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D3 Ursinus Gets Rare Opportunity To Play Penn At Palestra

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Palestra is the type of place that every college basketball player dreams of playing in.

Usually it is only Division I players that get the chance to realize that dream, but on Saturday the window of opportunity will be open to the Division III Ursinus Bears as they take on the Penn Quakers.

This would look to be an unusual match-up until you realize that Penn head coach Steve Donahue is an Ursinus College product.

"I thought to give those kids an opportunity to play in the Palestra would be great," Donahue tells KYW Newsradio. "I practiced here when I was a player at Ursinus and I thought it was the greatest and could never imagine the opportunity to play Penn on this court, would be amazing. I'm really happy that we're able to give those kids that opportunity."

Listen to the entire interview with Penn head coach Steve Donahue

 

Needless to say, head coach Kevin Small and the squad at Ursinus did not have to be asked twice.

Ursinus
Kevin Small is in his 15th season as the head coach at Ursinus College. (Photo credit: David Morgan/Stylish Images, Inc.)

"I first reached out to our two captains," Small tells KYW Newsradio. "We have a pair of seniors, Malik Draper and Mark Wonderling. I proposed it as what if this would happened, not this was going to happen. They then called me every day for a week until it was a done deal. They were obviously thrilled and really excited to be able to have a chance to compete against a Division I team."

Listen to the entire interview with Ursinus head coach Kevin Small

 

Donahue graduated from Ursinus College in 1984, and his time in Collegeville is something he really treasures.

"Like all of us who have good experiences, it's the people," Donahue says. "I had great professors, people that really cared. The other part that I thought about was when you played Division III athletics, I didn't sense that they didn't think it was important. It was very important. It was a priority to be good and help you, support you, and try to help you be successful. Ursinus did that. That made me love basketball even more."

Small is looking forward to his team getting this very special basketball experience.

"We've got a whole lot of local kids on our roster," Small says. "They recognize what playing in the Palestra means and the opportunity and the history. But we also have three international kids on our roster and a bunch of kids from outside the area, and we're helping educate them about what the Palestra has meant for basketball here in the area, but also here in the U.S. And what the University of Pennsylvania has been over the last hundred years and what Philly Big 5 basketball is. So for us, it's more about teaching our group of guys just how sacred this moment is and how special the opportunity is and how grateful we are for Coach Donahue to offer it to our guys to play there."

Penn is 4-5 this season, Ursinus 1-4.

Saturday's game will tip-off at 2:30pm.

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