Reeling Lions, Second-Place Big Red Visit Crimson

If the Harvard men’s basketball team remains deep in thought about what might have been after its third close loss of the Ivy League season, it need look no further than tonight’s opponent to gain a measure of perspective.

Columbia (12-9, 3-5 Ivy) enters Lavietes Pavilion hoping to pick up the shattered pieces of a once-promising season. Since opening the league season at 3-1 and leading some to speculate that second-year coach Joe Jones had the Lions poised to contend for the championship, Columbia has lost four straight games to drop just a half game above last-place Dartmouth.

The Lions will be anxious to stop the bleeding against Harvard (9-12, 4-4), the last team Columbia beat. On Jan. 30, the Lions gritted out an ugly 57-55 decision by forcing Harvard to shoot 34 percent from the field and commit 19 turnovers.

“Columbia definitely is a team that takes all its assets and just works as hard as it can,” junior center Brian Cusworth said. “They take pride in trying to outwork their opponents.”

On paper, Harvard certainly was outworked in New York—the Lions topped the Crimson in both shots and rebounds.

In addition, Harvard held a crucial advantage in a different category—experience—and yet was unable to close the victory in the final minutes. The Crimson’s starting five contains only juniors and seniors and Columbia regularly suits up two freshman and a sophomore.

“Going into this game, we do have a lot more size, and a lot more experience,” Cusworth said. “That’s one of the advantages that we should have capitalized on last time.”

Harvard’s starting frontcourt of Cusworth (7’0) and junior forward Matt Stehle (6’8) boasts two players who are taller than any of the Lions who see regular game action, yet the duo combined for only 14 points in the Jan. 30 loss—13 fewer than the season average. Columbia outscored the Crimson in the paint, 16-12.

“[Columbia] did as good a job as anybody of getting their hand in the passing lanes to the post,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “Our four and five men really found that a little bit disconcerting.”

The Lions’ best player, forward Matt Preston, accounted for much of that stingy post defense. Preston, whose 15.1 points per game is good for third-best in the Ivy League, scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the teams’ first meeting. At 6’5, the swingman is an extremely difficult cover for Harvard’s bigger frontcourt players, and uses his smaller stature to an advantage on the defensive end by getting superior position and leverage in the post.

“Preston does a great job [on defense], because he gets so low,” Sullivan said. “Their post people get real low and play down below your shoulders...we have to be bigger [and] stronger.”

Though Preston represents Columbia’s primary threat, the Crimson will not be able to focus on stopping one player when it plays Cornell (10-11, 5-3) on Saturday night. The second-place Big Red has three players who score in double figures—forward Lenny Collins (14.1), guard Cody Toppert (11.9), and center Eric Taylor (11.5).

Harvard contained those three in its first meeting with Cornell this year, a 74-65 victory in Ithaca on Jan. 29. In that game, the Crimson shot a season-high 61 percent from the field, including 15-of-19 in the second half to help hold off a Big Red comeback.

“We got a lot of good looks [and] open shots by just being really patient...taking advantage of their press, [and] taking it hard to the basket,” Cusworth said.

If it holds serve against Columbia, Harvard will head into Saturday night’s game with the chance to move into second place. Counting on another hot-shooting night to pick up the win, however, would be unrealistic. For the Crimson to prevail, it must step up on defense against the Big Red, which ranks first in the league in field goal percentage (.455) and three-point shooting percentage (.384).

“We all know that we have to up our defensive intensity more against Cornell and not rely on the fact that we’re going to shoot the ball that well,” Sullivan said.

Lately, Harvard has shown a renewed commitment to just that kind of defense.

The Crimson has held its last three opponents—including Yale, the league scoing leaders—under 60 points.

“Our defense always tends to get better over the course of the year,” senior point guard David Giovacchini said. “In the Ivy League especially, you try to kick everything up a notch.”

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.