Out of the 40 minutes of the second contest, two in particular seem to have had perhaps the greatest implications for the season. With 4:29 left in the second half and his team up by 31, Smith checked into his first game of the year, clocking 120 seconds on the floor.

But five days after Smith played his first minutes of the season, it was announced that he would be out for the remainder of the year. The junior had apparently reinjured his foot, and the timeline for his return quickly shifted from “indefinite” to a permanent spot on the end of the bench.

“[It’s] very disappointing,” said Amaker on the Friday following the re-injury. “For him, first of all, and then very disappointing for our team, knowing that he was going to be an integral part of the season—of whatever success we were going to have—and now we don’t have him.”

The next weekend brought two opponents to Lavietes that typically give Harvard more trouble than the squad from Hanover: Princeton and Penn.

In a Friday game that featured high offensive efficiency—with both the Tigers and the Crimson shooting above 50 percent from the field—the home squad eked by its Ivy rivals with an 82-76 victory.

The win was anything but easy, however, as Harvard saw a sizeable lead cut down in the final minutes of play. Poor free throw shooting from the Crimson—which missed six shots from the stripe in the contest’s final 2:11—enabled Princeton to silence the loud Harvard crowd by cutting the Crimson advantage to four.

Despite Tiger co-captain T.J. Bray’s 26 points, Princeton was unable to capture the lead, and the Cambridge residents earned their third league victory, largely behind the offensive performance of their backcourt. Rivard knocked down six treys on the night, and soon-to-be Ivy League Player of the Year Saunders tallied 24 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.

Penn posed little threat for Harvard on the following day, and for the second time in a week, the Crimson took down an opponent by a score of 80-50.