City of Basketball Love

Joey Piatt (@joey_piatt )
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It was a Saturday sweep for the City 6 teams. Five men’s programs took to the floor — only Drexel enjoyed an off day, with the team’s next game coming on Feb. 10 against Hofstra — and each collected an important conference win. The lone women’s team in action, Mike McLaughlin’s Penn Quakers, got back into the win column and broke a five-game losing streak. 

Here’s a recap of each of Saturday’s six games, each of which was a close contest. The largest margin of victory for a City 6 program on Saturday: 11. 

MBB: Villanova 85, UConn 74

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A pair of nationally ranked Big East rivals squared off on the floor at the Wells Fargo Center, and when the buzzer sounded, it was Jay Wright’s Villanova squad that escaped with a key conference victory. 

Villanova (17-6, 10-3) moves to second in the Big East, behind only No. 15 Providence, while UConn (15-6, 6-4) drops to fourth. The Wildcats used a big-time performance from redshirt sophomore big man Eric Dixon to establish an early double-digit lead entering the half. The Abington High School product recorded a double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds. 

The Huskies put up a second-half fight, matching each of the 45 points that Villanova scored over the final 20 minutes of play. A big factor in that comeback performance was graduate guard R.J. Cole, who led UConn with 25 points. The Huskies also received contributions from Tyrese Martin and Adama Sanogo, who each scored 14. But the Wildcats’ big first half was enough to help them move to double-digit conference wins. 

Winning the frontcourt battle was a deciding factor on Saturday afternoon, with Villanova outscoring UConn 46-30 in the paint. The Wildcats’ wings were not kept out of the action, however, with All-American favorite Collin Gillespie totaling 19 points of 6-of-13 shooting and redshirt senior guard Caleb Daniels adding 16 on perfect 6-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Gillespie left the contest with an ankle injury and is scheduled to receive x-rays early Sunday morning. 

With just over a handful of games left in its regular season, Villanova will have a chance to take sole control of first place in the Big East. Two of the Wildcats’ final seven games come against the first-place Friars. First, however, will be a trip up to New York to play St. John’s (13-9, 5-6).

MBB: St. Joseph’s 72, Fordham 69

Erik Reynolds II is heating up at the right time for Billy Lange’s Hawks. 

The freshman guard didn’t step off the floor during St. Joseph’s (10-11, 4-6) close win over Atlantic 10 rival Fordham (10-11, 3-6). Reynolds II used those extra minutes to notch a new career-high in scoring with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The Temple Hills, Md., native wasn’t the only underclassman to come through in a big way on Saturday, with sophomore Jordan Hall also playing a full 40 minutes. Hall, along with graduate forward Ejike Obinna, scored 15. 

The Rams had the advantage in points off turnovers (14-7), points in the paint (46-28), and second chance points (17-2). But the Hawks simply shot the ball better on Saturday, converting 25 of their 51 field goal attempts. Fordham shot 27-of-65 in contrast. Perhaps the largest discrepancy in a game where both teams played fairly evenly was in three-point shooting, where the Rams made just three of their 21 attempts while St. Joseph’s was 8-of-25. 

Fordham’s offensive attack was a three-man effort, with only three players scoring in double figures. Youngstown State transfer Darius Quissenberry paced the Rams with 19 and Kyle Rose and Chuba Ohams added 15 and 12 respectively. 

With just over a month until tip-off of the A-10 tournament, Lange’s Hawks will look to continue to string together wins and build on Reynolds’ hot streak. Next up: a Feb. 9 date with first-place Davidson (19-3, 9-1)

MBB: Temple 67, Tulsa 58

The Owls avoided an upset at the Liacouras center and held-off the visiting last-place Golden Hurricanes. 

Tulsa (7-14, 1-9) struck first and led for the first two minutes of play. From there, however, it was all Temple (13-7, 6-3), and the Owls entered the half holding a 32-21 lead. The Golden Hurricanes outscored Temple in the second half behind a 37-point effort. But the Owls’ big first half, paired with 35 second-half points, was enough to hang on for a second consecutive conference victory. 

For Temple, it was a pair of freshmen that stood out, with Nick Jourdain recording his first career double-double behind 15 points and 12 rebounds and Jahlil White tallying nine points and nine assists. It was an off-day for 2020-2021 Big 5 Co-Rookie of the Year Damian Dunn, who was coming off a 26-point effort against ECU in his home state of North Carolina. Despite shooting 0-of-5 from beyond the arc, Dunn still managed to add 11 points. 

