CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard will look to stop a three-game losing streak when it welcomes Columbia to Lavietes Pavilion on Friday. The contest represents the first of a back-to-back as Cornell is set to visit on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. ET starts.

What to Know

- The Crimson enters this week's action having lost three straight by a combined 14 points (4.7-point margin of defeat). Harvard's last four losses, meanwhile, have been by a combined 18 points (4.5-point margin of defeat).

- Harvard is coming off an 82-74 road loss to Penn on Saturday. The Crimson trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but battled back to take a three-point lead with 6:37 left in the second half. The score was level at 71 with 2:03 to go, but the Quakers scored the next eight points en route to the victory.

- First-year guard Evan Nelson led the way inside The Palestra with a team- and career-high 19 points, 11 of which were scored in the second half. Nelson, who connected on all five of his three-point attempts, scored five points during an 8-0 run mid-way through the second half to tie the score at 52 and help Harvard get back in the game.

- Nelson averaged 13.0 points on 9-for-13 shooting (.692), including 6-for-7 from three point distance (.857), and 4.0 rebounds last week in games vs. Yale and at Penn. The first-year averaged 25.9 minutes off the bench.

- Noah Kirkwood scored 14 points in Philadelphia, rebounding from a nine-point effort vs. Yale last Wednesday. The senior, who has scored in double figures in 20 of Harvard's 21 games this season, also added a team-high-tying two assists and two blocked shots, while recording two steals.

- Kirkwood, who joined Harvard's 1,000-point club during the home game vs. Yale last week, is up to 1,021 career points in just 78 games (13.1 ppg). The wing from Canada is 34th all-time in scoring at Harvard and two points shy of tying Bob Hooft '79 for 33rd place. Gary Borchard '62 (No. 32; 1,028) and Brian Cusworth '07 (No. 31; 1,042) are within reach on Friday vs. Columbia.

- Luka Sakota finished with 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and a career-high three steals at Penn. The junior's steals total vs. the Quakers equaled the number of thefts he had in his previous four games combined. Over his last six outings, Sakota has tallied seven steals, which is more than he had in the first 15 games (6 steals) of 2021-22.

- Sam Silverstein filled the stat sheet in the game at Penn, recording six points, a career-high-tying nine rebounds, one assist, two steals, a personal-best two blocked shots and zero turnovers in 27 minutes off the bench. His performance marked the second time this season in which he notched a stat in each of the aforementioned categories while committing zero turnovers (vs. Colgate; 2 pts., 3 rebs., 1 ast., 1 stl., 1 blk., 0 TO).

- Silverstein's nine rebounds were his most vs. a Division-I opponent and his best mark since grabbing nine vs. Division-III Babson. Of his nine boards at Penn, four were of the offensive variety, establishing a new personal best.

- Mason Forbes enjoyed a solid two-game outing last week, averaging a team-best 15.0 points on 12-of-18 shooting, 5.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 blocked shots in 31.5 minutes. In his last appearance, the senior went for eight points, six rebounds and a career-high two assists at Penn. In his last four games, he is averaging 12.5 points on 20-for-30 (.667) shooting.

- Harvard will look to sweep Columbia for the third straight season after it earned a 91-82 victory in New York City on Jan. 15. The Crimson, however, will look to split the series with Cornell after it suffered a 76-61 defeat in Ithaca on Jan. 22.

At the Helm

Tommy Amaker, The Thomas G. Stemberg '71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men's Basketball, is in his 15th season at Harvard. He is the winningest coach in Crimson history with 262 victories and has led the program to seven Ivy League titles and eight postseason appearances.

Up Next

Harvard will welcome Cornell to Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET before heading to Princeton for a Friday night contest.