The University basketball team will play Cornell in the Gymnasium tonight at 8 o'clock. This will be the sixth game for the team in the intercollegiate series. In the previous game with Cornell, played at Ithaca on January 22, Harvard was defeated by the score of 23 to 9, but at that time the team was crippled by the loss of two of the regular players.
Up to the present time the work of the team has been very erratic. Princeton was defeated at the opening of the season and last week beaten on her own floor by the score of 29 to 28. On February 7 Columbia won in Cambridge by the score of 14 to 12, and last Friday in New York defeated the University team the day after its hard game with Princeton.
As a team the men now play well together. They tend, however, to overrun and fumble the ball in many critical moments. Against a team which relies on passing and smooth teamwork, as does the Cornell five, this tendency to ragged play is a severe handicap.
An individual criticism follows:
Hanavan, captain and right guard, plays a fast and untiring game. But his too great eagerness to get into every play has not infrequently tended to break up team play. His shooting for goals is more accurate than that of any other man on the team. Bigelow, who will play left guard in place of Fosdick, who is ill plays a hard game. His tendency to hold his opponents, however, costs his team frequent penalties for fouls. He covers his opponent well and is effective in blocking attempted shots for goals. Fumbling the ball and lack of speed are his chief faults. Randall, at centre, is not yet up to the standard of his play last year. His playing, however, has on one or two occasions been brilliant, notably in the Brown game, when he threw ten of the twenty-one goals scored. He covers poorly, and during the last half of a game invariably lacks speed. On the jump-off he is first to touch the ball, and in this should be valuable tonight. Linehan, at right forward, passes well and is a fairly good shot at goal, although during the past two weeks his ability has greatly deteriorated off in this respect. His tendency is to fumble the ball and stay too close to his opponent, who thereby is able to prevent his shooting for goal. Henderson, at left forward, although handicapped by lack of weight, plays a fast, effective game. His fault seems to be an inability to see quickly advantageous chances for shots at goals.
The Cornell team is exceptionally strong this season. Its teamwork and passing are the best features of its play; in covering the team is somewhat handicapped by its lack of weight. The men have endurance and exceptionally quickness, the forwards, Hermes and Brinkerhoff, being especially hard to follow.
The line-up will be as follows:
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Junior Class Meeting.
