Battle of 33rd Street

Last updated
Battle of 33rd Street
Sport Basketball
Location Philadelphia
First meetingDecember 14, 1920
Penn 28, Drexel 10
Latest meetingDecember 7, 2024
Drexel 60, Penn 47
Stadiums Daskalakis Athletic Center
Palestra
Statistics
Meetings total28
All-time seriesPenn leads 17–11
Regular season seriesPenn leads 17–11
Postseason resultsNone
Largest victoryPenn, 48–16 (1922)
Smallest victory1 (1988, 2015)
Longest win streakPenn, 7 (1920–1928)
Current win streakDrexel, 1 (2024–Present)
Battle of 33rd Street
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220m
240yds
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Penn
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Drexel
Locations of Drexel and Penn

The Battle of 33rd Street rivalry refers to the men's college basketball rivalry between Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania ('Penn') in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rivalry is fueled by the proximity of the schools to each other, as the rivalry is known for being the closest geographical rivalry in NCAA Division I college sports. The campuses of the two schools share a physical border, and the teams' home courts are mere blocks away from each other, as Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center is located at 34th and Market Street, and Penn's historic Palestra is located on 33rd Street south of Walnut Street. The series was originally played at the Palestra every year until 2015 with the exception of the 2008 game, when Penn played at Drexel for the first time in team history. Beginning in 2015, the location began alternating between the two schools.

Contents

Beginning with the 2023–24 season, Drexel officially became part of the Philadelphia Big 5, which historically included the Philadelphia area's five other Division I programs—Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova. The current Big 5 format sees the six teams divided into three-team pods, with Drexel and Penn being placed in separate pods. While they will likely continue to play annually, they will not do so within the Big 5 unless both teams finish in the same position in their respective pods. [1]

The teams began playing against each other annually during the 1996–97 NCAA basketball season. Previous to this season, the teams faced each other only eight times. Seven of those games were during the 1920s, where Penn won all seven, and the eighth game was in 1988, where Drexel won 70–69.

Results

Drexel victoriesPenn victories

Hiatus in 2011, 2013–2014, 2017–2021

In the 2011–12 season, Drexel and Penn did not play against each other, ending a 14-year streak due to a dispute over where the game should be played. In 1997, the teams agreed to play their games at the Palestra, as it is where many Philadelphia Big 5 and City 6 games are generally played at. However, since then, Drexel's basketball team had greatly improved, and Drexel favored changing the series structure so that the location would alternate between the schools each season. The teams resumed play in the 2012–13 season at The Palestra, but did not play again until the 2015–16 season, when Penn agreed to resume the series at Drexel. From that point forward, the location of the game would supposedly alternate between The Palestra and Daskalakis Athletic Center each season, although after Drexel returned to the Palestra in the 2016–17 season, the teams did not continue the series until 2022.

Other events

The schools also occasionally face each other in other sports, including lacrosse, women's basketball, and field hockey.

On March 11, 2014, Drexel and Penn faced each other in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. The teams earned automatic bids by winning each of their conference tournaments, and marked Drexel's first invitation to the national championship. The game was played at Franklin Field, and the Dragons defeated the Quakers by score of 16–11 to advance to the tournament quarterfinals.

See also

References

  1. Gelston, Dan (April 11, 2023). "Say goodbye to tradition: Philadelphia's Big 5 gets facelift". Associated Press. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  2. "New Gym Informally Opened by Osteopathy Game" (PDF). The Triangle. 16 January 1929. p. 1. Retrieved 24 March 2017.