A trip to Ithaca is never pleasant this time of year due to its lack of cellphone service and subarctic conditions.

For a moment, it looked as if Penn basketball had turned a corner when it gave then-No. 5 Villanova a serious scare at home on Saturday. Apparently not. Playing to a mostly-empty Palestra crowd, the Quakers came out sleepwalking against Monmouth and paid dearly.

Looking to go 4-0 in the Big 5 on the season, the Red and Blue instead found themselves at the mercy of a Villanova squad firing on all cylinders, losing 70-44.

With Penn basketball approaching the midway point in its season, fans and opposing coaches alike seem to think they know what Penn is made of. But the advanced stats tell the whole story.

There will always be those who are staunch defenders of anti-tournament model for the Ancient Eight, but that’s exactly what it is: ancient.

While winter break may have just been a break from classes for most Penn students, the men and women’s squash teams used it to get a leg up on their opponents.

With Ivy League play looming, the Quakers (4-9, 0-1 Ivy) look to continue their success against MAAC teams - they are 2-1 this season with wins over Marist and Niagara - with Wednesday's game against Monmouth (9-9).

It's apt to think of a collegiate track team like a car: if left to sit alone in a garage for the winter, it mostly likely won't be going from zero to sixty in record time on the first time out. With that said, Penn track showed no real signs of stalling in its first competitive action since winter break, collecting 11 victories in Saturday’s Angry Birds Invitational at Lehigh. The men’s team finished second out of five squads, losing only to Monmouth while compiling 131 total points.

Once again, Penn finds itself .500 on the week. For the second time in as many weekends, both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams split their respective Ivy dual meets, with both programs defeating Brown while falling to Harvard on Saturday. On the men’s side, the Quakers finished their regular season against the Ivy League with a 203-95 win over Brown and a 190-108 loss to Harvard. The men’s squad was anchored by its pair of standout juniors, as Eric Schultz and Chris Swanson both scored maximum points for Penn in their freestyle events.

After a less than stellar winter break, Penn wrestling needed some sort of success to right the ship before opening Ivy play.

For Thomas Munson's photo recap of Penn men's basketball's game against Villanova: http://www.thedp.com/gallery/villanova-escapes-penn-mens-hoops

Going into Saturday’s matchup, things weren’t exactly looking up for Penn basketball. Despite completing the squad's first three game winning steak in over two seasons earlier this year, the outlook for the Red and Blue looked decidedly bleak after blowing a 15-point lead to Princeton last Saturday. And, as most expected, the Quakers fell to No.

Villanova possessed too much fire power for the Quakers to handle, handing Penn its 11th consecutive Big 5 defeat, 62-47

With a trip to Sunshine State for anything but a vacation in the rear view for Penn swimming, will the training be worth it?

It isn’t every night that Penn basketball gets to play in front of a sold-out crowd, but Saturday’s game against No. 5 Villanova isn’t an ordinary night.

In the first meeting between the two teams since 1995, the Quakers defeated Richmond for the first time in school history, 49-47, off the strength on a late three from freshman Anna Ross.

It’s a new year with a new lineup for Penn, yet the Red and Blue’s results were similarly lackluster. Following a mediocre performance at the prestigious Midlands Championships, the Quakers under-impressed in their dual meet with Iowa State.