Penn’s March Madness appearance by the numbers

Penn men’s basketball punched their ticket to March Madness after a thrilling upset against Yale in the Ivy League championship. As the team is headed to Greenville, S.C. in hopes of defeating No. 3 Illinois, here are some interesting stats about Penn’s history in March Madness.

3 — It has been three years since Penn coach Fran McCaffery’s last March Madness appearance, when he was the coach at Iowa.

5 — McCaffery has now led five different programs to the NCAA tournament, becoming the fifth coach to achieve this feat.

6 — Across 18 March Madness games, McCaffery has racked up six wins.

8 — It has been eight years since Penn last competed in the NCAA tournament. In 2018, they lost to Kansas in the first round.

13 — The Quakers have won 13 out of the 39 March Madness games they have contested. This puts their win ratio at one-third, exactly the same as that of McCaffery.

14 — Penn is seeded at No. 14 in the South region in this NCAA tournament, which pits them against No. 3 seed Illinois.

18 — The Red and Blue’s 18 wins so far this season are the most since the 2018-19 season. Their 62.1% win percentage is the highest since 2017-18.

25 — The Quakers have made it to March Madness 25 times, with their first appearance coming in 1953.

30 — Junior forward TJ Power has scored 30 points on average this postseason, with a record-breaking 44 points in the Ivy League championship game.

47 — It has been 47 years since Penn’s Final Four run in the NCAA tournament. McCaffery was a member of that team, but was only able to watch from the bench due to transfer regulations.

67.7 — The Quakers’ scoring average across 39 March Madness games is 67.7 points. 

76.1 — The Red and Blue have scored an average of 76.1 points per game this season.

2024 — The last time a No. 14 seed upset a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament was in 2024, when Oakland beat Kentucky.

Penn will play against Illinois at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in South Carolina on Thursday, 9:25 p.m.