Junior Center Rejoins Lineup

Tomorrow afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion, the Harvard men’s basketball team will play the first of 14 straight playoff games.

The contest against Dartmouth (2-9) marks the beginning of conference play for the Crimson (8-5), which accounts for everything in the Ivy League, the only Division I conference without a postseason tournament. One misstep against an inferior team could very well punch an irreparable hole in the best hopes Harvard has had in years to beat out Penn for the Ivy League’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Harvard enters the crucible coming off the last and toughest segment of its non-conference schedule, having been dominated in blowout road losses to physical Boston College and Southern Methodist teams.

The Crimson will not face nearly as imposing a presence in the Big Green, which sits with Princeton at the bottom of the league standings.

The major challenge for Harvard will instead be to impress upon the team’s newcomers the heightened importance of each Ivy game, which leads to intense competition.

“It’s hard for all the freshmen to understand—we all had conference tournaments in high school,” first-year forward Evan Harris said. “I’ve never really been a part of anything where the regular season means everything.”

This year’s Crimson squad is reliant on rookies to a much larger extent than is usual for coach Frank Sullivan’s teams.

Starting point guard Drew Housman is first on the team in assists and steals and ranks fourth with 10.8 points per game, and Harris, moved into the regular rotation in the absence of junior center Brian Cusworth, has averaged 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds over the last three games. Neither of the players, however, has experienced the gauntlet of Ivy play.

“You lose one of these first two games to Dartmouth, you’re really fighting an uphill battle the whole time,” captain Matt Stehle said. “We’re trying to stress that, but they are only freshmen—it’s their first time through, they don’t really get it yet, unfortunately.”

Harvard has had a successful season thus far, as the eight victories tie a record for non-conference wins in the Sullivan era dating to the 1991-92 season, but such success does not automatically continue through to the intense Ivy campaign.

The last time the Crimson went 8-5 in non-conference play was the 2002-03 season, which ended in a disappointing 4-10 record against league foes.

“It’s hard for [non-conference winning] to transfer because the Ivy League season is so unique—the massive preparation during the week, understanding the magnitude of each game,” Sullivan said. “Each year you go through it as players, it becomes more like, ‘Now I understand.’”

The rookies will not have to bear as much of the pressure in tomorrow’s opener, however, as Harvard will be able to rely upon its full complement of veterans.

Cusworth, who missed the last seven games with a fractured left hand, had his cast removed Monday and will start against Dartmouth.

The return of the 7’0 center allows the Crimson to fully devote itself to the team’s blueprint—letting its post players go to work on smaller, less skilled big men.

That strategy could prove particularly effective against the Big Green.

“They’re definitely a perimeter-oriented team—even the big guys work outside in,” Cusworth said. “Our biggest emphasis has been out-toughing teams. That’s definitely going to be the emphasis in this game too, just to try to overpower them because we think we’re a lot tougher and a lot stronger.”

While none of the Big Green post players are taller than 6’9 or score more than seven points a game, Dartmouth’s shooting guards are a dangerous lot. The Big Green’s highest scorers are Leon Pattman (11.3 ppg) and Mike Lang (10.3), both of whom play the two guard.

Pattman, who missed virtually all of last season after earning league Rookie of the Year honors in 2004, likes to slash to the hoop for buckets, while Lang is more of an outside shooter. In Dartmouth’s win over Army on Wednesday, Lang nailed 5-of-7 from downtown and scored 17 points, and he scored 24 against Harvard in a 76-74 loss in Cambridge last year.

“I think Lang is one of the top three or four shooters in the league,” Stehle said. “[Dartmouth’s] record is really not indicative [of their ability]. They’ve played everyone tough, and they can really shoot the ball.”

Dartmouth certainly has played the Crimson tough in the past. Last year the Big Green finished 3-9 in non-conference play, but managed to split with Harvard by squeaking out an ugly 49-46 win that propelled them to a 7-7 league finish.

The Crimson, however, is convinced that result will not be repeated this year.

“That’s not going to happen,” Cusworth said. “The seniors have done a good job of establishing a sense of urgency. We can’t lose a game against Dartmouth.”

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