Sport Basketball Meetings total 26 | Next meeting TBA All-time series Penn leads 16–10 | |
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First meeting December 14, 1920
Penn 28, Drexel 10 Latest meeting December 28, 2016
Penn 75, Drexel 67 | ||
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 US 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 University for the first time in team history. Beginning in 2015, the location began alternating between the two schools.
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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
Hiatus in 2011, 2013, and 2014
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 annual game was to be played. Initially in 1997, the teams agreed to play all of the rivalry games at the Palestra, as this is where the Philadelphia Big 5 and City 6 games are generally played at; however, since then Drexel's basketball has greatly improved and Drexel favored changing the rivalry so that the location is alternated between the schools every season. The teams resumed play in the 2012–13 season at The Palestra, but did not play again the following season. In the 2015–16 season, Penn agreed to resume the series at Drexel after a 2-year hiatus. From that point forward, it appears that the location of the game will alternate between The Palestra and Daskalakis Athletic Center each season.
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.