An electric atmosphere, as well as the Big Red’s quick hands and commitment to defense, played a role in keeping the Crimson off balance, but many of Harvard’s 25 turnovers were unforced. Short passes suddenly became uncatchable, and dribbles went awry.

Unsurprisingly, three of the four leaders in turnover rate on the season for the Crimson are freshmen: forward Kyle Casey, and guards Christian Webster and Brandyn Curry.

Although Casey has improved steadily throughout the year, the wing ran into problems against the size and strength of the Big Red.

Sometimes content to shoot jump shots, Casey had four points and five turnovers, and has experienced issues with foul trouble all year as well.

Due to an injury to sophomore guard Max Kenyi, Webster’s minutes have risen as the season went on—having started all but four games this year—but his field goal percentage has headed in the opposite direction.

The rookie plays the highest amount of minutes of anyone not named Jeremy Lin, yet he possesses the team’s lowest offensive rating on the team and looked shaky against Cornell.

Classmate Dee Giger got off to a hot start, nailing four-of-six threes in the season opener at Holy Cross, but has shot 27 percent from behind the arc since then.

Highly-touted coming into the season, the freshmen may have hit the metaphorical “wall,” and their decline on the offensive end has only added fuel to the perception that Harvard is a one-man show.

While the team is ranked fifth in the country in two-point field goal percentage and eighth at the free throw line, it suffers from the lack of a second legitimate scorer when Lin is double-teamed, or on the rare occasions when the star guard receives a breather on the sideline or is in foul trouble.

Alone in his ability to consistently drive and get into the paint, only Lin was able to reach double-digits in scoring at Cornell.

Contrast this to the fact that all five of the Big Red’s starters reached the milestone.

It does not help that the Crimson’s lone seven-footer, sophomore Andrew Van Nest, makes his living out on the perimeter, hoisting up threes at an accuracy of 28 percent.

During Saturday’s match-up, the Big Red was content to pass the ball around until Foote was guarded one-on-one by Van Nest.

Only then would the all-Ivy big man go to work—which actually involved very little work on his part. Foote simply backed his man down and proceeded to add another two points to the scoreboard.

As one fellow writer remarked, “Watching Foote on Van Nest was like watching a puppy get executed slowly.”