But the Crimson gets to start things off at the comforts of home, where it holds the nation’s ninth-longest home winning streak at a program-record 21 games, against one of the worst statistical teams in the country.

The Big Green has an R.P.I. of 341—fifth poorest in the nation out of 345 Division I programs—and the squad’s 58.6 points per game average ranks 327th. Dartmouth’s only wins this season have come against Elon, a 1-13 Bryant squad, and Division III Alaska-Anchorage.

That being said, the Crimson is not taking anyone lightly. Last year, the Big Green—which finished 5-23 overall and 1-13 in the conference—gave Harvard a major scare at Lavietes, holding a 12-point second-half lead before the Crimson rallied to pull ahead and eventually win by nine.

In this season’s contest, McNally emphasized the necessity of starting quickly, something that Harvard has not been able to doing of late.

“We got lucky in a couple games,” the guard said. “We came back against BC and pulled it out against St. Joe’s after being down behind early. We can’t keep living like that. We used to be a team that got a lot of quick starts, and we haven’t been doing that. We’ve got to get back to doing whatever that was.”

Big Green guard R.J. Griffin had 20 points in last year’s near-upset, and this season the junior enters as his squad’s leading scorer at 9.9 points per game. Freshman forward Gabas Maldunas has contributed 9.1 points and 6.8 rebounds, while talented senior guard Jabari Trotter averages 8.1 points. Wings David Rufful, Jvonte Brooks, and John Golden also average over six points per contest.

That type of multifaceted offensive attack is what Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker believes is the strength of his squad, and something the Crimson needs to return to.