Penn pulls off upset of No. 21 Villanova at the Palestra: ‘It’s kind of a dream to win it here’

Penn guard Clark Slajchert was everywhere. Sideline to sideline, end to end, grabbing offensive rebounds and dribbling around No. 21 Villanova’s defense.

So where was he when Penn pulled out a 76-72 win, earning its first victory over a ranked team since 2018? In the middle of it all, leaping around as Penn students stormed the Palestra court.

“I’d been thinking about that moment for awhile,” Slajchert said. “We play ‘Nova every year. They have a lot of notoriety. It’s kind of a dream to win it here in the Palestra, to give everyone in the gym this moment.”

The Quakers (2-1, 1-1 Big 5) had lost 18 of their past 19 games against Villanova (2-1, 0-1 Big 5) going into Monday.

The scoring leader for Penn was freshman guard Tyler Perkins, who continued a stellar start to his college career. He scored a team-high 22 points, hitting 5-of-12 shots from the field and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. In his first four games, he’s averaging 17.2 points.

However, the key to Penn’s upset was Slajchert. He was held to 11 points, but found ways to impact the game. He added six rebounds (five offensive), and four assists. His final three points — all free throws — sealed the victory.

“Sometimes, you look at the scoreboard and you don’t realize the impact,” Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “I thought Clark was the catalyst, especially in the second half. … Clark, to me, is by far our leader out there, and I thought he did a pretty good job on both sides of the ball.”

Ed Holland III (12), Cam Thrower (11), and Nick Spinoso (10) joined Perkins and Slajchert in double figures.

Villanova graduate guard Justin Moore didn’t have his best shooting night, but still had the ball in all the key moments. He finished with 25 points on 7-of-18 shooting. When Penn extended its lead to 57-48 with 8:26 remaining in the game, it was a three from Moore that kept Villanova alive. Two threes by Moore in the final 11 seconds cut Penn’s lead to four, then two, but Villanova could not get closer.

Jordan Longino kept Villanova in the game with 10 first-half points. He finished with 14. Eric Dixon was the only other Wildcat in double figures, adding 12 points and nine rebounds.

At the under-16 media timeout, the Penn band’s rollout asked a simple question: “Can you even find Radnor on a map?”

For much of the game, Villanova couldn’t find the Palestra basket, let alone their neighborhood 10-plus miles away. Baffled by Penn’s 2-3 zone defense, the Wildcats shot 35% from the field and 27% from three.

Donahue has turned to the zone defense in previous games, but used it more extensively against Villanova because of the Wildcats’ size and experience. He was proud it knocked Villanova out of its rhythm.

Villanova coach Kyle Neptune was more blunt.

“You don’t do well against the zone, they keep playing it,” Neptune said. “That’s logic.”

The result opens up a possibility of a three-way tie in the Big 5 pod. St. Joe’s beat Penn on Friday, 69-61. If Villanova beats St. Joe’s after Thanksgiving, all three teams would be 1-1 in the competition. NET rankings would determine each team’s seed for the Big 5 Championship Dec. 2 at Wells Fargo Center.

Monday was longtime Inquirer college sports columnist Mike Jensen’s final game before retirement. He was honored at midcourt in celebration of 35 years covering college sports, and given a piece of the original Palestra floor.

After the press conference, Donahue was asked what it meant to win Jensen’s final game.

“C’mon,” Donahue said, “Does it get better than that?”

Villanova returns to campus Friday to play Maryland (1-2) in the Gavitt Games (8:30 p.m., FS1). Penn will play at Maryland-Eastern Shore (1-1) on Saturday (4 p.m.).