Ray Priore is stepping down as Penn’s football coach after 11 years, the university’s athletic department said Monday in a news release.
Priore spent 39 years with the Quakers’ program and finished with a 58-42 overall record, 37-32 in Ivy League play. After he was named head coach in 2015, Priore won back-to-back Ivy championships in 2015 and 2016 but went nine straight seasons without a share of the league title.
His last game was a 17-6 victory against archrival Princeton as Penn finished 6-4, 4-3 Ivy. A nationwide search for the Quakers’ next head coach will begin immediately.
“To say coaching at the University of Pennsylvania has been the honor of a lifetime is an understatement,” Priore said. “Penn has been my second home for 39 years, the last 11 of which I have had the privilege of serving as the head football coach. The end of this season marked my final game, and closing this chapter with a win is something I will carry with me forever. While it’s hard to step away from the program I hold so dear to my heart, I know this is the right time.”
During his tenure as head coach, Priore recruited 94 All-Ivy League honorees, 10 All-Americans, and three Ivy League Players of the Year: Tyler Drake in 2015, Joey Slackman in 2023, and Malachi Hosley in 2024.
Penn coach Ray Priore with the team during the annual spring football game at Franklin Field in April.
Priore had one player drafted by an NFL team — Justin Watson, now a wide receiver for the Houston Texans — while three other players signed free-agent contracts with teams in the league.
“I’m grateful for Ray’s leadership and service to Penn football and to generations of student-athletes, staff, and alumni,” Penn athletic director Alanna Wren said. “Few individuals have given more of themselves to this program. Ray’s integrity, mentorship, and deep commitment to the student-athlete experience have shaped Penn football in meaningful and lasting ways.”
Penn struggled in recent years, finishing with losing Ivy records in 2023 and 2024.
Priore began his Quakers career in 1987 as a linebackers coach and went on to fill several roles on the staff. He served as the team’s defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator from 1999 to 2014. Priore was a part of 12 Ivy League championships during his tenure with the coaching staff, as the Quakers won five titles between 2000 and 2010.
Growing up in Radford, Va., basketball games between Darris and Shane Nichols almost always ended in a fight.
Shane is two years older than Darris and was stronger and faster when they were kids. The brothers were ultracompetitive, but the tone shifted when they began to play organized basketball. The fights stopped, and they focused on pushing each other on the court.
Darris and Shane went on to play college basketball at West Virginia and Wofford, respectively, before shifting to the sidelines. They made multiple stops at different schools as assistant coaches but never overlapped in their first decade as coaches.
That was until Darris was named Radford’s head coach in 2021 and he brought Shane with him. The pair led the Highlanders to multiple 20-win seasons, before Darris earned a new opportunity at La Salle and was named its head coach in March. Shane followed again as the associate head coach. The brothers, now in the City of Brotherly Love, are ready to lead the Explorers back to success behind a culture built on toughness.
La Salle coach Darris Nichols conducts practice at John E. Glaser Arena on Nov. 14.
“We value toughness before anything,” Darris said. “I think that when you have a common [theme] in college basketball where guys just leave after every year or two years, it’s hard to build toughness. So you got to recruit to it. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that in Year 1. So that’s kind of in our philosophy of getting in the right direction.”
The brothers had similar coaching paths. Darris and Shane went overseas to play professionally following their college careers, but that time was short-lived.
Darris injured both knees and Shane also got banged up. Their post-playing days were unceremonious at first, with Darris working as a valet and Shane at a sales job.
Shane missed basketball and spent time coaching at Radford High School, his alma mater, before returning to Radford University in 2010 as an assistant coach. Darris turned to his West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and joined his staff as a graduate assistant in 2010.
The brothers spent the next 10 years building their profiles as assistant coaches at multiple schools. They made sure to consistently stay in touch during the season and would bounce ideas off each other and learn more about players the other may have faced.
La Salle head coach Darris Nichols had multiple 20-win seasons in his four years at Radford University.
“We talked every day,” Darris said. “Most of the time it was about, ‘Have you seen this player? What do you know about this? Can you send me this guy’s contact info?’ It was a lot of that going on.”
