14-Game Tournament Begins Saturday vs. Dartmouth
Pictured: Dee Giger scored 10 points in 15 minutes off the
bench at Santa Clara as Harvard freshmen scored 53 of the team's 74
points.
The Particulars
After a two-game swing to the left coast, Harvard returns
to Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against
Dartmouth in the traditional Ivy League opening game. The game
opens up the famed "14-game tournament" where every game has major
implications for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Download Complete Game Notes (PDF)
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The real-time broadcast includes play-by-play commentary from Chris
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Live Statistics
All Harvard home basketball games will feature live game
statistics. Fans can visit the Live Stats
page to follow along on their computer.
The Promotions
Entertainment: Marketing Music
Anthem: Marketing
Give-a-way: Team Photographs (for post-game autographs)
Promotions: Post-game Autograph Session
In-Game Promotions
First Half- Lucky Program
Halftime- Bounce-4-Bucks, Youth Scrimmage
Second Half- Hot Shot, Prize Pack Drawing
End-Game
Promotions
Team autograph session with complimentary team photos
Series History
Dartmouth leads the all-time series, which dates back to
1900-01, by a count of 95-73. The Big Green has been a thorn in
Harvard's side in recent years with Dartmouth managing to split the
season series in each of the three seasons after Harvard swept the
series in 2005-06.
Dartmouth won last year's meeting at Lavietes Pavilion in overtime, 75-66.
Last Year's Meetings
Harvard jumped out to a 1-0 Ivy League mark in Hanover,
N.H. when Oliver McNally connected on a 12-foot runner with 12
seconds left in the game, 63-62. Dartmouth then returned the favor
a week later ion Cambridge as Alex Barnett scored 18 of his 30
points in the second half as Dartmouth won in overtime, 75-66.
In Hanover, Andrew Pusar' 09 had 19 points for Harvard while Dan Biber led a balanced Dartmouth attack - 10 players scored - with 10 points.
With just under five minutes to play, Dartmouth took a 57-53 lead when Ronnie Dixon stole a pass and cruised for a layup. But Harvard answered with six straight points.
With 2:08 to go, Elgin Fitzgerald had a 3-point play to Dartmouth back on top 60-59.
But McNally hit a tough jumper to put Harvard ahead 61-60 before Barnett hit a short jump for Dartmouth's last lead leading up to another McNally basket.
Back in Cambridge, the Big Green ended a nine-year losing streak in Lavietes Pavilion thanks to Barnett - the league's player of the year.
Jeremy Lin, who sent the game into overtime on a last-second layup, led Harvard with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Harvard twice missed potential game-tying shots from the line on 1-and-1 situations with under four minutes to play in regulation, and turned the ball over five times in the second half with a chance at the tying or leading basket. In all, Harvard committed 17 turnovers to just five for Dartmouth.
Harvard's Last Time Out
Kyle Casey logged a career-high in points for the
third-straight game, finishing with 27 points in 26 minutes as
Harvard cruised past Santa Clara, 74-66, on Monday night. Casey
made all six shots form the floor and 13-of-16 from the free throw
line while also pulling down a career-high five rebounds.
Classmates Christian Webster (15) and Dee Giger (10) added to a freshman class that scored 53 of the team's points. Jeremy Lin dished out nine assists while Oliver McNally had five with the Crimson totaling 19 helpers in the game.
Dartmouth's Last Time Out
R.J. Griffin scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds
to lead Dartmouth to a 49-43 win over Bucknell at home on Monday
night.
Griffin, who shot 5 of 8 from the floor and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, was the only player to score in double figures for the Big Green.
Dartmouth's defense held the Bison to 30.6 percent (15 of 49) shooting from the field for the game. The Big Green also turned 15 turnovers by Bucknell into 16 points.
Bucknell scored seven straight points to cut Dartmouth's lead to 45-41 with 4:39 left in the game.
But the Bison missed their final five shots and turned the ball over twice in the final minutes.
Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker
Tommy Amaker (Duke '87) begins his third season as head
coach of the Harvard men's basketball team. He registered his 200th
career coaching victory Nov. 13 in the 2009-10 season opener at
Holy Cross.
He brings a 210-178 career head coaching record into the game, including a 109-83 record at Michigan at a 68-55 record at Seton Hall.
