Danger in CU overlooking Big Green

Two years ago, the men’s basketball team headed up to Hanover, N.H. in the middle of a four-game road trip. The 2009-2010 season didn’t start out well for the Lions, but they were starting to find their groove. After dropping its first three games by a combined 76 points—to a Cornell squad that eventually made the Sweet 16 and a Harvard team led by future NBA player Jeremy Lin—the Light Blue won three of its next five. Another win was all but guaranteed for Columbia, as Dartmouth, the whipping boy of the Ancient Eight, had managed only four nonconference wins that season.

I don’t know if it was the long bus ride, the game against Harvard the next night, or something else, but the Lions did not coast to an easy victory like they had when they played the Big Green at home. Columbia made just seven of its 28 first-half field goals and was lucky to only be losing by two (17-15) at halftime. The Light Blue couldn’t find its form and handed Dartmouth its only Ivy win that year.

Because I was covering both games that weekend and there is absolutely no way to get from Middle-of-Nowhere, N.H. to Boston via public transit on a Friday night, I got to travel with the team. Man, was that a long bus ride. For two and a half hours, everyone sat in almost complete silence. We finally arrived in Newton, Mass. around midnight—just 19 hours before the Lions had to face off against a Crimson team that had beaten them by 29 points at Levien. The Lions ended up losing the next night, 77-57.

What was the point of this trip down memory lane? Tonight’s matchup against Dartmouth is a trap game. On paper, the Lions are pretty much ensured a victory. The Big Green is last in scoring offense, field goal percentage, assists, and steals. Dartmouth has won only four nonconference games this year, and no player is averaging more than nine points per game.

The quirky Ivy League schedule makes practicing and strategizing for each weekend tough for both the coaches and the players. Head coach Kyle Smith has to make sure his players are prepared for both games, while also ensuring that they are focused on what’s in front of them when they take to the court on Friday. That task is likely even more difficult this week with No. 23 Harvard looming in the second half of the road swing.

The game against Harvard is going to be the more challenging one, but in a 14-game season with no tournament, every victory matters. While the Lions have looked good for stretches, they’ve come up just short in three of their first four conference games. If they want a spot in the top half of the league, they can’t drop any more close games. Dartmouth is a must-win. And it’s not going to be as easy as it looks.

In a midweek interview, Coach Smith acknowledged that Dartmouth’s relative strength is its defense—the Big Green has held opponents to .413 shooting from the field and .347 from beyond the arc. Normally this wouldn’t be such a problem for the Lions, who are an even stronger defensive team. However, in the first four games of conference play, Columbia has made only 39.8 percent of its shots from the floor and 21.2 percent of its buckets from downtown. If the Light Blue continues to struggle to put points on the board, Friday could turn into a long night.

Besides the obvious, there is another reason why the Lions have to win tonight—they need to get their momentum back. Coming into league play, they had won 11 of their last 12. Two close losses in the first weekend of Ivy play and a third one this past Saturday seem to have taken some air out of their tires. A solid victory over Dartmouth could help restore some confidence in the team going into its toughest test of the season. After all, you can only beat what’s in front of you.

Michele Cleary is a Columbia College senior majoring in history. She is a former Spectator managing editor.
sports@columbiaspectator.com