With the Harvard men’s basketball team’s season opener less than two weeks away, The Back Page is breaking down the Crimson’s non-conference opponents. Each week, we will take a look at two new foes. Earlier this week, we profiled Fordham. Next up is Boston College.
On Dec. 4, the Harvard men’s basketball team will make the short drive to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College. The Crimson’s victory over the Eagles last year marked the 1,000th win in program history. Harvard has won the last four contests against BC and looks to make it five in a row when the teams meet again this season.
Last year, the Eagles got a quick start and found themselves with an early 14-3 lead. But the Crimson stormed back thanks to strong perimeter shooting, going 10-of-20 from outside the arc. With a comfortable 40-33 lead at the half, Harvard ultimately took the game by a wide margin, winning 67-46.
Then-sophomore Laurent Rivard led the way for the Harvard offense, netting 18 points for Crimson. Senior Keith Wright tallied a team-high 11 rebounds, while junior Brandyn Curry paced Harvard with five steals in addition to 11 points.
The young BC team returns many of its starting core players. Last year’s Eagles squad featured 11 newcomers, five of whom started consistently throughout the season. But BC will still need a big game from key players if it hopes to end a four-year drought to its crosstown rival.
Last year as a freshman, center Dennis Clifford tallied a team-high 14 points against the Crimson. Clifford also led the Eagles in field goal percentage (.529) and blocks (29) on the season.
BC went on to go 9-22 last year, finishing 4-12 in conference play. The team was ousted by North Carolina State in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
This season, Clifford will look to provide offensive power alongside fellow sophomore Patrick Heckmann, who added 13 points for the Eagles in last year’s game against Harvard. Incoming freshmen Oliver Hanlan and Joe Rahon also look to provide strong backcourt support for BC this year.
A familiar face—this time on the opposing bench— will be Andrew Van Nest, who joined the BC squad this year after spending four seasons with the Crimson. Van Nest returns for his last year of eligibility after missing his entire freshman season at Harvard due to a torn rotator cuff.
With the Harvard men’s basketball team’s season opener less than two weeks away, The Back Page is breaking down the Crimson’s non-conference opponents. Each week, we will take a look at two new foes. Over the weekend we profiled Vermont. Next up is Fordham.
When the Harvard men’s basketball team last met Fordham at Rose Hill Gym on Jan. 3, the Crimson was stunned by a team that managed to stifle Harvard offensively.The Rams’ 60-54 win marked the second loss for a Harvard squad that entered the game with a 12-1 record.
The Crimson will look to get redemption when the two teams meet again on Dec. 1 at Lavietes Pavilion.
Last season’s victory over Harvard was a highlight for Fordham, which finished the year 10-19 overall and 3-13 in the Atlantic 10. The Rams were only able to nab one win on the road, which came against Siena College, 74-59. Fordham was led by the 6’7 Chris Gaston, who currently ranks 11th on Fordham’s all time-scoring list with 1,428 career points and places sixth in rebounding.
(Continued)
After a breakout season that few saw coming, Jeremy Lin ’10 will begin a new chapter in his career with the Houston Rockets when they travel to take on the Detroit Pistons Wednesday night. Although Lin is moving out of the limelight that accompanies athletes in New York, Linsanity’s touchdown in Houston will certainly bring the Rockets an increased national media following.
The Rockets recently acquired former Oklahoma City Thunder star James Harden—a move that will take some pressure off Lin—who at times appeared to struggle in preseason. Although he played nearly half of every game, Lin averaged only 6.3 points per game and shot a meager 28.3 percent from the field during the warm-up contests. Lin will need to improve on his Achilles heel of 6.4 turnovers every 48 minutes last year if he is to effectively lead the Houston offense.
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 and the Buffalo Bills were off this week. With nearly half the season in the books, the Amish Rifle finds himself ranked 28th out of all active quarterbacks with 205 yards per game. But Fitzpatrick also has posted an average passer rating of 86.1 that falls in the top half of the NFL, and he ranks sixth in the league with 15 touchdowns thrown. The Bills will be back in action next week when they play the Texans on the road.
Hockey player Louis Leblanc, formerly ’13, has suffered an injury that will likely keep him sidelined for 4-6 weeks. Currently playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL, Leblanc incurred a high ankle sprain during a fight in a game on October 20. Leblanc received a fighting major penalty, but the injury will serve to keep him off the ice for a good deal longer.
Leblanc—along with every other professional hockey player, regardless of any injury—is unlikely to see NHL action soon. As the lockout stretches on and the Players’ Association and the NHL have not met for two weeks, rumors are circulating that the league will soon have to cancel all games through the Winter Classic.
Is this really what the Mayans were so worried about? We were expecting something more along the lines of death and destruction, but we’re cool with this no class thing.
By now you’ve probably heard of that nice young lady named Sandy. She made history on Sunday night when she caused classes to be cancelled, resulting in a near-stampede in Lamont. She even shut down schools and public transportation from here to Washington, D.C.
Needless to say, Sandy is currently the most popular girl on the East Coast. She’s triggered a storm of tweets, including some from Harvard’s athletes. Here are a few to fill up all that extra time.
(Continued)
With the San Francisco Giants taking a 3-0 lead in the World Series heading into tonight’s game at Comerica Park, we at The Crimson would like to offer our take on who Harvard students should root for. As Giants ace Matt Cain takes the hill against Detroit flamethrower Max Scherzer—whose 231 strikeouts this year were second only to teammate Justin Verlander—, here are a couple factors on which to base your choice.
Position Within the Series
With the Tigers trying to do what no team has ever done before in World Series history—come back to win after being down 3-0 in the series—, they are definitely in the role of the underdog here and grab the sentimentality card. Harvard students that love the underdog and want to see the little guy win may elect to root for Detroit’s finest in the final four games of the series. The Giants have played gritty baseball thus far in fighting off six elimination games—including winner-take-all games against the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals—but now take the role of the heavy favorite moving forward.
(Continued)
