Just over one year ago at the Palestra, all eyes were on then-Princeton star guard Xaivian Lee. NBA scouts flocked to the Cathedral of College Basketball to lay their eyes on the projected 2025 second-round NBA draft pick. However, Lee was shut down by an unexpected Quaker: then-freshman guard AJ Levine.
Levine, who spent most of the game defending Lee, was a force to be reckoned with — filling the stat sheet with four steals and holding the star to three out of 13 attempts from the field. However, silencing Lee was not enough to rewrite the story as Penn fell 61-59 to Princeton for the 12th straight time.
A year later, when Penn was in danger of repeating history for a 15th time, Levine stout defense saved the day. After trading triples heading to the final minute, the matchup was a one-point game. With seconds winding down and Princeton defenders surrounding him, senior guard/forward Ethan Roberts felt the pressure, and his jumper bounced off the rim. On the final possession, Penn needed a stop to make history, and Levine delivered. He was all up in Princeton guard Dalen Davis’ face, poking away the ball and forcing Davis to shoot a fadeaway that bounced off the rim. At the final buzzer, the scoreboard showed what no one had seen in eight years: a Penn victory over Princeton.
“I did everything I could in that moment. I put my entire effort out there, all game. There was not a moment where I let up,” Levine said post-game. “I feel like I put everything into that stop at the end. Once [the shot] missed, it was the biggest relief ever.”
That stop — which will likely end up being a career highlight — naturally deserves praise, but Levine himself deserves a lot of flowers for his growth and how integral he is in the Quakers’ quest for an Ivy Madness berth this season.
Levine has always been an aggressive defender. At the end of last season, Levine led the Quakers in steals; and this season, he now leads the Ivy League in steals with two per game in conference play. While Levine certainly know how to put the pressure on his opponent, it isn’t without some consequence as Levine also led the Quakers in personal fouls with 2.6 per game last year.
“My mindset is that I have the advantage. I know what you’re going to do, and I’m going to beat you to it,” Levine told The Daily Pennsylvanian last year regarding his defense. “You think you can score on me? No. … I don’t care who you are; I am going to guard you.”
That’s not to say that Levine can’t contribute on the other end of the court, and he’s proven that this season.
In the 2024-25 season, Levine only hit double figures in two games and averaged four points per game at the end of the season. With six games left in the 2025-26 season, he has already notched double-digits eight times and is averaging 12.1 points in conference play.
Something that flew under radar is that Levine was an integral contributor in multiple matchups where Penn’s usual scorers were cold — including a win against NJIT with six players out, a win at Dartmouth, and a narrow loss at Columbia. That trend continued on Saturday. Outside of junior forward TJ Power, Levine was the only other double-digit scorer in the victory while two of Penn’s offensive triple threat — senior guard/forward Michael Zanoni and team leading scorer Roberts — combined for just five points.
“Understanding the flow of the game, being able to push the ball, seeing the floor in the game a little bit slower to make the right decisions,” Levine said of his increased offensive production post-game against Princeton. “At times, I was passing up those scoring opportunities early in the season, and those weren’t the right decisions. It was about making the right decision. And recently, that's been scoring for me.”
While it's clear how integral Levine is now, things did look a bit different at the beginning of this season.
Levine’s position as starting point guard was not as established as it is now. In the first four games of the season, Levine struggled with turnovers and fouls. Specifically at American, Levine clocked in for five minutes and racked up three personal fouls and three turnovers in that time. During the middle of non-conference play, Levine split minutes with senior guards Cam Thrower and Dylan Williams.
However, through conference play, Levine has been Penn’s old reliable — playing over 20 minutes of nearly every Ancient Eight showdown and making contributions on both ends of the court.
“The way [AJ] got himself to a good start in both hands today, but his decision making is just so much improved,” coach Fran McCaffery said. “He's playing under control. He’s playing with great confidence, and that's how we're going to continue to play.”
While his teammate Power is this week’s Ivy League Player of the Week, give the sophomore his flowers — not just because of his historic stop this weekend, but for how far he’s come in just a short amount of time. With his two-way threat and competitive mindset, Levine can be the difference maker as the Quakers sit in a four-way tie for third in the final stretch of the season.
VALERI GUEVARRA is a Nursing and Wharton senior from Wyckoff, N.J. studying nursing and healthcare management and also a former DP sports editor. All comments should be directed to dpsports@thedp.com.
