M. Basketball Notebook: One Last Chance

Heading into the second-to-last weekend of the Ivy League season, Harvard has one final shot at making a lasting impression at home in what has been an up-and-down season.

For the seniors, the final home stand of the year represents their last chance to prove themselves in front of friends and family.

Harvard (10-13, 5-5 Ivy) plays host to Yale (9-13, 5-4) tomorrow night at Lavietes Pavilion, and then faces Brown (10-13, 3-6) for Saturday’s Senior Night matchup.

“My family will be here,” said senior point guard David Giovacchini. “It is the last home game, so you’d like to go out on a winning note, like everybody does.”

The Senior Night tradition returns this season after a one-year hiatus, as the 2003-04 team had no graduating players. This year, the team has four—Giovacchini, center Graham Beatty, guard Kevin Rogus and captain Jason Norman.

“I have a lot of family coming in [who] haven’t seen me play too much,” said Norman, who hails from California. “I can’t wait to have them here and get these two wins this weekend.”

This year’s seniors have quite a legacy to live up to come Saturday. The last time the team had Senior Night, in 2003, captain Brady Merchant torched Brown for a school-record 45 points in a game which Harvard lost 83-80.

“I’d be happy to get half that,” Norman said.

Norman would likely be content with a win, and the first Harvard sweep of Brown since 1999.

SATURDAY SWOON

To pick up that victory, Harvard must break a disturbing pattern: on the second night of the Ivy League’s back-to-back weekend format, Harvard is 1-3, compared to 3-1 in openers.

“I can’t really explain that,” Norman said. “Fatigue is always a factor after back-to-back games, but Cornell didn’t have too much of a problem.”

In last Saturday’s loss to Cornell, the Crimson was outscored 45-37 after halftime, losing its lead and then the game. The Big Red, coming off a road game at Dartmouth the night before, exhibited more energy than Harvard, sweeping through a fatigued defense to shoot 70 percent in the second half.

“As the season winds down, it’s always tough to pick the energy up for that Saturday night game,” junior center Brian Cusworth said.

In light of last Saturday’s struggle to keep fresh down the stretch, the team has re-evaluated its preparation in practice this week.

“One thing the coaches in our league are always measuring when you get to this time of year is how much can you do during the week,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said, “[and] how much can you ask of the players in practice.”

Sullivan has lightened the load on his charges somewhat in anticipation of keeping the team fresh for its upcoming games.

“We’ve gone a little lighter this week, saving legs down the home stretch here,” Giovacchini said. “Hopefully that will help this weekend.”

MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR

Harvard’s big men were burned inside by the play of Cornell forward Ryan Rourke, who finished with 27 points and 10 boards. That performance was surprising due to the Crimson frontcourt’s customary dominance on both ends.

“Rourke unexpectedly hurt us last game,” Cusworth said. “We’ve said all along...that we have the best frontcourt in the league, and we do believe that with any team we should be able to take advantage of that.”

Harvard will have to shore up its interior defense against Yale in order to exploit its size. In the two teams’ meeting in New Haven, Bulldogs forward Dominick Martin shot 5-for-8 from the floor and scored 10 crucial second-half points. Possibly the Ivy League’s best pure post scorer, the 6’10 Martin is second in the league with a .540 field goal percentage, and is coming off a 20-point performance on 10-of-12 shooting in Tuesday’s loss to Brown.

“We’re talking about being much more aggressive in keeping the ball out of the post, and limiting [Yale’s] post touches,” Cusworth said.

JASON VS. JASON, PART II

Norman had perhaps his best defensive game of the year in the Crimson’s 64-53 win over Brown in Providence, as he held the leading scorer in the league, guard Jason Forte, to only 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting. The next night, he limited the league’s second leading scorer, Yale guard Edwin Draughan, to 3-of-10 shooting and just one point in the second half.

“You need somebody like [Jason] on every team, in terms of a guy saying, ‘I’ll take the best player,’” Sullivan said. “He took the charge of guarding those guys quite seriously.”

Harvard will have to hope that Norman is up to the task again this weekend. The Crimson captain knows that both players, especially a proud Forte, will be looking to put up big games.

“I’m sure [Forte] is going to come fired up,” Norman said. “He’s played some great games in [Lavietes].”

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