Darris also jokingly tried his luck with poaching future NBA All-Star Ja Morant from Shane when his older brother was at Murray State, and he was at Florida.
“When he was at Murray State, they had Ja Morant, and I called him and I said, ‘Hey, man, I’m trying to get Ja Morant to transfer.’ He said he wasn’t going to do a transfer.”
Darris earned the head coaching job at Radford after six seasons as an assistant at Florida. Shane was coaching at Murray State at the time, and the Racers had won three straight regular-season conference championships with him on staff. Still, the decision to join forces with his brother back home was a no-brainer.
“I wanted to come help my brother be successful, and I felt like there was nobody else in the profession that could help him do that more than me,” Shane said. “That’s just because I got his back. He can trust me, and I’m going to work hard to make sure he is successful.”
The brothers spent the next four seasons building the Radford program together.
Radford won 21 games in 2022-23 and 20 games in 2024-25. Darris and Shane won 68 games in their four years with the Highlanders, but a new opportunity presented itself this past offseason.
The Nichols brothers replaced La Salle and Big 5 legendary coach Fran Dunphy, who retired after returning to coach his alma mater in 2022.
La Salle’s head coaching job was open following the retirement of Fran Dunphy, and Darris got the offer to fill the role. The move offered a change and new challenge in his eyes, so he made the move up to 20th and Olney. Shane followed suit.
“It was cool opportunity because most of the college jobs that I’ve been at have been in college towns or small towns,” Darris said. “So I wanted something different. Let’s coach in the college city.”
The brothers are taking over an Explorers program that has not won more than 20 games or the Big 5 title since the 2012-13 season. Darris and Shane crafted a natural family feel at Radford and are looking to do the same at La Salle.
“Throughout the years with the teams we’ve had is just being able to mold and really build them, and they take on our mentality to the game,” Shane said. “You see it toward the middle and end of the year where they buy into the toughness piece. They buy into the togetherness piece. Right now, our guys are doing that. We just got to keep molding that, building that, and making it stronger.”
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton etched their names into Penn State history on Saturday as the Nittany Lions handily defeated Nebraska, 37-10.
After Zakee Wheatley and Amare Campbell stuffed Nebraska’s fourth-down attempt on the game’s opening possession, Penn State (5-6, 2-6 Big Ten) used a seven-play, 98-yard drive to take an early lead it never relinquished.
On a night dominated by the Nittany Lions offense, Allen rushed 25 times for 160 yards and two touchdowns to set the program’s all-time rushing record. The senior running back stands alone with 3,954 career rushing yards after breaking Evan Royster’s program record of 3,932 set in 2010.
Allen said he wanted to make a difference for his team. And under the lights of Beaver Stadium, he did just that.
“We witnessed greatness from Kaytron Allen tonight,” interim coach Terry Smith said. “Penn State has been playing football for an awfully long time, so to be the number one rusher in the history of this place is an impressive thing.”
Singleton added two touchdowns to tie Saquon Barkley for the most total touchdowns in Penn State history (53). He finished with 51 receiving yards and 44 rushing yards.
The Nittany Lions scored on six of their nine offensive drives en route to a 27-point victory. After two winless months, the team has rallied around Smith’s leadership to keep its bowl-game hopes alive.
“[Smith] brought us back together. He put all the broken pieces back together,” senior linebacker Dominic DeLuca said. “He did everything he could for us to fight and to change our culture. He’s a true Penn State guy. Everyone’s behind him, everyone wants to play for him.”
Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith (right) shown with athletic director Pat Kraft following their 37-10 win on Saturday night.
Terry Smith fever is alive
Beaver Stadium fans led multiple “Terry! Terry!” chants before, during, and after the Nittany Lions’ victory. Several Penn State players, including cornerbacks A.J. Harris and Audavion Collins, held up “Hire Terry Smith” signs as they ran off the field.
After his team’s first home victory since Sept. 13, Smith said he has “always been a head coach.” He told his players in recent weeks he wants the head-coaching job at Penn State — a message Dani Dennis-Sutton said motivated him and his teammates to “win for Coach T.”
