Columbia at Pennsylvania, 7:00 PM Eastern, espn3
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This week’s Throwback Thursday column from our colleague John Stalica featured the 90th anniversary of the Palestra in Philadelphia. Tonight’s Under the Radar Game of the Day returns to that arena as the Penn Quakers will be playing host to the Columbia Lions in an Ivy League matchup. The host Quakers are one of only five Division I teams that remain winless in conference play, entering tonight’s game at 0-6 in the Ivy League and 7-12 overall. They fell at home on Tuesday night to their top rival Princeton 64-49. AJ Brodeur was their top player in that game, with 10 points and 6 rebounds. This was his first game in double figures since dropping 35 against Big Five rival La Salle last week.
The Quakers will be welcoming in Columbia tonight. The Lions are currently tied with Harvard at 4-2 for third place behind Princeton and Yale, and 10-9 overall. Both teams have a two game lead over the rest of the conference as the top four teams are beginning to separate themselves, which is important as only four teams qualify for the conference tournament. Jim Engles, in his first season coaching Columbia after tons of success at NJIT, has this team right in contention for the top of the conference. Five players scored in double figures in their home win over Brown last weekend, including 18 from Luke Petrasek. If they get that type of performance on the road again tonight, the Lions have a great chance to continue their winning ways and move one step closer to earning that berth into the Ivy tournament.