And that’s pretty much that. There’s little the ‘Cats did wrong in this game, as they displayed exactly the sort of balance that explains why they’re ranked No. 5/6 in the country. No one scored more than 16 points — and freshman Maalik Wayns was the one who did score a team-high 16 — while a total of six players scored in double figures. Penn actually led 5-4 early, but ‘Nova scored the next 16 points and used a relentless half-court trap to build a 55-25 lead at the break. The Wildcats were 11-for-21 from the arc (52.4 percent) and had a 45-27 rebounding edge. And Antonio Pena had a double-double (12 points, 10 assists). That makes 30 in a row at the Ski Lodge and 19 of 20 against the Big 5 for the Main Liners. Yikes.

Penn? Well, on the plus-side, senior Darren Smith scored 21, so perhaps he’s really read to roll after a two-year injury absence. But Tyler Bernardini played just 15 minutes, took just three shots and didn’t score. Not good. The Quakers also made just 9 of 32 3-pointers (28.1 percent). This was their worst regular season loss to the ‘Cats — the infamous 90-47 beating in a regional final of the 1971 NCAA tournament was worse, at least according to the final point differential — and they’ve now lost 10 straight Big 5 games.

Penn (0-2) plays Delware at home on Saturday in the first Palestra game of the year. ‘Nova (2-0) heads to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Classic, where it will play George Mason on Thursday afternoon.