City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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In the previous 78 years that the NCAA tournament has been in existence, Saturday night’s contest at the Palestra would have had no meaning. 

Penn, fourth-place team in the conference, squaring off against Harvard, the second-place team in the conference, in the final regular season game of the season would have just meant that both teams had 40 minutes of basketball left before packing their things up for the season and waiting for the next to start.

Not this season though, as the newly-implemented Ivy League tournament meant that the top four teams in the conference would be battling for a spot to play in the NCAA Tournament once the regular-season came to a close. 

And with Penn tied with Columbia for the fourth spot coming into Saturday’s game and Brown just one game behind, the Quakers needed to win on Saturday night to keep this magical season alive. 

“You try to play and look for build and not knowing what the tournament would feel like,” Penn head coach Steve Donahue said. “It was pretty cool to wake up and go to practice and think you still had a shot at this thing.”

Even with the possibility of the tournament lying ahead, losing the first six games of conference play would kill the confidence of most college players and have them thinking about the next season before the one they were in was even over, but this Penn group is different.

With a goose-egg in the win column and six losses already on February 7th, Penn knew it needed to change things around if it wanted to be playing in the league’s first postseason tournament which would be hosted in their gymnasium at the conclusion of regular season play. 

“For us to sit around this week and see all the festivities and see all these teams come in, that would’ve been very difficult,” Donahue said. “That was absolutely motivation. These guys talked about it when we were 0-6 that we can’t let this tournament go on in our building and us not be in it. You’re 0-6, a lot of people call that a pipe dream and that could’ve been just banter but they backed it up with everything they did.”

In the blink of an eye, the Penn season turned around as the Quakers pieced together a five-game win streak and regain relevance in the Ivy League.

But, as quickly as Penn gained momentum, it was again lost with back-to-back losses going into Saturday night. 

So with everything on the line in Saturday night’s bout with Harvard, Penn needed to leave it all on the court to ensure that its season wouldn’t be over with the conclusion of the game.

And that’s exactly what the Quakers did as a hard-fought 40 minutes of basketball saw Penn come out on top of Harvard by a score of 75-72 and earn a spot in the first Ivy League postseason tournament.

Saturday night’s contest was a nail-biter from the opening tip, as any lead either team had was quickly countered with a run from the opposing side. 

So after Penn saw a late 72-67 lead become a 72-72 tie in just under a minute, the Quakers needed some late-game heroics. 

And it couldn’t have come from a less-likely source.

Jackson Donahue, who had spent the previous 10 minutes on the bench and hadn’t taken a shot in the game yet, was that source.

After tallying just 12 minutes of action prior to entering the game for a fouled-out Darnell Foreman, not a soul in the gym expected the shot to come from the sophomore guard.

That didn’t phase Donahue though, because when Devon Goodman found the Connecticut native on the near wing just in front of the Penn bench with 6.5 seconds left, Donahue knew the shot was good the minute the ball touched his hands. 

“I knew it was good. I knew as soon as I caught it that it was good,” Donahue said. “It feels incredible. I really think we deserved it tonight.”

Donahue’s clutch jumper didn’t surprise his head coach though, who knows that the sophomore isn’t phased by any situation.

“As soon as it left, I was like, ‘Oh damn, it’s in.’ He’s just that type of kid, it’s kind of why he’s at this level,” Donahue said. “He’s 6-foot, he doesn’t move great, he just has an incredible confidence about making plays when he has to and that’s why I put him in. I know the moment isn’t too big.”

Donahue’s clutch-shot wasn’t the only thing that propelled Penn to victory on Saturday night, though.

Senior guard Matt Howard, on his senior night, turned in the best performance of his career as he poured in a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and reeled in a tie for career-high in rebounds with 12. 

‘I’ve been to a lot of senior nights where it’s just too much for them,” Donahue said. “This is the end, the emotions get you, you want to do really well and you squeeze too hard and he didn’t have that tonight so we kept calling his number. Just remarkable, a really great performance.”

Howard made it known early on that he was the go-to guy for Penn, as he scored the Quakers’ first 11 points on his way to scoring 15 in the first half of action.

“I was a little emotional and then the game started and I felt good,” Howard said. “I felt like my shots were money and I just kept going with it.”

Playing this game at the Palestra helped the Quakers out in a big way too, as every fan in attendance was pulling hard for Penn to do the impossible and come back from an 0-6 start to make a postseason appearance. 

“It was definitely an electric atmosphere tonight and we made a lot of big plays and we just rode the energy of the crowd,” Howard said. “It was definitely an advantage out there, having the crowd behind us.”

“I agree with him, especially down the stretch,” Jackson Donahue added. “It’s been awhile since we heard those chants and had that kind of energy in the Palestra. It was phenomenal.”

Harvard was led in the loss by the trio of Bryce Aiken, Zena Edosomwan, and Siyani Chambers, who scored 17, 15, and 12 points, respectively. 

Up next for Penn is a clash with its biggest rival, Princeton (21-6, 14-0 Ivy), in the first round of the Ivy League tournament. 

The two have combined to win 51 conference championships and have played countless historical games. 

And Saturday’s bout will be no different as the “David” of the Ivy League in Penn will try to keep the train rolling against the “Goliath” in Princeton on Penn’s home floor with a potential spot in the Big Dance on the line.

Even though the odds aren’t in Penn’s favor for Saturday’s bash as Princeton has topped the Quakers twice this season, Penn knows that nothing is impossible after the fantastic run the Quakers put together to get to Saturday’s contest.

“The story’s not done, that’s what I like,” Donahue said “This could be a hell of a story. That’s kind of what our mindset is.