For the third time in a row, the Harvard men's basketball team was blown off the court by its opponent. Boston College blasted the Crimson, 98-59.

At least the defense is getting better. Or have opposing coaches just gotten nicer?

On Saturday, B.C. held the Crimson to just 24 points in the second half.

Even worse, the Crimson suffered a major blow in the second minute of the game as junior guard Matt McClain went down with a strained ligament in his right knee.

With 18:46 remaining, McClain drove the baseline against the Eagles' monster center Billy Curley. McClain and Curley collided, and McClain went down grabbing his shin. He had to be carried off the court.

McClain was the team's second-leading scorer, with 12.0 points per game. His leadership in the backcourt was a source of stability in the early going when the frontcourt was in turmoil.

"I can't tell you how much it hurts us to lose Matt," Coach Frank Sullivan said. "We hope it's nothing serious."

The best-case scenario for this type of injury, according to Trainer B.J. Baker, "is a return in a couple of days." The worst-case scenario is damage to the anterior cruciate ligament. The results from tests performed over the weekend will be out today.

McClain leaves behind freshman point guard Jared Leake, freshman shooting guard James White and reserve senior guard Dave LaPointe.

The Crimson will have to stumble on without McClain for a time. And while there were a couple of individual highlights against B.C., the team's overall performance was not inspiring.

"We have to look at in the proper perspective," Sullivan said. "New terminology and new players have negated our experience factor."

Sullivan seems to have mastered the Harvard tradition of saying everything in as many syllables as possible. But has he mastered what it will take to re-rail his team?

After the B.C. debacle, Sullivan talked about two areas that he wants to see improvement in: field-goal defense and turnovers.

In five games, the Crimson has turned the ball over 139 times. That's 27.8 turnovers a game.

An inexperienced back court and new coach are part of the problem.

But unless Sullivan can reverse this trend, the Crimson can kiss any Ivy hopes good-bye.

The other area Sullivan pointed to was field-goal defense. So far this season, opponents are shooting 54% from the field and 44% from behind the three-point stripe.

Harvard's problem on the outside is slow defensive rotation.

Against the Eagles, it was sharp-shooter Malcolm Huckaby who enjoyed a field day, connecting on four of five attempts from downtown on his way to scoring 20 points.

B.C. point guard Howard Eisley and reserve Marc Molinsky each shot 3-for-4 from three-point territory.

While guards around the region look forward to playing Harvard, opposing forwards have not been seriously challenged inside, either.

But more physical play and the rebound of Ron Mitchell from a sluggish start should help the Crimson re-establish itself in the paint