Penn basketball: Quakers clinch share of Big 5 title for first time since 2002

It’s time to celebrate, Penn basketball fans; your Quakers are Big 5 champions for the first time since 2002

This time last year, Penn basketball hadn’t completed a winning season in five years. They hadn’t won the Ivy League or gone to the NCAA tournament since 2007, the same year they most recently beat Temple. They hadn’t won the Big 5 or beaten Villanova since 2002. Today, all of those droughts are over.

Even if Penn hadn’t won another upset in Big 5 play on Saturday night at Liacouras Center, they would’ve had another shot to secure a share of the Big 5 title on Saturday against Saint Joe’s. But beating Temple to move to 3-0 in the city series not only gave Penn the opportunity to win the Big 5 outright, it was also the most fitting way for the Quakers to put the last of those droughts behind them, beating their former coach Fran Dunphy who had led them to their most recent glories. They had only beaten Dunphy once since he left Penn for his current post as Temple’s head coach in 2006, and it would probably be their last chance with Dunphy’s time on North Broad coming to an end after this season.

Penn’s Big 5 championship bid began in December with a win on the road against La Salle, and it wasn’t close. The Quakers beat La Salle 83-65; Michael Wang had 18 on 15 minutes played, and Steve Donahue cycled 15 of his players onto the court. Three other players joined Wang with double-digits, and the rolling Quakers were no match for a rebuilding La Salle team struggling to adjust to Ash Howard’s dynamic, up-tempo offense.

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The crown jewel of Penn’s Big 5 effort, one of the program’s biggest wins in the twenty-first century, came just three days later with a victory against Villanova at the Palestra. Penn avoided a disaster with Villanova hitting quick and timely shots with less than a minute left to cut the Quakers’ multi-possession lead to three, and a huge mistake on an inbound play with less than two seconds on the clock gave Villanova the opportunity to tie the game. Phil Booth managed to get a shot off, but an airball sailed harmlessly into the hands of a celebrating Penn player. Villanova had lost their first Big 5 game since 2012, and Penn just needed one more win to secure a city title.

But things wouldn’t go as well for the Quakers in the lead up to their big game with Temple. They beat New Mexico a game after their upset over Villanova, but they would drop their next four, including one to winless Monmouth and a two-game sweep at the hands of their bitter rival Princeton. Temple, on the other hand, was rolling; they were 14-3, had beaten undefeated Houston a week and a half before their meeting with Penn, and were 4-1 in a tough AAC.

But the Quakers played the perfect game against a Temple team that brought perhaps their worst effort of the season. They controlled the tempo, found easy looks with effective ball movement and back-cuts. They kept the Temple crowd out of the game from the opening tip, and hit timely three pointers every time Temple began to crawl back into the game in the second half. Steve Donahue outcoached his mentor Fran Dunphy from start to finish, Dunphy unable or unwilling to make in-game adjustments. Penn won by a final of 77-70, the Liacouras Center filling with the sounds of the celebrating Quakers as the buzzer sounded. They had ended the last of so many droughts.

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And Penn’s Big 5 season isn’t over; they have one more chance to achieve even more in the city series this year. With a win over Saint Joe’s at the Palestra on Saturday, Penn would complete an undefeated Big 5 season and earn the city championship outright. They’ll be the favorites over the Hawks on their homecourt, but as we’ve learned, anything is possible in Big 5 play.