Players and coaches alike know what a special year this is for Penn basketball, as the Palestra celebrates its 100th anniversary. Expectations are high for this season, with the hope that the Palestra will get to see new banners raised to its rafters in the spring. That quest started this Saturday with the annual Red and Blue Scrimmage.
The women’s team got off to a quick start, with veterans providing a significant force on the court, most notably returning senior guard Mataya Gayle and junior forward Katie Collins. This dynamic duo, the team’s leaders in points last season, led the Red to a commanding win over the Blue, marking the official start of Gayle’s last season.
“I’m proud … I feel really ready, and I just want to give it all I have in my last year,” Gayle said.
The squad also looks poised to introduce some new faces, including freshman guard Rachel Thatcher, who tied Gayle for the Red team high in points during the scrimmage. Yet, between the veterans and the rookies, coach Mike McLaughlin views his team as ready for the season’s grind.
“They’re competitive and determined,” McLaughlin said. “The competitive pizza has so many layers to it — you have to compete in practice, when you walk in, on the court. You want to be really good; they want to be good.”
The Quakers are looking to rebound from a season where they finished fifth in the Ivy League standings, just one game behind Brown for Ivy Madness qualification. McLaughlin emphasized, “It’s not been our talking point. You reset after each year. We want to end up there, then we will.”
They look to start their trek to that final destination at the Palestra on Tuesday, Nov. 3, where the Quakers open the season against the Swarthmore Garnet.
The men’s scrimmage was an uber-competitive, high-scoring affair with several early lead changes. This 2026-27 rendition of the reigning Ivy champions features several new faces who looked ready to make an immediate impact.
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Junior guard and Notre Dame transfer Sir Mohammed led all scorers with his 32-point, 12-rebound outing, securing the win for team Blue. Many returners also had big days, with senior forward Augustus Gerhart, sophomore center Dalton Scantlebury, and junior guard AJ Levine all recording double-doubles. With this blend of experienced players and newcomers, coach Fran McCaffery trusts that his veterans will help ease the new additions’ transition into the system.
“We have a lot of returners, which is good for the young guys that come in to have those guys to help mentor them, along with the coaching staff, and they pick stuff up pretty quickly,” McCaffery said.
Sophomore guard Jay Jones played a major role in the Quakers’ 9-2 stretch in the last 11 games of the 2026 season, where his minutes per game doubled in comparison to the previous 16 games he played. Jones is confident in the combination of McCaffery’s coaching style with the talent on this year’s roster.
“We got a lot of new guys this year. They’re all buying in,” Jones said. “I mean, I feel like we got a bunch of talented dudes, so it’s like the way Coach Fran coaches, like [it] could be anybody’s night any given day.”
Senior forward TJ Power notably did not suit up for the preseason scrimmage. Last March, Power’s 44-point performance sent the Quakers to the Big Dance in an upset overtime victory over Yale in the Ivy Madness championship game. He has the same expectations this season after last season’s success.
“Our expectations internally are the same, and that’s to get the most out of this group as possible,” Power said. “Externally, people are really expecting big things out of us, which is a good foundation.”
Last season Penn men’s basketball impressed, winning the Ivy tournament in a season where preseason polls projected they would finish seventh in the conference. Going into his second year at the helm, McCaffery makes it clear that success is the standard.
“We have an expectation for how this program is going to be: successful. So that doesn’t change no matter what,” McCaffery said.
The Penn men will open their season in a March Madness rematch against the Fighting Illini in Champaign County, Ill., on Thursday, Nov. 5, before making their home debut on Monday, Nov. 9, against Howard.
