Hoopsters Hope to Find Groove Against Bears

Five games into the league play portion of the schedule, Harvard finds itself in an unfamiliar spot—looking up in the league standings.

The Crimson (9-9, 2-3 Ivy) will try to improve its position tonight when it takes on rival Brown in Providence, RI. Harvard has played with a befuddling inconsistency this season, flip-flopping wins and losses in the last six games. In the process, the squad has rattled off just one streak of even two games—winning or losing—in 18 contents this season.

Incidentally the back-to-back wins came in late November, during the first week of play. Nevertheless, there is reason for optimism, as the team has demonstrated poise and resiliency despite some tough losses.

The Crimson is playing especially well of late, coming off a competitive game against Penn—a game decided by a single point—and a 96-62 trouncing of Princeton this past weekend.

“We are really upset because we have lost nine games,” said junior center Reka Cserny. “But we realize we are still in the race. The games have been so close. Even if we didn’t win, we played some games really well.”

In Brown (10-9, 3-3), Harvard will likely face a hungry opponent, with the Bears coming off a heartbreaking 68-66 loss to Columbia, placing them just half a game above the Crimson in the league standings.

Both teams are looking up at the Quakers, who sport a perfect 5-0 Ivy League record. Nevertheless, not many of the players are too concerned with the standings at this juncture of the season.

“It’s still early in league play,” said sophomore guard Jessica Holsey. “The fact that [Brown is] above us now really won’t mean anything in the end.”

The Bears present some potentially difficult matchup problems for Harvard. The Rhode Island team distributes the ball extremely well—a fact underscored by the fact that five different players have led the team in scoring this season.

In fact, five players average over nine points on the Brown squad, with no player averaging more than 15. Therefore, shutting down any particular player is no guarantee of success for the Crimson.

Stingy defense across the entirety of the floor, especially down low, will be key to victory, Cserny said.

“Brown has no great outside shooters,” Cserny said. “They drive to the net, box out and get rebounds. They are aggressive. [Our] focus will be on defense and rebounds.”

“We’ve been focusing a lot on defense,” Holsey added. “If we execute and play defense like we know we can play, then it shouldn’t be a problem.”