Smith is beloved within the program. His players have bought into his messaging to turn a six-game slide into a two-game winning streak.
And after a turbulent two months filled with heartbreaking losses and a coaching change, Smith finally got his moment on the same field he has spent 16 seasons as both a player and a coach.
“I’m very motivated by the support. My players love me unconditionally. I love them unconditionally,” Smith said. “I had the amazing opportunity today to walk in with my granddaughter and experience people chanting her grandfather’s name. Very few people get an opportunity to experience [that].”
One by one, Penn State’s entire offensive line shared why Smith should be the program’s next head coach. Left guard Olaivavega Ioane praised him for “leading the team out of a dark time.” Sixth-year center Nick Dawkins lauded Smith’s honesty.
Anthony Donkoh, the team’s starting right guard, was one of several players who pointed to a “Hire Terry Smith” sign postgame. Donkoh said players got the signs from fans and wanted to show support for the man known as “the truth-teller” inside the Lasch Building.
“It just makes it a no-brainer for [Smith] to be the head coach,” Donkoh said. “The players are saying it, and the community around them is saying it. You have your guy. You don’t have to look anywhere else for who the head coach should be.”
Penn State running back Nick Singleton led the team with 51 receiving yards against Nebraska on Saturday night.
An offensive explosion
Through its first seven games, Penn State’s inability to generate explosive plays hindered its offensive production. But on Saturday against Nebraska (7-4, 4-4), explosive plays were plentiful.
The Nittany Lions generated three plays of 30 or more yards in the first quarter alone. On the team’s opening drive, Koby Howard caught a 31-yard pass before Allen’s 50-yard scamper set up tight end Andrew Rappleyea’s first career touchdown.
Singleton added a 50-yard reception on the next possession and tacked on a pair of rushing touchdowns on the next two drives to make it four Nittany Lions scores on four first-half drives.
Penn State finished with 412 yards of total offense and tied its season high of 37 points. Grunkemeyer continued his improved play by completing 11 of his 12 pass attempts for 181 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m super proud of the effort from our guys. They are playing inspired football,” Smith said. “In a season that they could easily give up and quit, they’re on the brink of playing some of their best ball.”
Up next
Penn State hits the road for its season finale against Rutgers (5-6, 2-6) on Saturday (3:30 p.m., BTN).
In a rematch of last year’s Big 5 Classic championship game, Villanova soundly defeated Temple, 88-58, at the Finneran Pavilion on Saturday night.
The Wildcats secured revenge over the Owls after falling in a competitive 76-62 matchup on Dec. 7, 2024.
Five Villanova players scored in double digits in its highest-scoring game of the season. Senior guard Ryanne Allen, who scored 19 points, and graduate forward Denae Carter, who recorded 17 points and five steals, each marked career highs in scoring.
“That was a tough loss last year,” Allen said. “This week in practice, we were reminding the people that weren’t here about that loss, and how we wanted to get that back. So that was a huge impetus for us, especially losing on our home floor. We didn’t want it to happen again, so it was nice to get that win back for us.”
Villanova’s Annie Welde brings the ball upcourt against Temple on Saturday.
Junior guard Tristen Taylor led Temple with 15 points and four assists. Junior forward Jaleesa Molina recorded a game-high nine rebounds. Temple outrebounded Villanova, 34-29.
With the loss, Temple split its two Big 5 “pod” matchups leading up to the Big 5 Classic triple-header on Dec. 7. The Owls defeated La Salle, 75-54, on Nov. 14.
Villanova’s second-quarter surge
Freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe brought early energy for Villanova from the backcourt, scoring eight points and notching three steals in the opening 10 minutes. As the clock expired to end the first quarter, Bascoe intercepted a Temple pass and drove to the basket to tie the score at 13.
The Wildcats carried the momentum into the second quarter, going on an 8-0 run over just 57 seconds. A pair of three-pointers from senior guard Allen and freshman guard Kennedy Henry, along with a layup from junior forward Brynn McCurry, allowed Villanova to take a 21-15 lead and force Temple to call a timeout.
