Two games--and one highly unexpected loss--into this young Ivy League campaign, the Harvard men's basketball team will spend a weekend in New York trying to mend its ways against league doormats Columbia and Cornell.

The Crimson (7-5,1-1 Ivy) will look for two essential road wins against the Lions (4-7,0-0) tonight in Morningside Heights and the Big Red (1-9, 0-0) tomorrow in Ithaca before a 17-day break from the court for final exams.

On paper, both matchups appear straightforward--but then again, so did Monday night's 57-53 loss at Dartmouth, which saw the Crimson shoot an unfortunate 33.3 percent from the field while getting outrebounded 35-25.

In reality, Harvard must convert on these, the lighter games on the Ivy slate, if it is to contend with the nationally-ranked Princeton Tigers for the league crown and the NCAA tournament's automatic bid.

The Crimson will look above all to turn around an offense that fell off from its season average of 45.2 percent shooting against the Big Green. Central to this must be better efforts from Harvard's playmakers--junior point guard Tim Hill and freshman forward Dan Clemente, who shot a combined 4-of-18 at Dartmouth.

Hill, Harvard's floor general and second-leading scorer with 14.1 ppg, must get his teammates better looks on offense while Clemente, Ivy Rookie of the Week for the fifth time this season, will look to improve on his 1-of-6 effort from 3-point range.

Aiding in the cause will be junior shooting guard Mike Beam, whose team-high 60.6 percent average from behind the arc has paced the Crimson's distance game.

Columbia, fresh off a 67-55 win over Lehigh, will challenge with its talented backcourt of junior Gary Raimondo and freshman Tony Mboya, both Ivy League honorees over the Christmas holiday.

Raimondo, the league's Player of the Week, tallied double-doubles in two of the Lions' last three games, scoring 50 points and collecting 28 rebounds, while Mboya earned a spot on the Honor Roll with 19 points and eight rebounds during the 1-2 stretch.

Harvard's inside game matches up favorably with the Lions' lack of size, as junior center Paul Fisher, averaging 8.5 rebounds per game, and senior forward Mike Scott, leading the team in scoring at 15.0 ppg, should work well in the paint. Outrebounded in its last three losses, the Crimson needs to control the glass and minimize the second-chance points that were so deadly against the Big Green.

Cornell slumps into Saturday's matchup winless since a December 14th decision against Skidmore and riding center Jeffrion Aubrey's team-leading 9.8 ppg.

The Big Red's biggest problems this season have been sloppy ball-handling and poor shot selection. In losses to Bucknell and New Hampshire, Cornell managed just 33.5 percent from the floor and coughed up 38 turnovers. Hill, Scott and the Crimson's aggressive defense should trouble an uncertain offense.

The Big Red does boast a solid defensive package, holding all opponents this season to under 45 percent shooting, and will test Harvard's mettle from the field.

Granted, spending the last weekend of reading period playing a pair of road games against combined 5-16 opponents sounds like time better spent cramming for that Justice final, but with one unexpected league loss already in the books, Harvard must bounce back on this two-game swing.

Contenders win the games they're supposed to. It's up to the Crimson to put these wins away if the title chase is going to be any chase at all.