Leading the way for Tulsa was Rey Idowu, an Illinois State transfer who scored a career-high 21 points in his 30 minutes on the floor. Tulsa’s two leading scorers on the season, Sam Griffin and Jeriah Horne, mustered just 11 and 10 points, respectively. 

The Owls, who moved to third in the American Athletic Conference following the victory, will return to action on Monday, when they visit the University of South Florida (6-14, 1-7). 

MBB: La Salle 83, George Mason 78 

Ashley Howard’s Explorers picked up a win at the right time, using an upset victory over George Mason to break a five-game losing skid. 

La Salle (7-13, 2-8) scored 13 more than its season average of 70.2 to win what became an offensive shootout with the Patriots (11-9, 4-3). The Explorers’ leading scorer on the season, Clifton Moore, got the scoring started with a jump shot in the game’s third minute. The redshirt senior forward went on to score five points in the game’s first five minutes en route to a game total of 15. 

The Explorers utilized a balanced offensive attack, with four different players scoring in double figures. In addition to Moore, guards Jack Clark and Jhamir Brickus each scored 18 points, and junior Josh Nickelberry added 17. Key in La Salle’s offensive outburst was 14-of-29 shooting from beyond the arc. For a team making just under one of every three attempts from deep on the season, Saturday’s effort proved to be a useful outlier. 

George Mason also enjoyed an outpouring of scoring, converting 15-of-25 of their three-point attempts and 28 of its 62 total field goal attempts. Like La Salle, the Patriots also had four players score 10-plus, with graduate forward D’Shawn Schwartz leading the group with 18. 

La Salle is likely to need another big day on offense in their next game, which comes against the second-place St. Louis Billikens (16-6, 7-2). 

WBB: Penn 71, Cornell 61

McLaughlin’s Quakers didn’t just beat Cornell on Saturday, but they also jumped the Big Red in the Ivy League standings, inching closer to the top four. 

Penn (8-12, 3-5) used a familiar one-two offensive punch in Kayla Padilla and Jordan Obi to beat Cornell (7-12, 2-6). Padilla continued to remind Quaker fans why she is the centerpiece of this team, dishing out six assists and collecting six rebounds to supplement her game-leading 18 points. Obi, a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week honoree, notched a double-double, scoring 16 and grabbing 11 rebounds. 

The Quakers still faced familiar problems in their victory. They turned the ball over 20 times and lost the battle in the paint, getting outscored by the Big Red 32-26. But, unlike in some games this season, the team reached a 70-point threshold that is key to locking up wins in the Ivy. Prior to Saturday, the Quakers’ had failed to score 70 in a conference matchup. 

On the Cornell side, it was junior guard Shannon Mulroy who was most effective in penetrating the Penn defense. The Lenape High School product came off the bench and scored 16 points on the back of 4-of-5 three-point shooting. The Big Red’s leading scorer on the season, Theresa Grace Mbanefo, was held to 12 points. 

Penn was in the midst of a five-game losing streak before topping Cornell, and it needed a quick turnaround if it hoped to stay in contention for a trip to the Ivy Tournament. Saturday was the first step in a push toward the postseason, one that will continue next weekend, when the Quakers take on Harvard (11-9, 5-3).

MBB: Penn 73, Cornell 68

Penn men’s basketball is making its case as the top team in the Ivy League, and Jordan Dingle is making his case as the conference’s best player. 

The win over Cornell (12-7, 4-4) marked the Penn’s (10-12, 7-2) fourth-straight Ivy League victory, and Steve Donahue’s unit will make the bus ride home from New York as one of the city’s hottest teams. Dingle, the team’s standout sophomore guard, continued his mid-season hot streak, scoring 19 on 6-of-17 shooting against the Big Red. 

For much of this season, Donahue has used a hot-hand approach to managing his rotation. In the preseason, he cited his bench depth as one of the team’s biggest strengths, and now, it’s helping the team win games. This weekend, the big performers were Max Martz and Andrew Laczkowski. After a breakout performance off the bench against Columbia, Laczkowski appeared in the starting lineup and delivered with 10 points and five rebounds. Martz scored 16 and shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. 

The Cornell backcourt duo of Chris Manon and Dean Noll combined for 39 against the Quakers, but no other player surpassed six points. Penn, on the other hand, had five players with at least eight points. That balanced offensive attack played a large part in Penn holding off a late Cornell comeback. 

Penn will have the chance to keep their winning ways going next weekend, when they return home to host Harvard (11-7, 3-3).