City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2021-22 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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The 2021-22 college basketball season is just a week away. 

Sure, you’ll absolutely be sure to tune in on the nights where they face each other, but the City 6 teams will face tough competition outside of Philadelphia too.

Here are 10 (non-City 6) non-conference games you can’t miss for the City 6 men’s basketball teams this season:

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Penn at No. 20 Florida State, Nov. 10 (9 PM, ACC Network)
It’s Penn’s first game in more than 20 months, and it’s a doozy — on the road against a top-25 opponent in Leonard Hamilton’s squad, which made it to the Sweet 16 in March. FSU is loaded with talent, but most of the roster is largely unproven, with the top five scorers from last year having graduated, transferred, or turned pro. It’s still an ACC squad loaded with length, athleticism and talent, and the Quakers are equally untested, so this is a lot to ask on Night One. But it’s not an impossible upset by any means.

No. 4 Villanova at No. 2 UCLA, Nov. 12 (11:30 PM, ESPN2)
One of the premier matchups of opening week is this matchup of blue blood programs, two preseason Top 5 squads with a lot to prove as the season gets under way. There’s an absolutely terrific matchup at the point with Nova’s Collin Gillespie and UCLA’s Tyger Campbell going head-to-head, but both have plenty of firepower behind that. The Bruins return one of the best backcourts in the country with Campbell and leading scorer Johnny Juzang, who turned down the NBA for one more run at a national title. This is a game we could be seeing again deep in March.

Albany at La Salle, Nov. 13 (4 PM, ESPN+)
If there’s a non-local team that Philly hoops fans will recognize a lot of names, it’s Albany. The Great Danes have a roster that’s more than halfway made up of players with Philly ties, starting with head coach Dwayne Killings (former Temple assistant) and assistant Matt Griffin (former Roman head coach), but there’s also Chuck Champion (Friends’ Central), Paul Newman (Roman Catholic), Matt Cerruti (Archbishop Wood), Tairi Ketner (Archbishop Carroll) and Ny’Mire Little (Westtown), plus City 6 transfers Jarvis Doles (Drexel) and Dre Perry (Temple), as well as former Norristown wing Aaron Reddish, who finished up his high school career in Georgia. It’ll be a fun homecoming for all, unless La Salle has something to say about it.

Southern Cal at Temple, Nov. 13 (7 PM, ESPN+)
There’s an exciting young core developing at Temple, with the backcourt of Khalif Battle, Damian Dunn and Jeremiah Williams possessing a ton of upside and quite a bit of eligibility remaining now in their second full season playing together. A visit from a Pac-12 opponent after a much easier opener against Maryland-Eastern Shore (Nov. 10) will be a nice early-season test for the Owls, and they get the increasingly rare opportunity to play a high-major opponent on their home floor, a useful tune-up for a game against Clemson in Charleston on Nov. 18. The Trojans went 25-8 last year and Made the Elite 8 and were one of the first few teams receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today polls, just outside the Top 25. 

Drexel at Syracuse, Nov. 14 (5 PM, ESPN2)
It was Dec. 19, 2006 when the Dragons rolled up to Syracuse and stunned the Orange 84-79, part of a 10-game winning streak that was a major part of a 23-9 season, one of several flirtations Drexel had with the NCAA tournament under Bruiser Flint. But it was Zach Spiker who guided DU into March Madness this past spring after winning the CAA championship, and with the major pieces returning, Drexel’s going to have its eyes on another upset. Buddy Boheim, brother Jimmy Boehim and Co. are coming off an 18-10 season that saw them reach the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed after beating SDSU and West Virginia.

La Salle at Delaware, Nov. 17 (7 PM)
This is a tougher-than-you’d-think test for the Explorers, who will be solid favorites in two home games to start but certain underdogs on the road against the Blue Hens. The preseason CAA favorites seem ready to really breakthrough for sixth-year head coach Martin Ingelsby behind big man Dylan Painter, who began his college career at Villanova but has really found a home in Delaware, as well as guards Ryan Allen and Kevin Anderson, plus West Chester East product Andrew Carr. If the Explorers want to take a step forward in the A-10, this is the type of game they need to show they can win.

Saint Joseph’s at Southern Cal, Nov. 25 (9:30 PM)
The Trojans get another mention on this list, but the Hawks didn’t give us much choice — four of their non-league games are local, while none of UMES, Binghamton, Monmouth, Bradley or Holy Cross really move the needle too much. So it’s the Wooden Legacy opener, played not at Southern Cal’s Galen Arena but at Anaheim Arena about 45 minutes away, not that it’s much of a neutral location for St. Joe’s. The Hawks have the size to hang with the big boys, and if they hit some shots early, this could definitely end up with an upset.

Penn at No. 16 Arkansas, Nov. 28 (3 PM, SEC Network)
Steve Donahue has some mighty high expectations for his squad this year, with two Top-25 opponents and the Myrtle Beach Invitational; this is part of a brutal stretch that goes at Arkansas, against Villanova (Dec. 1), at Temple (Dec. 4), at Saint Joseph’s (Dec. 8), at La Salle (Dec. 11). Eric Musselman’s Razorbacks have one of the tallest players in the country, 7-4 junior Connor Vanover, in the middle, plus senior JD Notae back from last year’s Elite 8 run, plus Miami (Fl.) guard Chris Lykes. This is all tall order for the Quakers.

Drexel at Princeton, Dec. 4 (4 PM, ESPN+)
The Dragons spend a fair bit of the early part of the season on the road; after two home games to start the season, they spend 11 of the next 12 games away from the DAC, including the first two games of CAA play. The Tigers, like the rest of the Ivy League, are something of a question mark after missing the entire 2020-21 season, but they return guards Jaelin Llewellyn, Ethan Wright and Drew Friberg, all sophomores two years ago. This could be a matchup of Top-150 squads on KenPom, and the matchup of Llewellyn and Camren Wynter at lead guard is a great one.

No. 4 Villanova at Syracuse, Dec. 7 (9 PM, ESPN)
There’s a lot to love about this one. A throwback Big East matchup at Madison Square Garden, in primetime on ESPN as part of the Jimmy V Classic. It’s hard to believe that Jay Wright and Jim Boeheim haven’t gone head-to-head since Dec. 20, 2014, an 82-77 OT win for the ‘Cats. This might be the last head-to-head matchup between the two legends of the game, even though Boeheim, who’s 77, has said he doesn’t plan to retire soon. Considering that Tennessee/Texas Tech tips at 7 PM, this one should tip much closer to 9:30 than 9 PM, so it’ll be a late Tuesday night in the Big Apple for the Wildcats and Orange.

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Here is a complete list of the City 6 match-ups in 2021-22:

Drexel at Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 17, 7 PM)
Villanova vs. La Salle (Nov. 28, 6 PM, Palestra)
La Salle at Temple (Dec. 1, 7 PM)
Villanova at Penn (Dec. 1, TBD)
Saint Joseph’s at Villanova (Dec. 4, 12 PM)
Penn at Temple (Dec. 4, 4 PM)
Penn at Saint Joseph’s (Dec. 8, 7 PM)
Temple at Saint Joseph’s (Dec. 11, 1 PM)
Penn at La Salle (Dec. 11, 2 PM)
Drexel at Temple (Dec. 18, 2 PM)
Drexel at La Salle (Dec. 21, 4 PM)
Temple at Villanova (Dec. 29, 9 PM)
La Salle at Saint Joseph’s (Jan. 17, 4 PM)
Saint Joseph’s at La Salle (March 2, 7 PM)