Drexel rarely wins at the Palestra. Coach Bruiser Flint is 3-11 at "College Basketball's Most Historic Gym" since taking over the Dragons in 2001.
But he's not completely savoring the most recent victory, a 67-59 overtime victory over Penn on Friday. In fact, he wishes it had come at his own DaskalakisAthletic Center.
"It's the 20th meeting of Drexel-Penn," he said after the game. "Not one time have they come to the 'DAC'."
"At some point in time, you've gotta stop that, man. You can't keep going in the lion's den. You're gonna get shredded."
The Big 5 schools rotate their round-robin games so that each school can host some - or choose to hold its 'home' games at the Palestra, as Saint Joseph's currently does.
But Penn has not extended a similar privilege to Drexel, which is not a Big 5 member.
"If I was Penn, I'd love it too," Flint said, drawing chuckles from reporters assembled in the Palestra's media room.
"'Come on Drexel, play us every year, play us down at our place.' Every year. 20 games - I've [coached in] seven of them - not one time have [the Quakers] walked down the street," he said.
"They can walk down the street too. They can do it too, man."
Flint has complained before about other teams' unwillingness to play at the DAC, a cozy-yet-intimidating 2,500-seat venue.
No major-conference or Big 5 team has scheduled a game at the DAC during his seven-year tenure.
Drexel did host North Carolina State in the first round of last year's NIT. After coming back to beat the Dragons, some of N.C. State's players admitted to being rattled by the DAC's "high-school gym" atmosphere.
But that's not enough for the former UMass coach, who went on the road to beat Villanova and Syracuse back-to-back last year.
"You know what? I want somebody to step up in the city and come to my building and play me, now," he said. "Put that in the paper for them guys. Come to my building and play me.
"If you beat me, fine, cause I've been playing at y'all spots. Come to my building and play me."
