Season of the Ivy ? League Play Starts with Harvard

The Game: Dartmouth (4-9, 0-0) vs. Harvard (10-3, 0-0)
Location: Leede Arena (2,100), Hanover, N.H.
Tipoff: Saturday, Jan. 8 at 4 p.m.
Series Record: Dartmouth leads 94-76
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Complete Game Notes

Ivy Season Begins
•   Dartmouth and Harvard play the first conference game in the entire Ivy League, and the Big Green come into the afternoon having lost their last two contests, both to Patriot League schools. But Dartmouth has not lost three in a row all season.
•   After a rough first half at Army, the Green responded by winning the second stanza, 25-23, as the defense clamped down and held the Black Knights to under 30 percent shooting.
•   Sophomore R.J. Griffin matched his season high of 13 points at Army to lead Dartmouth, his sixth game in double figures this year, one less than junior David Rufful.
•   The Big Green's most effective player over the past five games has been junior Kirk Crecco, who has averaged 10.6 points while shooting 46.2 percent from the floor and 83.3 percent at the foul line.
•   Each of Dartmouth's top five scorers is no taller than 6-4 with junior Jabari Trotter (6-1) leading the way at 9.0 ppg and Rufful (6-4) right behind at 8.7 ppg. The Big Green are threatening, however, to have no one average in double figures for the second straight year.
•   Although Dartmouth hit just 4-of-9 at the foul line at Army, free throw shooting has been vastly improved (.717), up from 65.6 percent last year.

Series vs. Harvard
•   Despite being swept last year by the Crimson, Dartmouth still owns a 94-76 record in the series.
•   Harvard handily won the first game in Cambridge, 76-47, but the Big Green made a furious rally in the second encounter, paring a 10-point deficit down to three in the final 1:30 of the game before succumbing, 62-58.
•   At Leede Arena, the Big Green have a 10-13 mark against Harvard, splitting the last six in the arena.
•   The last Dartmouth victory in the series came two years ago in a 75-66 overtime win at Harvard. Only four of the current players (Trotter, Rufful, Weeden and Crecco) played in that game.

Scouting the Crimson
•   Picked to finish second in the preseason poll, Harvard has proven its mettle in non-conference play with a 10-3 mark, including a 78-69 victory at Boston College on Wednesday, its third straight triumph over the Eagles.
•   All three of the Crimson's losses have come on the road against opponents in the top 75 of the RPI.
• Harvard essentially played a six-man rotation against BC, with five scoring in double figures, led by 23 points from freshman reserve guard Laurent Rivard, who twice has been named the Ivy Rookie of the Week this year.
• Forward Keith Wright is the team's leading scorer (14.9) and rebounder (8.5), ranking fourth and second in the league, respectively, while shooting 59.2 percent from the floor.
•   The Green should be wary of sending Harvard to the foul line — the Crimson lead the nation in free throw shooting at 81.5 percent with both Rivard and Oliver McNally above 95 percent.
•   Brandyn Curry runs the offense and has averaged close to six assists a game, plus leads Harvard with 18 steals at the other end of the court.
•   Curry, Rivard and Christian Webster all shoot around 36 percent on threes, but McNally is the dead-eye of the team at 46.3 percent (19-of-41).

Trend Setters
There are two positive trends in Dartmouth's favor for the game against Harvard, even though the Big Green have lost their last two games. Cormier's crew has not lost three straight all season, however, nor has Harvard won three straight against the Green in eight years. Dartmouth is 5-9 against the Crimson since the start of the 2003-04 season.

The Beilein Factor
One of Harvard's three losses this season came at Michigan, which is coached by John Beilein. Dartmouth has a Beilein on staff as well in the form of assistant coach Patrick Beilein. Perhaps the elder Beilein can pass along some words of wisdom to his son in how to beat the Crimson.

Two Halves Make a Whole
The Big Green have played 26 halves of basketball thus far, and in 13 of those (exactly half), they have been at least within a point of their opposition. Three times Dartmouth has had two of those halves in one game, winning all three — Hartford, Colgate and Drake. Only once have the Green won a game with only one such half, that being the 71-68 win over Army on Dec. 11 when they rallied from 12 points down in the second half.

Seven-Game Itch
Perhaps Jabari Trotter's shooting comes in seven-game waves. Over the course of the first seven games this season, the junior connected on 29-of-56 (.518) from the floor and a sizzling 15-of-26 (.577) from downtown. Since then, however, Trotter has hit just 13-of-46 (.283) overall and 5-of-17 (.294) of his three-pointers. Unfortunately, the game against Harvard would be the seventh game in that stretch. But Dartmouth fans can look forward to the next seven beginning with Colgate on Jan. 17.

Schedules