Let the countdown to the Harbowl begin. Wins by the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens Sunday set up the first all-brother Super Bowl coaching matchup. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh will face younger brother Jim Feb. 3 in New Orleans.
The matchup prompted The Back Page to look for Harvard games that involved similar sibling rivalries. We found the McLaughlins.
Walter Peppelman earned his 100th career win in the wrestling match against Rutgers, helping the co-captain garner the week’s top honors. But some other Crimson athletes put up fine weekend performances as well, earning Athlete of the Week Runner Up nods from The Back Page.
Jillian Dempsey, Women’s Hockey
The senior forward has been absolutely dominant this season in the Crimson’s front line. This week’s performances were no different. Dempsey netted a pair of goals in Harvard’s 5-1 routing of Connecticut earlier this week. Over the weekend, Dempsey scored the game winning goal off a power play in Harvard’s 1-0 victory over Union. For the season, Dempsey has a team-high 21 goals and 16 assists for 37 points, 10 more than any other player on the Crimson’s roster. The senior is the ECAC’s leading scorer, averaging 1.167 goals per game.
Steve Moundou-Missi, Men’s Basketball
The sophomore played a key role in keeping Harvard close in its weekend contest at Memphis. The forward put up 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench in 27 minutes of playing time. Moundou-Missi’s dunk with less than eight minutes to go gave Harvard its first lead of the game and the sophomore added two more key free throws a minute later to tie the contest, but the Crimson would eventually fell, 60-50.
DJ White, Men’s Volleyball
The sophomore outside hitter helped get Harvard’s season off to a hot start. The Crimson won a pair of opening weekend matchups against Stevens and NYU. White recorded 19 kills in Harvard’s 3-0 victory over the Ducks, while also adding three digs and two block assists. The following evening, the sophomore put up nine kills, seven digs, and four blocks in Crimson’s 3-0 win over the Violets.
For the first time in 13 days, Jeremy Lin ’10’s Houston Rockets could slap hands and smile as the final buzzer rang. After seven consecutive losses, Houston came from behind in Monday’s game at the Charlotte Bobcats, taking the lead in the fourth quarter and winning shortly after, 100-94.
The effort was largely led by Rockets James Harden and Marcus Morris, who tallied a combined 50 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists. Lin, for his part, contributed four points on one-of-five shooting, collecting three rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes of playing time—an amount nine minutes under his season average.
The oddity in his minutes came largely from the fact that Lin did not play one second in the fourth quarter—Houston head coach Kevin McHale elected to go with rookie point guard Patrick Beverly instead. When asked about the basis of this decision, McHale did not give much insight.
“We were just sticking with what worked,” McHale explained. “[Beverly has] got to get with what we’re doing a little bit. He hasn’t been here very long. Practice tomorrow is going to be big for him. He’ll get some more sets down and get some stuff we’re doing. Hopefully we can start building on this.”
While the emergence of Beverly may not be beneficial for Lin’s time on the floor, it was certainly positive for the Rockets on Monday afternoon. With the squad’s win and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ loss, Houston gains a full game in the standings on the T-Wolves, launching it back into the final playoff seed for the time being.
After four years playing goalie for the Harvard women’s soccer team and four different assistant coaching stints, Katie Shields ’06 has been named head coach of the Saint Louis University women’s team.
At the exact midway point of the NBA regular season, Jeremy Lin ’10’s Houston Rockets find themselves at a crossroads. By losing its sixth straight game Friday night in a 105-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Houston fell out of playoff standings. It currently sits a single hundredth of a percentage point behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the eight seed in the Western Conference.
Friday’s matchup was a tale of cat and mouse, the Rockets continually just short of making a competitive run against Indiana, always a few possessions out of real contention. Houston’s starting lineup combined for 15 turnovers, while the entire Pacers team recorded only 13 mistakes.
On the night, Lin tallied 10 points on four-for-seven shooting, including knocking down both of the shots that he took from beyond the arc. The Harvard alum also notched five rebounds and three assists.
