Inaugurating Lavietes Pavilion for its home opener tonight against the College of Wooster, the Harvard men's basketball team seeks to continue the two-pronged strategy which brought a victory over the University of New Hampshire last Wednesday.

For the Crimson, two goals are tantamount to success: dominating the offensive and defensive boards, and limiting Wooster to under 40 percent from the field.

"Defense and rebounding are two consistent goals of ours," said senior captain Mike Scott.

Harvard shone in both categories in its 72-54 season-opening victory over UNH.

"We held [the Wildcats] under 40 percent, and we definitely got the rebounding edge," Scott said. "As a team, I don't think anyone knew what to expect before the game. We haven't played much together. But overall, we were pleased with the result."

Harvard will need another strong performance against an enthusiastic Wooster squad.

"Wooster plays well as a team," Scott said. "They have a strong front line, and they have some decent moves on the inside."

"We need to stick to our game plan and execute all our plays on offense," said junior Tim Hill. "We need to keep doing a good job on the backboards. Wooster is an excellent Division III team, and they are going to be fired up to play."

The Crimson hopes for the balanced offense that powered it to victory over New Hampshire.

Five different players scored in double figures against the Catamounts, paced by freshman Dan Clemente's 18 points.

"We played a fine game against UNH," Hill said. "It was an excellent way to start out the year. We used our overall team speed to push the ball up the court and get easy baskets. We also did an excellent job rebounding the ball."

Looking for the consistency which brought 17 wins last season, Harvard seeks to follow up its solid effort tonight.

"We're all really excited about the season, and we're ready to get the first home game under our belt," Hill said.