“The second quarter really punched us, and we didn’t respond well enough, especially because [Villanova] got a lot of points in transition,” Temple coach Diane Richardson said.
The Wildcats surged from there, going on an 18-1 run over 4 minutes, 31 seconds.
Meanwhile, Temple faltered, shooting just 5-for-14 from the field while conceding six turnovers in the second quarter.
Temple’s Savannah Curry drives against Villanova’s Kelsey Joens.
Allen’s career night
Allen drained her fourth three-pointer of the night to send the Wildcats into halftime with a 20-point lead. She finished the night shooting 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from three. She also notched a career high of six assists.
The Wildcats dominated the second half, leading by 20 points or more throughout the third and fourth quarters. Villanova was especially successful in transition, gaining 26 points on the fastbreak in contrast to Temple’s six across the game.
“What I was most pleased with was the assists,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “When you have 27 assists on 35 field goals, that’s good team basketball. That’s impressive.”
Next up
Villanova will visit La Salle on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Temple will host Michigan State on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Villanova will host the 2025 Big 5 Classic triple-header at the Finneran Pavilion on Sunday, Dec. 7.
Twelfth-seeded Villanova will host Harvard on Saturday at noon in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Villanova (9-2, 7-1 Coastal Athletic Association) made the playoffs for the third straight season and the fifth time in seven years. The Wildcats are among three CAA teams that made the 24-team FCS field.
“When you see your name up there, it goes up on the board, especially to be the home team, that’s exciting,” Villanova coach Mark Ferrante said. “So we’re just grateful, thankful, and excited to be playing the first round of the playoffs at our stadium.”
The Wildcats closed out the regular season on an eight-game winning streak and were undefeated at home. Villanova’s home winning streak of 22 games is the longest active streak in Division I football.
Harvard (9-1, 6-1 Ivy) is playing in the postseason for the first time in its 152-year history after the Ivy League Council of Presidents approved a proposal last year allowing its teams to participate. Harvard played Yale on Saturday for the Ivy League’s automatic bid into the playoffs. Yale claimed the automatic bid with a 45-28 win. Harvard was awarded an at-large playoff berth and is not among the 16 seeds.
Mark Ferrante’s Villanova program enters the FCS playoffs on an eight-game winning streak.
“Our guys just seem more comfortable at home,” Ferrante said. “Whether it’s the ability to not have to travel or something like that, but our guys just seem to play at a little different level when we’re home. And to get the home-field advantage is a good thing.”
The Villanova-Harvard winner will move on to face No. 5 Lehigh (12-0) on Dec. 6 at noon.
All first- and second-round games of the FCS playoffs will be televised by ESPN+.
One month ago, the Temple Owls seemed like a sure thing to make their first bowl game since 2019. The Owls were 5-3 and riding a two-game win streak.
Now Temple’s hopes are on life support.
The Owls dropped their third straight game in a 37-13 loss to No. 24 Tulane on senior day at Lincoln Financial Field. The loss placed the Owls’ record below .500 for the first time all season.
Temple (5-6, 3-4 American Conference) recorded just 204 yards of offense and quarterback Evan Simon went 21-for-32 for 168 yards and two touchdowns. Tulane (9-2, 6-1) racked up 406 yards of offense.
“Tulane is a really good football team,” Temple coach K.C. Keeler said. “Our execution level versus their execution level, it was not the same. So disappointing and we have one more shot at this thing.”
The Owls’ last gasp of making bowl eligibility lies in their ability to beat a North Texas team that is tied for first in the American.
Stagnant offense
Temple’s offense hit a snag against Army and East Carolina in its last two games before the bye week. The Owls offense looked to get back on track against a Tulane defense that ranked last in the American in passing defense.
Instead, Temple’s offense continued to struggle.
The Owls recorded just 21 yards on their first two drives as Tulane jumped in front, 7-0. Temple seemingly unlocked the Green Wave defense with a methodical 75-yard drive to tie the game late in the first quarter.
