They are tough places to play — the Palestra in Philadelphia and Jadwin Gym in Princeton, N.J. — because of their history.

And Brown gets to play in both this weekend.

The Palestra, the 81-year-old hoops shrine adjacent to Franklin Field and home of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers, perennial Ivy League basketball power. Site of more games than any college basketball arena in the nation. Penn games. Big Five doubleheaders. Fifty-two NCAA Tournament contests. NBA games.

Penn defeated Yale, 26-15, in the Palestra opener on Jan. 1, 1927. A capacity crowd of 10,000 watched. The first NCAA championship was decided there in 1939. The Quakers won there just Tuesday night, beating Princeton.

Jadwin Gym, the spacious multipurpose facility that was cutting edge in form and function when it opened in 1969 and remains the envy of many institutions almost 40 years later. Jadwin Gym, 6,854-seat home of the Princeton Tigers, the other perennial Ivy power and winner of 80 percent of its home games.

Brown’s goal is to beat Penn at the Palestra tonight and Princeton at Jadwin tomorrow night. Brown (12-8, 4-2) has never swept Penn and Princeton on the road. The Quakers and Tigers no longer dominate as they did, but winning one, never mind two, will be a challenge.

“It’s very hard to win at the Palestra,” Bears coach Craig Robinson said. “There’s so much tradition, and they have such great fans. Psychologically, it’s hard. I’ve won there, but it’s tough. It is always a hard place to play. We really have to be on top of our game if we want to win.”

Penn (8-14, 3-2) has struggled this season, but Robinson said, “You can never write off a Penn team. They are coached by Glenn Miller, and it will be an important game for him. It was last year.”

Miller is the former Brown coach who produced four winning teams in seven seasons on College Hill. He guided the Quakers to a 22-9 record and Ivy League championship last year, his first at Penn.

Penn has won the last six games in this series and has the talent to make it seven in a row tonight. Tyler Bernardini is seventh in the league in scoring (13.0) and Brian Grandieri is ninth (12.4). Grandieri is also seventh in rebounding (5.6). Freshman Harrison Gaines is third in assists (3.56). Andreas Schreiber is tied for fourth in blocked shots with 22 in 22 games. Cameron Lewis has 17 and Justin Reilly 15.

“They like to put the ball in down low. It will be a physical game,” Robinson said. “We have the utmost respect for Penn and the job coach Miller is doing.”

As a team, Penn is fifth in scoring offense (66.2) but last in scoring defense (76.4). Brown, averaging 68.4 points, went over 70 in victories over Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend and should be able to score. The pressure will be on post players Matt Mullery and Mark McDonald to challenge Penn’s inside game yet stay out of foul trouble.

McDonald, the senior tri-captain who suffered a concussion in the Yale game three weeks ago and missed the Cornell-Columbia weekend , is overdue for a breakout game.

“I hope so,” Robinson said. “I think he was ready to have one and then got hurt.”

Princeton (5-15, 2-3) is a shadow of the teams Robinson played on when he was the two-time Ivy League player of the year. The Tigers have lost three in a row — to Cornell, Columbia and Penn — and will play Yale tonight.

“But both are storied programs,” Robinson said, “and at any moment those guys can turn it around.”

How storied? Penn and Princeton have won or shared 25 Ivy League champions each. Only Yale (4), Dartmouth (3), Cornell (1), Columbia (1) and Brown (1) have interrupted their reigns.

mszostak@projo.com