Penn won the Ivy League regular season championship for the eighth time in 10 years and participated in the 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament.

In the national semifinals, they lost to a Michigan State team that included Magic Johnson, and an overtime loss in the third-place game against DePaul ended their season.

In 1969–70, the Quakers lost only once in 26 regular season games and reached the top 10 in multiple national polls before a first-round loss in the NCAA tournament.

[3] Before the 1977–78 season, Bob Weinhauer became the Quakers' head coach, taking the job previously held by Chuck Daly.

[7] In addition, Penn participated in the annual Big 5 series against other Philadelphia colleges, having finished in at least a share of first place in the competition six times in the previous nine years.

[8] In the consolation game of the Cabrillo Classic, the Quakers allowed San Diego State to score 110 points in a blowout loss.

[8] By the time Penn suffered its first defeat in 12 conference games, against Columbia, the team had clinched the Ivy League title and become the first NCAA tournament qualifiers of the season.

[7] With home wins over Yale and Brown, the Quakers ended the regular season 13–1 in the Ivy League record and 21–5 mark overall.

[10] They were forced to play an opening round game on March 9 against first-time NCAA Tournament participant Iona.

Behind a combined 28 points by Price and Willis, the Quakers jumped out to a 41–29 advantage at halftime, before an Iona rally in the second half brought the Gaels to within 57–55.

[4] Penn's opponent in the East region's semifinals was Syracuse, which had become the favorite to advance to the Final Four after North Carolina and Duke had been knocked out.

[13] Price and Smith made all 10 of their second half field goal attempts to help bring Penn back from a deficit.

[4] The game was tied with 23 seconds to play, when Salters was fouled and made two free throws to give Penn the lead.

[10] The Quakers' imminent appearance at the Final Four in Salt Lake City sparked celebrations on the University of Pennsylvania campus, including a rally that drew almost 10,000 fans.

[4] Johnson led the Spartans in their victory over the Quakers with 29 points, as he made nine of his 10 shot attempts and 11 of his 12 free throws; his 10 rebounds and 10 assists gave him a triple-double.

[16] The Quakers then played a third-place game against DePaul, in which Price scored 21 first-half points (of his 31 overall) that helped reduce an early 23-point deficit to 11 by halftime.

[20] After being named the Ivy League Player of the Year for 1978–79, and scoring 23.7 points per game in the NCAA Tournament,[16] Price was chosen by the Detroit Pistons in the 1979 NBA draft.

[3] Weinhauer coached one further season at Penn, in which St. John's defeated the Quakers in their first NCAA tournament game, before leaving the program for Arizona State.