Amaker came to Harvard after a six year stint as Michigan's head coach. Inheriting a program that was reeling from institutional and NCAA sanctions, he led the Wolverines to the postseason three times, winning the 2004 NIT title, reaching the championship game of the 2006 NIT, and advancing to the second round of the 2007 tournament. The 2006-07 season was Michigan's second straight 20-win campaign and its third in four years. The Wolverines were ranked as high as No. 20 in the nation during the 2005-06 season.
In The Record Book
Harvard's 74-66 win at Santa Clara (1/04) set a program
record for nonleague victories in a season (11) - surpassing the
previous mark of nine set back in 1957-58.
Race To Double Figures
This season, Harvard reached the 10-win plateau faster
than any season in the program's 99-year history (Jan. 2) with a
92-71 win at Seattle.
Best Season Continues
Harvard's 11-3 nonleague record marks its best record
outside of Ivy League play in school history and establishes its
best overall start as well with a 10-3 mark against Division I.
competition.
Diversity
Entering its Ivy League campaign, Harvard owns wins against nine
different conference affiliations - marking another program record.
Harvard has beaten teams from the America east (Boston Univ., New
Hampshire), Atlantic-10 (George Washington), Atlantic Coast (Boston
College), Colonial Athletic (William & Mary), Conference USA
(Rice), Patriot League (Holy Cross), West Coast (Santa Clara), New
England Men's & Women's (MIT) and two independents (Bryant,
Seattle).
A-10
Harvard's 66-53 win over George Washington (12/30) gave
the Crimson its first victory against a team from the Atlantic-10
Conference since the 1980-81 (Massachusetts). The A-10 was the
fourth-best ranked conference in the country at the time of
playing..
Streaks & Stops
Harvard's 78-70 win at Boston University marked the first
Harvard victory at BU since the 1975 season - a streak of 34 years.
Harvard has stopped numerous streaks and gained several "firsts" under Tommy Amaker, including:
-Program's best start in school history (11-3). Its previous best start was 25 years ago when going 8-0 to start the 1984-85 season.
-Program's best home record to start a season in 23 years since going 7-0 at Lavietes Pavilion to start the 1986-87 season.
-Program's most nonleague victories (11), surpassing a mark of nine wins established in 1957-58.
-Program's fastest time to 10 victories (Jan. 2) in a season.
-Program's highest-ever ranking in the RPI (collegerpi) at #21 on January 1.
-The most conference affiliations defeated in school history (10 and counting).
-Program's first ever sweep of a West Coast series (at Seattle, at Santa Clara) in 2009-10.
-Program's first ever sweep of a road series west of the state of New York (at Seattle, at Santa Clara) in 2009-10.
-Program's first win over a nationally-ranked team with an 82-70 win at #17 Boston College in 2008-09.
-Program's first win over a BCS program with a 62-51 win over Michigan in 2007-08.
-Program's first win over a team from the Atlantic-10 since 1980-81 (UMass) with a victory over George Washington in 2009-10.
-Program's first Top 25 recruiting class by ESPN in 2008-09.
-Program's first win at Penn since 1989-90 season with a win at The Palestra in 2008-09.
-Program's first win at Yale since 1998-99 season with a win at the Lee Amphitheater in 2008-09.
-Ivy League-best seven road victories in 2008-09
-Program's first weekend sweep of Penn-Princeton since 1986-87 - and third-ever- in 2007-08.
Three-Peat
Freshman Kyle Casey has set career-highs in scoring in
each of his last three games with 17 against George Washington, 19
at Seattle and 27 at Santa Clara). He got to the free throw line an
astounding 33 times in those three games, making 28 (.848) while
also shooting 15-for-18 from the floor (.833) in those games.
He also averaged 6.3 rebounds in those games in just 25.6 minutes per game.
Four Horseme
Three of Harvard's four frontcourt players are shooting
better than 60 percent from the floor. Pat Magnarelli (.610), Doug
Miller (.629), Keith Wright (.593) and Kyle Casey (.639)
Wright leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage at .593 for players with enough attempts to qualify.
Shooting Disparity
Harvard is shooting nearly 100 percentage points higher
than its opposition this season (.490 to .398).
Complete Game Notes
For complete games notes in PDF format, click on the link
at the beginning of this page.
