Penn’s season kicks off Thursday with an absolute gauntlet, a showdown against No. 3 Illinois that isn’t just a season opener. It’s a straight-up rematch of last season’s NCAA Tournament first-round game where the Illini absolutely crushed them 105-70 before making their Final Four run. This isn’t just any game, though. This is a chance for Penn to prove how much a tournament team can really change in just a few months.
This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Penn Squad
Forget that blowout from last March for a second, because Penn is coming into this season with serious continuity, and that changes the whole vibe. We’re talking four returning starters and seven of their top nine scorers from a squad that won the Ivy League tournament and snagged their first NCAA bid since 2018. This isn’t some fresh-faced group getting thrown to the wolves. This is the core that already knows how to win.
The Ivy League picked them as preseason favorites, and for good reason. TJ Power is back, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection, after dropping 16.4 points and snagging 7.6 rebounds per game. Then you’ve got guard Michael Zanoni, who averaged 11.6 points, and point guard AJ Levine, who was dishing out nearly four assists a game. That’s a serious foundation, and it means Penn’s progress will be way easier to spot against a top team like Illinois. They’ve got nine players back from that tournament game, ready to show what they’ve learned.
But Don’t Sleep on No. 3 Illinois, Obvs
Look, we know Illinois is a beast. They’re No. 3 in the nation for a reason. They return five rotation players from that Final Four team, which is wild enough, but they also added transfer Stefan Vaaks and brought in a six-player freshman class. This team is loaded, and they showed it right away, opening their season with a ridiculous 120-45 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. That wasn’t just a win, they set program records for margin of victory and three-pointers made. They’re flying high, and they’ve got national expectations.
More Than Just a W, This Is About Progress
Let’s be real, Penn has never beaten Illinois, losing all seven of their previous matchups, including that devastating tournament game last season. A win on Thursday would be monumental, a headline-grabbing upset for sure. But here’s the kicker: the Quakers can learn a ton even if the final score doesn’t go their way. The real question is whether this returning core can make the game competitive.
This Thursday is an early, critical test of Penn’s ceiling. It’s a chance to show everyone that last season’s breakthrough wasn’t a fluke, but the actual foundation for something bigger. Can they hang with a national powerhouse? Can they prove they’ve closed that 35-point gap?
So mark your calendars for Thursday, 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT, as Penn rolls into the State Farm Center. You can catch all the action on FS1. We’re about to find out if this squad is built different.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by The Sporting News.
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