Ivy Powerhouses Visit Lavietes

After five contests spanning 34 days and four different states, the Harvard men’s basketball team finally comes home again.

The Crimson (12-7, 4-2 Ivy) returns to Lavietes Pavilion this weekend, taking on Princeton tonight and Penn tomorrow night.

The Tigers (5-12, 3-1) have been the surprise story of the early Ivy season, taking three of their first four league contests after entering conference play with a 2-10 mark. Both Princeton and Penn (12-6, 4-0) played their first four league games at home, raising a bit of skepticism around the league about whether the Tigers’ turnaround was a result of the beneficial schedule or a sign of a young team finally beginning to grasp the complexities of the Princeton offense.

The folks in Cambridge seem to be leaning toward the latter explanation.

“Even when they were getting blown out by everybody, we were always like, ‘they’re still Princeton,’” senior swingman Michael Beal said. “They’re still a threat, regardless of who they have on the floor, [and regardless of] how much they’re struggling. They’re still a threat and they will always be a threat in this league.”

“Coach told us you can never count this Princeton team out, because of how hard they play and because of the structure of their game,” senior center Brian Cusworth said.

Much of the improvement for the Tigers has come from behind the arc. While Princeton’s three-point shooting has remained relatively constant both before and during the league season, it is the Tigers’ three-point defense that has improved drastically.

The stronger defense combined with an increase in accuracy from the field on the offensive end has allowed Princeton to grow more comfortable with its own style of play.

That style would best be described as slow and directly contrasts with the tempo the Quakers will attempt to employ tomorrow night.

“It’s completely different,” Harvard captain Matt Stehle said. “Night and day. One’s slow and causes you to change your defensive strategy...and for Penn, it’s just speed. Speed, speed, speed. It’s ball screens and flare screens all around the free-throw line extended, which makes it very difficult.”

That speed has allowed Penn to become the highest scoring team in the Ivies this season, despite shooting among the worst in the league from the free throw line and from behind the arc.

The key for the Quakers is turnovers. Led by the league’s best pickpocket in guard Ibrahim Jaaber, Penn generates the most turnovers in the Ivies, while giving away the least. The Quakers are also the only team in the Ivies with an assist-to-turnover ratio above one.

These factors have allowed Penn to torch their first four Ivy opponents by an average of nearly 28 points per game.

“We know how good they are,” Stehle said. “It doesn’t matter if they had won each game by five or if they had won each game by 45. They’re the best team in the league right now, and somebody’s going to have to beat them. I’m hoping it’s us.”

As if beating the Quakers and Tigers isn’t tough enough, there is often a substantial group of Penn and Princeton fans that make the trip to Cambridge. The visitors to Lavietes Pavilion can often turn the arena into a road- or neutral-site environment.

“The only thing that’s upsetting to me is how other schools come here and they have bands and we don’t have a band,” Beal said. “That’s the thing that annoys me.”

According to the Harvard University Band, two years ago the athletic department asked the band to choose between hockey and basketball in order to create a consistent home environment.

The band and crowd aside, however, the Crimson definitely feel there are other benefits to heading home.

“The best thing about being here is that we know the rims, and we know the way that the court plays,” Beal said.

Those are the types of advantages that Harvard will need if it plans to get the sweep it sorely needs.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.