The five games remaining on the non-conference schedule for the Harvard men’s basketball team run the widest gamut possible: from the cellar of collegiate hoops to the highest tier in the land.

Over the upcoming weeks, the squad will travel to No. 7/9 UConn on Dec. 22 and then host lowly Monmouth a week later.

On New Year’s Eve, MIT—a Division III program—will visit Lavietes Pavilion before the Crimson heads to Boston College Jan. 5.

The wide range of match-ups—in which Harvard will be either a heavy favorite or underdog—makes tomorrow afternoon’s contest against Boston University (4-6) an even more crucial test for the Crimson (6-2) before it begins Ivy League play next month.

“Just being able to regroup in practice and come out and play well is pretty important for our team,” junior co-captain Oliver McNally said. “Obviously we want to win, but we just want to play better as a team, and BU gives us a chance to do that.”

Hoping to avenge a 78-70 loss suffered to Harvard last November, the Terriers will enter Lavietes Pavilion fresh off a heartbreaking 84-81 defeat by La Salle Thursday evening.

The team’s leading scorer at 17 points per game, senior wing John Holland had a rough night coming off the bench, picking up 15 points and three assists against the Explorers.

“Holland is such a fierce competitor and an attacking scorer—very much a player that we’re very concerned with,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “He just has an aggression about him that puts you on your heels a lot, so we need to make sure we play him before he gets the ball.”

Arguably the top player in his conference, the two-time swingman poured in a team-high 18 points in BU’s loss to Harvard last year.

The Terriers’ main force down low is junior Jake O’Brien, a versatile big man averaging 11 points and six boards a contest.

Junior guard Darryl Partin, a transfer from La Salle, has also been a solid offensive contributor alongside Holland and O’Brien. He had a team-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists against his former team Thursday.

Nabbing a second consecutive victory against its crosstown rivals will be no easy task for Harvard—now without guard Jeremy Lin ’10, who keyed his team to a win over BU last year with an outstanding 16-point second half performance.

After reaching the semifinals of the postseason College Basketball Invitational last year, the Terriers were selected as the preseason favorites to capture this year’s America East title, in what is coach Pat Chamber’s second year at the helm.

Most notably, BU carries on its resume a nail-biting home win over Cornell two weeks ago but has fallen on the road to Northeastern and Bucknell this season.

Regardless of the caliber of its opponent, Harvard will have its own goals in mind, as it aims to rebound from an underwhelming performance against WPI on Tuesday evening.