Penn students react to their first basketball game

We ran a nice little graphic in today's print version of the DP, but we didn't have room to include all of the great responses we heard from students in attendance at Monday's Penn-Princeton game. We asked first-timers (many of which were seniors) why they went, what they though of the game, and if they'll be back for the Harvard game.

Jake Meiner, Freshman College Well it was, of course, the Penn-Princeton game, and I couldn’t imagine missing a game as exciting as a game against one of our archrivals. But all of my friends were going and it seemed like the best thing to do on a Monday night, was to go out and support the Quakers at the Palestra.

I thought it was absolutely so exciting. The second I got there I was swept up in all the energy and commotion going on in there in support of the Quakers. And just like everybody else I was screaming for Zack Rosen, and absolutely bleeding Red and Blue last night. It was a lot of fun.

Absolutely. Literally sitting at halftime, we all turned to each other and went, ‘alright, we all have to buy tickets now for the Harvard game!’ but yeah, now that we’ve all been sucked into Penn men’s basketball, there’s no turning back now.

Nitin Puri, Senior Engineering Honestly last night I was with Friars. It was a Friars event, so I decided to go and the Penn-Princeton rivalry also influenced my decision on going.

I thought the game was really, really exciting. It’s kind of sad that I hadn’t been to a basketball game before, because I’m a big basketball fan. I had a lot of fun watching them. I think Penn played pretty well, so it was fun.

Personally, I didn’t have a lot of friends always excited to go to Penn sports games, and I also didn’t feel like there was a lot of general campus hype to go to a sports game. So in the past I’ve been to a couple football games, and going to the basketball games .. also usually fell on nights that I wasn’t available in the past.

I think that there was more [hype], definitely. I think there was a lot more promotion going on for this game than for games in the past, but that could have just been because I had heard of it, so when I talked with other people it came up more. So I don’t know. I feel like yes, there was a little more hype.

I definitely do want to go back, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to the Harvard game just because of other time commitments on that night, but yeah I’m definitely trying to go to another basketball game — or several basketball games — before I graduate.

Thadeus Dowad, Senior College

I’ve always wanted to go to a game. But for me it was hard to wrangle my friends into going to one. Definitely having Friars who are not only interested in being together, but also because Zack and Tyler are on Friars, getting to see them as well and rooting them on personally was also very fun with a group of people. That definitely helped, but I’ve always had an interest in going to see a game — especially against Princeton. I think it definitely is still a Penn tradition, and seeing them do so well last night, and in a contentious game, was really fun. And the rivalry is definitely still alive.

It was intoxicating and it was electric, it was really phenomenal. Especially with the Red and Blue Crew there, and all the posters they brought, and the band. We were sitting across from them so we got to see everything they were doing. And it was great. The Palestra was pretty much full except for the corners, and having all those people there — and not just people, but students as well — definitely got me pumped up more than I think it would have if they weren’t there, for sure.

No, I think I would definitely go back to see them play, especially now that I’ve seen them play. You hear about, especially Zack and Tyler and some other players, you hear about them all the time. And because I’m friends with them as well, I would definitely, absolutely go back and see them. Even if I wasn’t friends with them, I think I still would, now that I’ve seen them play. They’re a fantastic team. And they make for- the games are great, I’ve only seen one so I don’t know if all of them are like that, but if they were I’d go back in a heartbeat. And I look forward to going back- I’m definitely going to go to the game against Harvard, I can’t wait for that.

Mark Nakahara, Senior College I enjoyed it. It was nice because in my past years here it’s been over break so it’s nice to be able to go to one where everyone is on campus. I just read about it in the paper and from my friends. One of my roomates said, ‘This should be a good game, you wanna go?’ and I said sure. It was a lot of fun. It reminds me when I went to game when I was visiting Penn when I was still in high school when were top of the Ivy League and it was a really good atmosphere. I’d like to [go to more games]. It seems like the team is putting together its first good season in a few years.

Eleanor Geise, Senior College

I’m a senior and I was hoping to finally be able to see Penn beat Princeton before I graduated. I was excited to see so many other students there. I think Zack Rosen’s a beast. I’d like to see more people going to other games. If more people went, it would be more fun. Yeah, I’m definitely going to go when we play Harvard. Hopefully we can beat them even though they’re like crazy good. If a lot of students started going to the games regularly, I ‘d start going more frequently because it’s not that fun to go to the games if there’s like 20 students there.

Brian Waweru, Freshman

The game was really exciting. I loved the energy and the stage. I think the Penn Basketball team really displayed some good basketball. That was my first Penn game and I chose to attend because of the hype that it had been advertised with on Locust. I think it was really the first game where I felt the need to go and support my team. It was a good feeling to be expecting the game one day and finally going the next. I really hope the entire Penn community can hype up basketball more. I don’t think games should be happening and having results, there should be a locust desk for every week and every game just to build a lot of hype on campus.

I loved the energy and the stage. I think it was really the first game where I felt the need to go and support my team. I really hope the entire Penn community can hype up basketball more.