Battle of 33rd Street

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.

Battle of 33rd Street

Drexel Dragons Penn Quakers
Sport	Basketball
Location	Philadelphia
First meeting	December 14, 1920 Penn 28, Drexel 10
Latest meeting	November 15, 2022 Penn 64, Drexel 59
Stadiums	Daskalakis Athletic Center Palestra
Statistics
Meetings total	27
All-time series	Penn leads 17–10
Regular season series	Penn leads 17–10
Postseason results	None
Largest victory	Penn, 48–16 (1922)
Smallest victory	1 (1988, 2015)
Longest win streak	Penn, 7 (1920–1928)
Current win streak	Penn, 2 (2016–Present)

300m
330yds

Penn

Drexel

  

Locations of Drexel and Penn

Beginning with the 2023–24 season, Drexel will officially become 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 new 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 victories

Penn victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 December 14, 1920 Weightman Hall Penn 28–10 2 December 7, 1921 Weightman Hall Penn 24–10 3 December 13, 1922 Weightman Hall Penn 48–16 4 December 8, 1923 Weightman Hall Penn 28–13 5 December 6, 1924 Weightman Hall Penn 34–11 6 December 11, 1926 Weightman Hall Penn 39–26 7 December 19, 1928 Palestra Penn 35–14 8 December 10, 1988 Palestra Drexel 70–69 9 January 15, 1997 Palestra Drexel 58–52 10 January 20, 1998 Palestra Penn 79–65 11 January 21, 1999 Palestra Penn 75–65 12 January 25, 2000 Palestra Penn 54–46 13 January 10, 2001 Palestra Drexel 68–63 14 November 28, 2001 Palestra Penn 89–80 No. Date Location Winner Score 15 November 25, 2002 Palestra Drexel 71–62 16 November 24, 2003 Palestra Penn 79–73 17 November 23, 2004 Palestra Penn 81–50 18 November 26, 2005 Palestra Penn 68–60 19 November 21, 2006 Palestra Penn 68–49 20 November 9, 2007 Palestra Drexel 67–59OT 21 November 18, 2008 Daskalakis Athletic Center Drexel 66–64 22 November 24, 2009 Palestra Drexel 58–49 23 November 20, 2010 Palestra Drexel 77–56 24 November 17, 2012 Palestra Drexel 61–59 25 December 22, 2015 Daskalakis Athletic Center Drexel 53–52OT 26 December 28, 2016 Palestra Penn 75–67 27 November 15, 2022 Daskalakis Athletic Center Penn 64–59 Series: Penn leads 17–10

• The game on December 19, 1928 was scheduled to be the first game played at Drexel, in the newly constructed Curtis Hall, however construction was not completed in time and the game was moved to Palestra.^[2]

• In 2008, at the first game in the series to be played at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, the game was featured on ESPN Hoops Marathon and tipped off at 10 a.m.

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

• Battle of the Ravine, a college football rivalry between two NCAA Division II programs with adjacent campuses

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.