest with a record of two wins and two losses. Ethan Roberts leads Penn’s scoring efforts this season and has scored double digits in every game so far. Transfers TJ Power and Lucas Lueth joined for this season; Power previously played at Duke and Virginia while Lueth was named MVP during Kirkwood Community College’s NJCAA Division II national title run last year.
Penn added seven newcomers to its roster this season. Among them is Jay Jones, son of Boston University head coach Joe Jones and nephew of Yale head coach James Jones.
Junior Augustus Gerhart achieved a career-high eleven rebounds against American earlier this month. Another junior, TJ Power, pulled down fifteen rebounds against Saint Joseph’s—most by a Penn player since November 2022.
Penn has shown strength from beyond the arc so far this season, making over forty-three percent of its three-point attempts against Division I competition.
After Friday’s game at Drexel, Penn will host its annual Thanksgiving tournament featuring La Salle, Merrimack—playing as a first-time Division I opponent—and Hofstra. Additional highlights from their schedule include renewing an old rivalry with Rutgers on December 20 and hosting NJIT on New Year’s Eve.
Two Ivy League games are set to air nationally on ESPNU: January 24 against Yale and February 7 against Princeton.
For more information about Penn men’s basketball or to follow updates throughout the season, visit www.pennathletics.com/audio or follow @PennMBB on social media platforms.
