BASKETBALL WITH COLUMBIA.

The University basketball team will play Columbia in the Hemenway Gymnasium this evening at 8 o'clock in the third game of the Intercollegiate League series on Harvard's schedule. The game is expected to be fast and close, for the Columbia team is strong and the University team has been improving steadily. The game will also be important as affording a good basis for comparing the relative strength of the different teams in the league.

Columbia has practically the same team that tied Harvard last year for second place in the league series. This year Columbia has defeated Cornell by the score of 29 to 13 and Princeton by the score of 31 to 16, and lost to Yale by the score of 14 to 12.

The University team began the season by defeating Princeton 24 to 9, and then lost to Cornell by the score of 23 to 9. Since the defeat by Cornell, however, the team has shown decided improvement. Both Linehan and Randall have since come out and Henderson has replaced Smith at forward. The strengthening effect of these changes was shown in the game with Pennsylvania last Saturday which was won by the score of 13 to 11, and in the easy victory over Brown Wednesday night.

The team lined up against the second team for a short period last night, and succeeded in throwing thirteen baskets in ten minutes. Individually, Hanavan, captain and right guard, is playing the best game; his work is fast and hard at all times. Randall at centre, still shows a tendency to tire in the last ten minutes of play. Fosdick at left guard has not reached his standard of last season; he is still weak in shooting goals and covering his opponent. Henderson at left forward plays a fast game and shoots with accuracy, but his lack of weight counts against him. Linehan at right forward shoots poorly, but covers well. The team as a whole now plays well together and shows snap and determination which have hitherto been lacking.

The line-up tonight will be as follows: HARVARD.  COLUMBIA. Hanavan, r.g.  l.f., Allen Fosdick, l.g.  r.f., Townsend Randall, c.  c., O'Connell Linehan, r.f.  l.g., Earle Henderson, l.f.  r.g., Elias