Hanover
Harvard’s 74-58 victory brought the programs’ rivalry back to what has been its normal state over the last decade or so: the Crimson trots out a lineup that oozes athleticism and the Big Green try to answer with discipline, defense and grit. It worked for a spurt that allowed Dartmouth to win two of the teams’ previous three meetings, but it could be a while before another such run.
Why? Because Harvard started a sophomore and two freshmen on Saturday and its first man off the bench was also a first-year player. The Crimson (7-5) is working on what could be a historically-good recruiting class that would graduate in 2021. Throw in the visitors’ better effort and it was a slog for Dartmouth, which trailed, 33-26, at intermission after leading by four midway through the first half.
“I thought they were the tougher team tonight,” Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin said. “They got to more 50-50 balls and they were the more physical team. Mike Fleming, one of our seniors, said that to the team in the locker room, so I’m pretty much stealing his words.”
Dartmouth (3-11) was nearly even in rebounds, trailing 32-30, but Harvard dominated virtually every other statistical category. The Crimson scored 40 points in the paint to the hosts’ 18 and committed just nine turnovers while forcing the Big Green into 17. Harvard shot an astounding 64 percent from the floor during the second half and 53 percent for the game.
The visitors’ bench produced 30 points while Dartmouth’s managed 18. The Crimson blocked five shots and the Big Green one. Harvard freshmen Chris Lewis and Justin Bassey (14 points each) combined to make 13 of 17 field-goal attempts.
“For the most part, we were happy with our defensive performance in the first half,” McLaughlin said. “In the second half … because you’re playing from behind, you tend to lose some of your defensive principles. Instead of worrying about the paint, we’re worrying more about our man, and so you saw dunks on some alley screens and some side pick-and-rolls.”
Dartmouth sophomore Evan Boudreaux, a forward who was knocked around a bit and became visibly frustrated at times, scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds, but made just 4 of 13 field-goal attempts. He did hit on 3 of 6 shots from 3-point range, but a player who made 45 percent of his field-goal tries in earning league rookie of the year honors last season is at 36.9 percent this winter.
“I’m not making some of the shots I’d hoped to make, but I think I’m getting put in the right positions,” said Boudreaux, who has shot 50 percent or better from the floor twice this season after doing so 10 times as a freshman. “It’s just up to me to knock them down. I don’t think teams are doing anything more to target me than they did last year. Lately, the ball hasn’t been going in the basket.”
McLaughlin, whose team is off for two weeks until a rematch at Harvard, said Boudreaux’s declining accuracy has much to do with the overall workload he’s shouldering.
The Illinois native played all but two minutes on Saturday, has started every game and is averaging 33 minutes per outing.
“We put Evan in a lot of tough positions,” said McLaughlin, noting that Boudreaux is often required to guard the opposing team’s best interior player. “We’re asking him to be more of a distributor, where he’s catching the ball on the perimeter and has to make decisions off the dribble.
“We want to play through him more, not just give him the ball and (watch) as has been done in the past. That’s hard and he’s doing a phenomenal job trying to learn that.”
Dartmouth junior swingman Miles Wright, who had averaged 16 points during his previous four games, had 12 points and five turnovers. Freshman Brendan Barry also contributed 12 points. The New Jersey product and relative of former NBA standout Rick Barry has seen his minutes increase of late while those of junior backcourt mate Taylor Johnson, who started the season’s first five games, have plummeted.
“We had him at (point guard) earlier in the year and he had some issues taking care of the ball,” McLaughlin said of Johnson, who’s played a combined 13 minutes during the last five games. “I don’t think that was the best position to start him off in. We’re trying to have him earn some of those minutes back through his play in practice.”
Notes: Attendance was announced at 1,252. … The Big Green made its only free throw of the first half and finished 12 of 13 from the line. … Dartmouth leads the teams’ series, 96-87. … The Big Green and Harvard provided each other’s first Ivy League opponent for the 30th consecutive season. … Dartmouth freshman Will Emery was spotted yawning on the bench with two minutes remaining. Less than a minute later, he was in the game. … Harvard would seem likely to have set an NCAA record with the greatest travel distance disparity between two road games during the same campaign. The Crimson played Stanford in Shanghai, China, and also visited nearby Boston College earlier this season.