It will be a perfectly innocent question, one asked of every fellow student every January, but this year it will torture each player on the Harvard men's basketball team.

They'll think up an answer, any answer, but they won't have an easy time shrugging off the importunate query "How was your vacation." For the Crimson cagers, who struggled through three blowout losses over the past two weeks, there is no easy response.

It isn't just that the cagers have lost all their games. It isn't just that they now have a losing record. Harvard got embarrassed--by 22 points at Manhattan, by 13 at Stanford and by 17 last night at New Hampshire.

The final setback was the most frustrating. Harvard shot 57.6 percent from the field, enough to win on most nights. The Wildeats weren't impressed, they shot 70.7 percent and won 93.76.

UNH pulled to an early advantage on a 12-2 spurt midway through the first half, and the margin was 11 at the half Joe Carrabino's 19 second half points weren't enough to pull the Crimson back UNH took a 20 point edge with just under seven minutes left, but a 15-5. Harvard rally made things more respectable Carrabino finished with 31 points.

Winter break got off to a decidedly bad start for the Crimson. With Manhattan seeking revenge for Harvard's 79-73 upset of the laspers a year earlier, the visitors held their own for barely 12 minutes.

Then, with Mahbattan leading, 16-14, the Crimson stopped scoring for 5:54. The Jaspers proceeded to dash off to a 79-57. conquest.

None of the visitors managed more than Joe Carrabino's 13 points Guard Jim Haufler who started along with twin brother and guard John--hit from all over the floor in the waning minutes, 18 of his 29 team-leading points came after the contest was effectively over.

Harvard is 4-5.

Jim Silver contributed to the reporting of this article.