Then, it disappeared again. The Owls’ lack of offense allowed the Green Wave to open up a three-possession halftime lead.
Temple quarterback struggled to produce offense as he faced increased pressure.
“I think they started getting a little more pressure and Evan didn’t have the time [in the pocket],” Keeler said. “Typically, in the past, when he has pulled the ball down, he’s been able to get some positive yards. [Tulane] is pretty athletic and pretty talented. They’re the 24th-ranked team in the country for a reason.”
The Owls offense finally got back on the board with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Simon to wide receiver Colin Chase. But it was not a factor in the final outcome.
The running game was especially stagnant for Temple. The Owls had just 20 rushing yards on 20 carries in the game, with their leading rusher Jay Ducker picking up only 17 yards on seven carries.
Secondary struggles
The Owls secondary has been a point of concern all season, and it took just two plays for Tulane to exploit that weakness.
Quarterback Jake Retzlaff delivered a 69-yard strike to wide receiver Shazz Preston, who beat Temple corner Jaylen Castleberry on Tulane’s second offensive snap to take a 7-0 lead. Retzlaff routinely found open receivers. He finished 17-for-28 for 231 passing yards and two touchdowns.
“We thought they would lull us to sleep a little bit, then take their shots downfield,” Keeler said. “The first drive of the game, I guess the second play of the game [is a shot downfield]. We’re there, we just don’t make a play.”
Temple’s secondary was also undisciplined. Castleberry and safety Jamere Jones were flagged for pass interference and holding, respectively, on passes downfield. The penalties helped the Green Wave get in position to score another touchdown and take a two-possession lead.
Mixed results stopping the run
Retzlaff’s calling card is his rushing ability from the quarterback spot. He entered the game as Tulane’s leading rusher with 557 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. The Owls have struggled to stop dual-threat quarterbacks.
Temple successfully contained Retzlaff on the ground, holding him to 8 rushing yards on five carries, and one rushing touchdown.
However, it failed to stop the rest of the Green Wave’s rushing attack.
Running back Jamauri McClure gashed the Owls for 122 yards on 17 carries. Javin Gordon added 27 yards on eight carries as Tulane finished with 175 total yards on the ground.
Up next
Temple will hit the road for its final game of the regular season against North Texas (10-1, 6-1) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. (ESPN).
For the first time since 2017, Penn defeated Princeton, 17-6, at home on Saturday.
A dominant defensive showing from the Quakers left Princeton (3-7, 2-5 Ivy), which entered the matchup on a four-game losing streak, unable to move the ball. Penn (6-4, 4-3 Ivy) kept Princeton scoreless in the second half, which included a game-sealing interception from safety Ty Cortez.
Penn’s offense needed just three scores to put the game away, fueled by quarterback Liam O’Brien, who threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns.
“There is no love lost about beating Princeton,” said coach Ray Priore. “Penn football, basketball, Penn-anything vs. Princeton. I don’t know what it is … it’s a great rivalry.”
Uncertainty ahead
Penn will graduate 27 seniors, including major contributors in O’Brien, receiver Jared Richardson, team-leading tackler linebacker John Lista, and star defensive tackle Carter Janki, among others.
With 10 of those players being starters on offense, the roster will see a major overhaul heading into 2026 — which isn’t a worry for Priore.
“It’s always sad to see kids graduate,” Priore said. “Did we know Liam O’Brien was going to be Liam O’Brien? … We have really good young players.”
Failing to win an Ivy League championship for the ninth consecutive season, Priore says the Quakers need to get back to work.
“It never stops,” he said. “I have my phone blowing up, we have kids that are going to get accepted early decision here. The process is ongoing, but it’s something you love to do.”
Hello to history
Richardson became the first Penn receiver to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a single season since Justin Watson in 2017. Richardson hit the mark with a 9-yard reception in the third quarter.
An earlier 9-yard catch in the second quarter gave the Monroe County native 2,445 career receiving yards, good for third all-time in in program history.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ receiving yards for @Jaredrich_17 in 2025! 👏
“It’s special knowing that Penn was the only Division I school that gave me an offer,” Richardson said. “It was a blessing. Thank you, Coach P, I appreciate the opportunity.”
