Ivy League brought down by runner-up Big West in 3X3U Tournament quarterfinals

We’re not in Kansas anymore, but somehow Penn men’s basketball is still on the court.

At least a couple of them, that is. This weekend, senior guards Caleb Wood and Darnell Foreman, joined by Ivy League rivals Dartmouth guard Miles Wright and Princeton guard Amir Bell, competed in the Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship. Although the Ivy League looked like a tough out in the first two days, they were knocked out by the Big West in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

The 3X3U tournament is a competition pitting seniors from all Division-I basketball conferences against one another. Each team has three or four outstanding seniors from a conference, who have all exhausted their NCAA eligibility and will thus not be penalized for accepting money, should they win.

The rules of the game probably reminded the seniors more of playing pickup ball at recess rather than regulation college games: half-court, with rebounds cleared by passing beyond the arc, played to 21 or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. Players got two points for a shot from beyond the arc, one for an interior bucket, and had a 12-second shot clock.

In the first day of action against the Atlantic 10, the Ivy team came out hot, hitting a succession of twos and jumping out to a 12-6 lead in the first few minutes. It seemed like the Quakers-Tigers-Big Green squad were going to pull away with an early victory. But then, the heat started to dissipate — a shot bounced off the back of the rim, then another rolled around before falling out, then an A10 player got to the line, tying the game at 12-12.

The game stayed tight, until eventually Wood drained a bucket, shaking off his momentary cold spell, with more points added by Foreman. Bell made a monster block in the paint, recovering the ball and helping the Ivy team to put some distance between them and the A10 team once again. They kept this distance, eventually winning the game comfortably with time still left on the clock by reaching 21 points.

In the second game, the team matched up against the Patriot League. The game stayed close early, but the Ivy League pulled away as Foreman seemingly could not miss from two. Although the offense stalled a bit at 20, allowing the Patriot team a chance to come back, Dartmouth's Wright ended things with a beautiful floater in the post. Due to getting a bye in pool play, this sent the Ivy team to 3-0 in Pool 6, earning them a spot in the quarterfinals.

It was here, though that the run would come to an end. Matching up against the Pool 3 winner and eventual tournament runner-up, the Big West, the Ivy team had their tournament run cut short due to elite two-point shooting from their opponents. The Big West jumped out to an early lead, and a series of missed layups and turnovers kept the Ivy team off the board. Down by nearly double digits, their shooting returned late but was not enough to close the deficit.

The Ivy League played well, but in the end couldn't put together a comeback against a very talented Big West team. For their excellent performance in pool play, they'll leave the tournament with $3,000. Although the tournament result isn't what the players might have hoped, it was certainly a treat for Quakers fans to get to see their beloved seniors one last time.