Junior forward TJ Power was making headlines before he touched down on Locust Walk. As the first former five-star recruit in program history, Power had expectations to live up to.
With stellar regular season averages of 16.4 points per game and 43.2% shooting on triples, Power earned unanimous first team All-Ivy honors and helped the Quakers to a third place finish in the conference, clinching their first Ivy Madness berth in three years. With senior guard/forward and leading scorer Ethan Roberts out for the postseason due to a concussion, Power was primed to lead the charge.
After winning the semifinal behind a Power double-double, the Red and Blue was set to face the regular season champions and title favorites Yale in the final.
In the championship game, Power made an immediate impact, scoring 23 points in the first half alone. As Yale started to gain momentum during the second half, Power responded with ferocity. Just as the Bulldogs seemed poised to take their second consecutive Ivy tournament title, Power sunk a pair of threes at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
His late-game free throws were critical to the Quakers’ eventual 88-84 victory. When the dust settled, Power had dropped 44 points in 43 minutes, tying former Harvard guard Harmoni Turner for single-game scoring in an Ivy Madness contest.
Although Power’s season ended less than a week later with a first-round March Madness elimination, he helped bring the program back to glory in his first season at Penn and became the students’ hero for a week.
Honorable mentions: freshman throws specialist Jessica Oji breaks the African shot put record at Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Track & Field Championships; women’s swimming and diving achieves highest finish in program history at Ivy League Championships
Check out the rest of the end-of-year awards for the 2025-26 season here.