Richardson had 97 yards on 12 receptions Saturday to finish the season with 1,035 receiving yards and 2,507 all-time.
Saying goodbye
Senior Davis Ellis recorded his first collegiate touchdown on a 2-yard screen pass to cap Penn’s first offensive drive.
On defense, Janki tied his career high in tackles with nine — while also receiving two snaps in the backfield on offense. Adding to the trickery, Penn’s final meaningful offensive snap was a failed pass attempt from Richardson to O’Brien.
Despite the disappointing season, Richardson, O’Brien, and Janki all had smiles on their faces leaving the post-game news conference.
“We all came in freshman year, we were all hungry,” O’Brien said. “We all had that same desire of loving football and wanting to be on the field. We all had our own journeys, it’s unique on how we got there. The one thing that was consistent was that we all knew how to work.”
Villanova wrapped up its regular season in convincing fashion, dispatching Sacred Heart, 34–10, for its eighth straight win.
Villanova (9-2), which is ranked No. 7 in the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches Poll and No. 9 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, has won 22 straight home games. The Wildcats sit in second place in the Coastal Athletic Association with a 7-1 record.
Sacred Heart (8-4) played an independent schedule this year, but will join the CAA next season. Villanova will leave the CAA for the Patriot League.
Graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns, one each to sophomore running backs Ja’briel Mace and Isaiah Ragland.
Mace also scored two touchdowns on the ground, rushing for 165 yards on nine carries. Ragland compiled 71 yards on a team-leading 11 carries.
Villanova’s Ja’briel Mace (4) jukes the defensive line of Sacred Heart on Saturday.
The Wildcats also honored their seniors in the final regular-season home game.
“I’m really proud of our team today,” said coach Mark Ferrante. “We talked this morning in the locker room before we took the field, and you always want to hopefully go out with a win on Senior Day, because the seniors are always going to remember their last home game of the regular season.
“Guys took care of business and we got the victory, and that’s the most important thing.”
Mace leads the way
The Wildcats had a rough start after Sacred Heart forced and recovered a fumble from Mace on just the second play of the game. It was a rare turnover for Villanova, which had conceded just four this season, the fewest in the FCS.
The Pioneers converted the turnover into a 37-yard field goal, while the Wildcats went three-and-out on their next possession.
However, Mace began a monumental first half with an 80-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.
“We practice ball security, and there’s no reason why I should’ve fumbled the ball,” Mace said. “But [McQuaide] picked me up and said, ‘We’re going to go right back to you,’ and on the next play, I scored. But all the credit goes to the guys up front. They’re amazing.”
To start the second quarter, McQuaide launched a 57-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Chris Colby, bringing Villanova to Sacred Heart’s 19-yard line. Mace delivered once again, taking the ball the rest of the way for a 14-3 lead.
The Wildcats finished the first half with a lengthy drive, covering 80 yards in 14 plays, and ending on a 10-yard touchdown pass from McQuaide to Mace with just 27 seconds left in the second quarter.
Mace finished the first half with 106 rushing yards on just four carries.
Defense delivers late
Three linebackers — redshirt freshman Anthony Hawkins, senior Shane Hartzell, and graduate Richie Kimmel — led the defense with six tackles each. Sacred Heart, ranked fifth nationally in FCS rushing, was limited to just 88 yards on the ground.
After keeping Sacred Heart out of the end zone through three quarters, Villanova allowed the Pioneers to score on a six-yard pass to open the fourth.
Villanova’s Turner Inge (5) takes down Sacred Heart’s quarterback Jack Snyder (14) on Saturday.
With 7 minutes, 37 seconds remaining, McQuaide completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ragland to extend the lead to 34-10.
The Pioneers threatened again, completing a 46-yard pass at Villanova’s nine-yard line. But the Wildcats forced a turnover as junior defensive back Jon Wyatt broke up quarterback Jack Snyder’s pass, and graduate defensive back Kaleb Moody intercepted it.
