“I think you always expect too much out of those guys,” Merchant said of Bell and Sidney. “We’ve played some good players over my four years here. [Bell’s] just another player—a little bit quicker. He gets his shot off a little better than other guys. ... I think sometimes we give those guys too much respect.”

The 55 points between Smith and Bell might not have mattered as much had Harvard been able to find the net itself in the first half.

The Crimson shot just 29 percent in the first half en route to a 39-28 deficit. Winter and Merchant combined for 26 points in the game, but only four of those came in the first half.

Harvard’s sharpest shooter in the first half turned out to be sophomore guard Kevin Rogus, who has made 60 percent from behind the arc this year. Rogus hit threes on consecutive possessions with his first two touches of the ball to pull Harvard to its last one-point deficit of the afternoon 8:33 into the game.

On the next possession though, Bell was guarding Rogus, and that was the end of that Crimson threat.

So in defeat, Harvard stands with seven wins prior to Christmas—just as many as it had a year ago—yet Sullivan feels these seven wins were harder to come by, with four coming on the road and the three defeats coming at the hands of 2002 NCAA qualifying teams.

While Merchant was unsatisfied with the defeat, he was satisfied with the confidence and the experience that the Boston College game provided in terms of big-arena atmosphere—a crucial asset as Harvard seeks a victory on Penn’s famed Palestra floor in the not-to-distant future.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.