Yale at Penn, 8:00 PM Eastern, Comcast Network-Philadelphia/ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com
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The Palestra in Philadelphia is one of the greatest venues that exists in college athletics. Tom Izzo got Penn State to agree to move their home contest against Michigan Agricultural College State there this season just so he could cross it off his Bucket List. It has been the site of countless Philadelphia Big Five games. At one time, the Atlantic Ten tournament was held at the Palestra on an annual basis. Starting this March, it will be the site of the Ivy League conference tournament. And tonight, the one team that calls it their home court for every regular season game, the Penn Quakers, will be hosting conference rival Yale there in our Under the Radar Game of the Day.
The Yale Bulldogs are 8-5 on the season so far, with tonight’s contest being their first Ivy League game this season. Head coach James Jones’ team got our attention during the first weekend of the season when they headed across the country and defeated Washington 98-90. However, since that time they have suffered a few disappointing losses — most notably on November 30 at Bryant. With the top four teams during the regular season set to advance to the Ivy’s first-ever conference tournament, Yale still appears to be strong enough to qualify as part of that upper division group. Sam Downey has scored in double figures in four straight games, including an amazing 15 point, 17 rebound effort in a loss at Temple. Also keep an eye on freshman Jordan Bruner. Although Bruner has not been starting, he has hit double figures on 5 of his last 6 including 25 points against Hartford.
The Penn Quakers are one of several Ivy League teams that have a shot at the fourth and final Ivy League tournament spot behind the top three teams (Yale, Princeton and Harvard). Getting that spot will be huge as it would give them a chance to defend their home court in the conference tournament. The Quakers are currently 6-6 on the season and 0-1 in conference play, having lost at Princeton last weekend. They fell behind big early in that game before fighting all the way back to tie it in the second half at 44 all. However, the Tigers proved to be too much and pulled out a 61-52 win. Darnell Foreman led the way off the bench in that game, scoring 17 points and grabbing 7 boards for the Quakers. Freshman AJ Brodeur has also been a player to watch out for do far this season, including a 27 point, 10 rebound game on December 30 in a win over Fairfield. If Penn can pull off the upset at home tonight, it will be a huge early step towards a conference tournament berth and a chance to play even more games at the Palestra this season.