Ivy Leaders Host Slumping Crimson

Five games ago, Harvard was 4-1 in Ivy play, in second place behind Penn.

When the Crimson faces the Quakers Friday night, it will be an entirely different story.

After its five-game freefall, Harvard (12-11, 4-6 Ivy) heads to The Palestra in fifth place to face a Penn team (16-7, 8-1) still on track to capture the Ivy crown, despite a shocking loss at Columbia last week.

On Saturday, the team completes its toughest road trip of the season, facing second-place Princeton (8-14, 6-3) two weeks after Noah Savage’s buzzerbeater stunned the Crimson and handed Harvard its second consecutive loss in the final seconds following a 79-77 road loss to Cornell the week before.

After three straight double-digit losses at home, Harvard is now in the midst of its worst losing streak of the season. And the team is in need of answers.

“I think we have to continue working hard on defense,” said senior guard Mike Beal. “It’s that extra 10 seconds [of the shot clock] that hurts us, and against Penn and Princeton, they come at you the whole time.”

Tigers’ guard Scott Greenman personifies that effort.

Last weekend, Greenman single-handedly assured Princeton a split of its two road games with his beyond-clutch performance against Cornell on Friday.

Greenman buried a three-pointer to send the game to overtime and then nailed a last-second three in overtime to force a second extra frame. His 27-point effort propelled the Tigers to a crucial 76-68 victory in Ithaca.

For Penn and Princeton both, however, last weekend was not perfect, thanks to the lowly Lions of Columbia. The same Columbia squad that had one Ivy victory before last weekend shocked the top two teams in the league, sinking buzzer-beaters both times to defeat Princeton 65-64 and Penn 59-57.

Although the Tigers and Quakers lost last weekend, their struggles are trivial compared to Harvard’s current three-week slide.

“The first two games were buzzer-beaters,” said head coach Frank Sullivan. “But the final three were not, because the defense hasn’t been strong enough or consistent enough.”

The concentration on defense is as much a result of the Crimson’s poor play as it is related to Columbia’s success last weekend. The Lions forced Penn away from its quick tempo, holding the explosive Quaker offense in check for the first time in the Ivy season.

“We’re trying to put the last couple of games behind us,” said junior guard Jim Goffredo. “We’re coming out as hard as we can, especially on defense and in out-rebounding Penn on Friday.”

Harvard is taking some confidence Philadelphia would be something special for the seniors, as visiting teams do not win there often. Penn has an impressive .696 winning percentage at home.

“Our goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament,” said Beal. “But now for me and for the seniors our goal is to leave on a positive note with four wins and win down there [at the Palestra].”

The weekend’s games also provide an opportunity for captain Matt Stehle to make a last push for Ivy Player of the Year. He will face favorite Ibrahim Jaaber and on Saturday, Stehle will face Greenman, the Princeton captain also vying for the honor.

Stehle, third in the league in points (15.3), first in rebounds (9.3), and second in steals (2.0), will need to outplay both to vault him above Jaaber.

But for the team, especially for seniors like Stehle and Beal, getting a win is all that matters.

“It would definitely be something memorable,” said Cusworth. “We look at this as an opportunity to make a statement.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.