In a nearly sold-out Palestra, the Red and Blue  were locked into a hard-fought matchup the whole game against the Owls, but ultimately fell 60-51.

The seasons of both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have been defined by a series of ebbs and flows. The men sit at 4-4, the women at 4-5, and both teams have blown out and been blown out by their competitors.

Of course, braving the sub-zero temperatures and seemingly endless bus rides was not purely for fun. This “vacation” was actually a NCAA-sanctioned international tour, which is allowed once every four years. And, with this being the lucky year, coach Jack Wyant took his squad north for the training retreat.

11 years. That's how long it's been since the last time Penn men's basketball defeated Temple in 2007 — which is also the year of the Quakers' last NCAA tournament appearance. Behind the superb play of sophomores Ryan Betley and AJ Brodeur, the Quakers are confident they can take their first win over Temple in a decade.  

For the Quakers, the only starter who was not previously a fixture in the starting lineup is junior forward Max Rothschild. After averaging 13.6 minutes per game and starting three games combined in his first two seasons at Penn, Rothschild has averaged 23.9 minutes per game this season, starting all 17 games. And so far, he has validated coach Steve Donahue’s decision to increase his role.

Over 100 NFL hopefuls will take the field Saturday in the East-West Shrine Game, the longest-running annual college football all-star game. Watson — who is Penn’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and all-purpose yards — is one of 13 wide receivers hoping to stand out this weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. He is one of seven on the roster for the East Team.

In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, we look at several individual and team records that were broken this weekend, as well as a few key numbers that allowed men's squash and women's basketball to emerge victorious.

Following the sweeps, two stars of the Penn men’s and women’s basketball programs, sophomore forward AJ Brodeur and freshman center Eleah Parker, were named Ivy League Player of the Week for their contributions.

Just a week after freshman Andrew Douglas’ comeback win to beat No. 6 Rochester, Penn needed another ninth game win to beat Yale 5-4. Meanwhile, Penn’s women fell to the Elis by the same score. Against Brown on Sunday, both teams eliminated any chance for a dramatic ending by sweeping the Bears 9-0.  

Both Red and Blue squads struggled in their final Ivy League meet of the regular season. The Quakers’ men fell to Harvard, 181-108, while the women fell respectively to Brown and Harvard by scores of 178-119 and 197-100. 

Experience certainly reigned supreme for Penn wrestling in their first conference dual against Army on Sunday, as Penn's senior wrestlers — Joe Olivia, Joe Velliquette, May Bethea, and Frank Mattiace — led the Quakers to their 19-18 victory on criteria. 

Penn fencing had an up and down weekend against some of the top fencing programs in the country.   The Quakers (11-4 for both men and women) had a busy weekend in State College, Pa. The men and women defeated North Carolina and Haverford but fell short to Columbia, Penn State, and Duke.

As great as this 3-0 conference start is, it’s not as if the Red and Blue are playing perfect basketball. Coach Steve Donahue acknowledged after the victory over Columbia that this team is still constantly trying to improve week to week and is learning how to close out basketball games. 

Sophomore forward AJ Brodeur filled up the statsheet for the Quakers (12-5, 3-0 Ivy) in Friday’s 69-61 victory against Cornell, only to come back the next night with an even better performance. In the Saturday night matchup versus Columbia, Brodeur led the Red and Blue in a tightly contested 77-71 victory.  

On Friday, Penn men's basketball played its second Ivy League game of the season, defeating rival Cornell, 69-61. The Quakers (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) were paced by AJ Brodeur with 18 points, while guards Ryan Betley and Darnell Foreman joined him in double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively. Overall, it was a strong win for the Red and Blue in the first of back-to-back home games.

After last week’s monumental victory over Princeton, the Quakers picked up right where they left off in Friday night’s game against Cornell. Behind 18 points, nine rebounds, and six assists from sophomore forward AJ Brodeur, Penn survived a late run from Cornell to win 69-61 in a game that the Red and Blue never trailed.

The absence of the Brown's men's swimming from the meet on Jan. 13 will change the approach that the Quakers plan to take in deciding this weekend’s lineups.