Penn and Kentucky tip off at the Wells Fargo Center. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
December 9, 2023
Big5Hoops.com
PHILADELPHIA — The lefty shot swished through. Sam Brown turned, yelled and celebrated.
Game on, baby.
Brown’s 3-pointer from the left wing pulled Penn within a point of No. 16-ranked Kentucky with 15 minutes, 16 seconds to play at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Quakers trailed by 10 at the half. Now, they were down by just one.
Game on, baby.
Yes, indeed.
“I think we were just feeling the flow of the game,” Brown said of the moment. “You could tell we were beginning to make a run, and the game was real and competitive. The emotions were high. Just excited to be in that moment.”
Real and competitive.
Against Kentucky.
Alas, the Quakers couldn’t sustain that level. More to the point, Kentucky’s size, speed and talent proved to be too much, as Penn lost 81-66 on Saturday afternoon.
A loss on paper. But a win for the program.
“This is what we recruit to, these events,” Quakers coach Steve Donahue said. “These kids are excited about this day. That’s how we’re going to try to take the next step and build a team that’s going to win a championship and hopefully make a run in the NCAA tournament.”
This was a different kind of challenge for Penn.
The Quakers aren’t going to see the likes of Aaron Bradshaw, Kentucky’s dazzling 7-foot-1 freshman out of Camden High, in the Ivy League. Bradshaw had 17 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and a steal. But the experience of trying to defend Bradshaw, trying to get shots off over him – and, sometimes, succeeding at both – is going to be of great benefit come Jan. 6 when Darmouth comes to the Palestra for the start of league play.
“Great opportunity to learn a lot about ourselves, have some adversity against teams that have length, have athleticism that we’re not going to see,” said Clark Slajchert, who led Penn with 17 points. “It’s a different kind of challenge, but not necessarily harder than it’s going to be in the Ivy. It was great practice for us.”
Slajchert had another terrific game, dropping buckets in all types of ways, including a beautiful floating layup in the first half over several long, outstretched arms that had us thinking back to Allen Iverson doing it here on the reg.
It was a hard shot. Kind of like the game. Sometimes, though, hard is good.
“These games are hard, but the league is really hard,” Donahue said. “It’s a different kind of hard, it’s a mental hard. You have to be ready every night.”
Ready? Yeah, Donahue and Penn were ready. So, were Kentucky and coach John Calipari. The Wildcats, coming off a loss to UNCW last Saturday, were focused. Calipari knew the Quakers were going to be a challenge.
“I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning worried about this game,” Calipari said.
Calipari is happy to get this game behind him, though he knows he could see the Quakers again in the NCAA tournament.
“Hopefully, that’s it,” he said of Saturday’s contest.
Whether it’s the Wildcats, or another blue-blood program, the Quakers surely hope to have another shot at an upset come March.
They won’t be intimidated.
“Coming up from high school and not playing at this level it’s different, but I don’t think it fazes me or anyone on this team,” Brown, who finished with 15 points, said. “We’re ready for that challenge. I’m excited to be a part of it.”
This time, Kentucky proved to be too good. But the experience will serve the Quakers well.
“For us,” Donahue said, “it’s another really good lesson to help us grow this team. And that’s the way I look at it.”
A loss for Penn today.
But a win for later.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.