CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard will face Princeton for the second time in three days when it welcomes the Tigers to Lavietes Pavilion for a Sunday matinee. The game is set for a noon ET start on ESPN+.
What to Know
- Meeting consecutively in the regular season for the first time since Feb. 17 and 23, 1962, Harvard is looking to rebound from its 74-67 road loss at Princeton on Friday night. The defeat denied the Crimson a third straight win after it swept Columbia and Cornell last week at Lavietes.
- Harvard had four players reach double figures in scoring and enjoyed advantages in field-goal percentage (.483-.481), rebounds (32-28), steals (4-3), points in the paint (32-18), second-chance points (5-0) and fastbreak points (2-0), while finishing even in blocked shots (2-2), but the Crimson was doomed by Princeton's nearly 50-percent shooting from three (14-30; .467) and the Tigers' plus-5 in the free-throw department.
- The Crimson's last five losses have been decided by a single-digit margin, including its most recent outing at Jadwin Gymnasium. Each of those defeats, meanwhile, were by no more than eight points (5.0 average margin of defeat).
- Kale Catchings led Harvard with a career-high 19 points at Princeton, marking the first time he has led the team in scoring over the course of his career. The senior was 8-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-5 from behind the three-point arc, setting a personal record for field goals made and matching his career best for three-point makes.
- Noah Kirkwood, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, recorded 15 points, a game-high eight rebounds and two assists against the Tigers. The senior has accumulated 1,089 points in his career, which is good for 26th in school history. Kirkwood is one point away from tying former teammate Bryce Aiken '20 (No. 25; 1,090), with Mike Gielen '89 (No. 24; 1,104) and Jim Goffredo '07 (No. 23; 1,117) within reach.
- Luka Sakota reached double figures in scoring at Princeton, finishing with 13 points, representing his fourth straight game with 10 or more points. During the second-longest streak of his career (he went for five straight earlier this season - Nov. 13-24), the junior is averaging 14.0 points. Sakota also had a team-high three assists (tied) and two steals.
- Mason Forbes filled the stat sheet at Princeton with 10 points (5-6 FG), five rebounds, a team-high-tying three assists and two blocked shots. The senior's double-figure scoring effort was his first in four games, but he has rebounded at a high clip, averaging 6.8 over that span. In the last three games, meanwhile, Forbes has snatched 12 offensive boards (4.0).
- Sam Silverstein continued his steady production off the bench against the Tigers on Friday. The sophomore made his only field-goal attempt and was active on the glass, collecting six rebounds, which was tied for the second most among all players. In his last four games, he is averaging 6.5 rebounds.
- First-year Louis Lesmond made his return to the active roster at Princeton after missing the previous four games due to injury. The wing played nearly 26 minutes off the bench and recorded five points, one rebound, two assists, one steal and zero turnovers. He was the lone Crimson player with a positive plus-minus rating at plus-2.
- Harvard's date vs. Princeton is its second-to-last home game of the regular season. The Crimson will play host to Dartmouth on Saturday, March 5, with the outing also doubling as Senior Day. Playing in their final regular-season home game will be Kale Catchings (co-captain), Mason Forbes (co-captain), Noah Kirkwood and Spencer Freedman.
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 264 victories and has led the program to seven Ivy League titles and eight postseason appearances.
Up Next
Harvard will return to action on Saturday, March 5, when it plays host to Dartmouth in a game that is slated for 2 p.m. ET. The Senior Day contest will air on ESPN+. Tickets are available at tickets.gocrimson.com.