“There is a lot of confidence on this team, but sometimes that can turn into arrogance, and we’ve done a good job of holding that back,” Hartzell said. “As we keep rolling we gain confidence. The amount of energy that can come out in a game, that’s what is going to spark the big plays.”
Playoff potential
The Wildcats will await a FCS playoff bid, which will be announced at the Selection Show at noon on Sunday (ESPNU).
After finishing last in Big 5 play the previous two seasons, Penn men’s basketball is set to compete for a Big 5 Classic Championship inside Xfinity Mobile Arena on Dec. 6, following the Quakers’ 84-68 victory over Drexel on Friday.
Penn (3-2) was led by Ethan Roberts (30 points and 8 rebounds) and TJ Power (18 points). While Drexel (2-4) countered with its bench mob, outscoring the Quakers 40 to 10 at the substitutions table — led by Josh Reed’s 21 points on 9 of 14 shooting, a career high.
“It’s just exciting,” Roberts said. “We are just excited about the team in general, but even more so, having Coach Fran McCaffery here.”
Next, Penn will host Merrimack on Nov. 28 (4:30 p.m./ESPN) and Drexel faces Old Dominion on Sunday at home (2 p.m.).
Roberts set the tone, notching his second straight 30-point performance. He had a 31-point outburst in Penn’s victory over St Joe’s on Monday.
Roberts scored 11 of Penn’s first 19 points and finished the half with 19, with an efficient 8 of 12 shooting.
Penn forward Ethan Roberts dribbles the basketball against Drexel on Friday.
“It’s just a natural fit in coach McCaffery’s system,” Roberts said in reference to his hot start this year. “I work really hard, so there is an expectation that I get a little bit better each season.”
Bought in
Penn dominated the second half. The Quakers made 13 of 25 attempts (52%) and contained the Dragons to 30 points, as they made 10 of 26 shots from the field.
Drexel guard Kevon Vanderhorst shoots the ball against Penn forward TJ Power on Friday.
“These guys want to be coached,” McCaffery said. “They’re listening and they’re making appropriate changes, both individually and collectively.”
The Dragons’ starters scored only 28 of the team’s 68 points, with Eli Beard, Kevon Vanderhorst, and Shane Blakeney scoring 24 combined.
Drexel coach Zach Spiker believes his team wasn’t aggressive enough in response to the Quakers’ run-and-gun offense, commenting on the free-throw disparity. The Quakers made 22 of 28 attempts at the free-throw line, while Drexel went 7-for-17.
“We’ve got to do a better job of defending without fouling and then find a way to put that pressure on the other end,” Spiker said.
The scene Friday at Drexel was one that wasn’t supposed to happen, at least for some people.
When the Big 5’s organizers rearranged the pods for this season, they knew they were taking a risk. Splitting St. Joseph’s and Villanova took away a guaranteed contest of the city’s most famous rivalry for the first time since the 1997-98 season, but opened the door for an even bigger matchup in the title game.
At the time the decision was made — and that time was before last season’s Big 5 Classic, when the word first got out — there were enough reasons to believe the title game clash would happen.
Sure, Villanova was down, but not far enough down to not be favored against Temple and La Salle. Steve Donahue wasn’t gone from Penn yet, Billy Lange was far from gone from St. Joe’s, TJ Power was still at Virginia, and Xzayvier Brown was still on Hawk Hill.
Shuffling the pods really felt like two things at the time. A St. Joe’s-Penn-Drexel pod made the Hawks clear favorites on paper, while a Villanova-Temple-La Salle pod guaranteed the schools with the two biggest fan bases would face off. As long as the Hawks made the final, a matchup with Villanova or Temple would be intriguing — and good for the box office, too.
By the time the season tipped off, the scene looked totally different. And when the Hawks walked out of the Palestra on Monday on the losing end, the dream final was halfway to going up in smoke.
