“One thing the coaches in our league are always measuring when you get to this time of year is how much can you do during the week,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said, “[and] how much can you ask of the players in practice.”
Sullivan has lightened the load on his charges somewhat in anticipation of keeping the team fresh for its upcoming games.
“We’ve gone a little lighter this week, saving legs down the home stretch here,” Giovacchini said. “Hopefully that will help this weekend.”
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
Harvard’s big men were burned inside by the play of Cornell forward Ryan Rourke, who finished with 27 points and 10 boards. That performance was surprising due to the Crimson frontcourt’s customary dominance on both ends.
“Rourke unexpectedly hurt us last game,” Cusworth said. “We’ve said all along...that we have the best frontcourt in the league, and we do believe that with any team we should be able to take advantage of that.”
Harvard will have to shore up its interior defense against Yale in order to exploit its size. In the two teams’ meeting in New Haven, Bulldogs forward Dominick Martin shot 5-for-8 from the floor and scored 10 crucial second-half points. Possibly the Ivy League’s best pure post scorer, the 6’10 Martin is second in the league with a .540 field goal percentage, and is coming off a 20-point performance on 10-of-12 shooting in Tuesday’s loss to Brown.
“We’re talking about being much more aggressive in keeping the ball out of the post, and limiting [Yale’s] post touches,” Cusworth said.
JASON VS. JASON, PART II
Norman had perhaps his best defensive game of the year in the Crimson’s 64-53 win over Brown in Providence, as he held the leading scorer in the league, guard Jason Forte, to only 10 points on 3-of-14 shooting. The next night, he limited the league’s second leading scorer, Yale guard Edwin Draughan, to 3-of-10 shooting and just one point in the second half.
“You need somebody like [Jason] on every team, in terms of a guy saying, ‘I’ll take the best player,’” Sullivan said. “He took the charge of guarding those guys quite seriously.”
Harvard will have to hope that Norman is up to the task again this weekend. The Crimson captain knows that both players, especially a proud Forte, will be looking to put up big games.
“I’m sure [Forte] is going to come fired up,” Norman said. “He’s played some great games in [Lavietes].”
—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.