St. Joe’s needed a Drexel win, which would have left all three teams at 1-1. The tiebreaker is the NCAA’s NET rating, the first edition of which lands on Dec. 1 — the day Villanova hosts Temple in the last pod game of the season — and the Hawks would presumably have taken it. At Friday’s tipoff, they were No. 151 in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings to Drexel’s 249 and Penn’s 265.
Now the die is officially cast. Led by Power and Ethan Roberts, Penn never trailed against Drexel and ended up rolling to an 84-68 win at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Roberts scored 30 points for his third 20-plus game of the year, and his second straight with 30; and Power continued to show his talents with 18.
Penn’s TJ Power shoots over Drexel’s Villiam Garcia Adsten during the first half.
The crowd on Market Street was lively and bipartisan, announced as 1,984 — a few hundred short of a full house, and not far from the lowly 2,384 crowd at St. Joe’s-Penn on Monday. Drexel’s student section turned out well, and at one point unfurled an old-fashioned rollout mocking Penn’s students for not showing up at the Palestra.
They had a point, and would have in many past years, too. But for this night, the atmosphere felt real.
“I think coming in as a transfer, you don’t completely understand the Big 5 hype until you play in those games,” said Power, whose former Duke teammate Jared McCain was in the stands with the Sixers off. “These past two games have been some of the most intense games I’ve played in, and for us to get to that championship [final] in coach’s first year, it’s a real feeling, I think. I’m looking forward to playing in that championship game.”
The action was not just intense, but good quality for two teams still getting to know themselves. Penn shot 50% from the floor and Drexel shot 42.2%. That doesn’t always happen in the City Series, a fact some long-timers might not want to admit while reminiscing about the old days.
(This writer, for example, has been scarred for 21 years by the 2004 Temple-Villanova game at the Palestra: a 53-52 Owls win where the teams missed a combined 80 of 120 shots.)
“Jared’s my best friend since my freshman year at Duke, and to have him in the city has been really cool,” Penn’s TJ Power (right) said of the Sixers’ Jared McCain (left).
The big picture
Does missing out on a St. Joe’s-Villanova final mean the risk wasn’t worth taking? The ticket sales for the Big 5 Classic on Dec. 6 will offer one verdict, and fans can decide if they want to offer another.
If there isn’t going to be a full round-robin, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the principle of changing up the pods from time to time. This season was the first time that happened, and it’s expected that the new groups will run for two years as the first set did.
Was there a way to keep St. Joe’s and Villanova together in the first change? There weren’t many moves to make, since St. Joe’s and La Salle have to stay separate being in the same conference.
A St. Joe’s-Temple-Villanova pod obviously would not make sense. So the only other option besides the move they settled on — swapping Villanova and Drexel — would have put Villanova, St. Joe’s, and Drexel together. That would have sent the Wildcats to the city’s smallest gym in one of the two years, which felt unlikely this early in the pod system.
Drexel’s Ralph Akuta (right) dove for a loose ball in front of the Dragons’ student section as they held up a banner mocking Penn students for not showing up to their team’s games.
So it was understandable that the people in charge tried. A little uncertainty is no bad thing anyway, as it livens up the early-season slate. And though the Big 5 still feels stratified, the pod format also heightens the stakes of each game. One loss can tip the whole thing, as just happened to the Hawks.
It could happen again if Temple upsets Villanova on the Main Line. That would give us a ‘Nova-St. Joe’s game after all, just in the third-place game.
What the final will look like is a different question, but that’s not Penn’s problem for now. Coach Fran McCaffery, Power, and the rest can celebrate just getting there — and laying down a strong marker to start McCaffery’s tenure at his alma mater.
“When you come into a season, there are certain things that you hope to be able to accomplish collectively, and that clearly is one,” he said. “I think everybody knows the respect I have for the Big 5 and its history, and also for the level of talent and coaching in all the teams. We just beat two really good teams, two really well-coached teams, and then we’ll get to play another one.”
This time, it will be on the city’s biggest stage.
What Big 5 pods work? Reality limits the answer.
St. Joe's and La Salle can't be in the same pod since they're in the same conference.
It doesn't make sense to have Villanova, St. Joe's and Temple all on the same side.
