Lions Try to Bounce Back on the Road

On a four-game losing streak and below .500 in league play, the men’s basketball team knows this is crunch time.

Columbia (12-9, 3-5 Ivy) will look to get this season back on track this weekend as the team visits conference rivals Harvard (9-12, 4-4) and Dartmouth (6-15, 3-5) in what is quickly becoming a topsy-turvy Ivy League.

The two games are a rematch of a pair of Lion victories earlier this season at Levien Gymnasium, where the Columbia dispatched Dartmouth 64-45 before barely outlasting Harvard in a 57-55 thriller.

The Crimson are currently in third place in the Ivies, thanks in large part to the inside play of sophomore center Brian Cusworth and junior forward Matt Stehle, who give the Crimson a significant frontcourt size advantage.

“We did a decent job trying to keep the ball out of the paint [last time], but we’ve been whistled for a lot of fouls lately, and so we need to be aware of what happens if we get in foul trouble,” Columbia head coach Joe Jones said. “We’ll have to [be] able to switch defenses to keep [Cusworth and Stehle] off-balance.”

The Lions will likely run a variety of defenders at the frontcourt duo, including junior Dragutin Kravic, freshman Ben Nwachukwu, and senior Colin Davis, in order to keep leading scorer Matt Preston—who is averaging 15.2 points per game this season—fresh on the offensive end.

In light of Columbia’s near-collapse against Harvard last time, they will focus on keeping the level of their play consistent for both halves.

“I don’t know that I see the game [playing out the same], because every game is different,” Jones said. “The thing we have to work on is executing offensively on a consistent basis. We’re not looking at this game like it’s the last, but we run our offense in a way that prepares us for the last six games.”

On Saturday, Columbia will face the Dartmouth Big Green, who have made a surprising start under new head coach Terry Dunn and enter the weekend tied with the Lions in Ivy play.

The Light Blue will be keying in on super-sub Mike Lang, who leads the Big Green in scoring despite having started only one game this season. They’ll also have to contend with a big, physical inside presence in the form of senior center David Gardner. Although Jones acknowledged that his team will switch up defenses to keep both the Crimson and Big Green on their toes, dealing with inside players such as Gardner may once again result in a number of whistles.

“I don’t know how else to coach in terms of us playing the right way; I couldn’t tell you why we would play the game and have it be 47-8 in fouls [as it was against Penn],” Jones said. “I can’t tell my guys to come out less aggressive. There are some changes we’ll have to make from a coaching standpoint—changing defenses so we don’t play as much man—but that’s about all you can do.”

At the same time, Jones stressed the need to streamline offensive production.

“We’ve really worked this week in practice on the half-court game, not standing around and watching,” he added. “We need to be moving, screening, we need other guys to look for their shot a little more often, and we need to either finish inside, or get to the foul line. I told the guys, we’re one game better than we were last year at this time, and these guys just have to keep believing in what they’re doing.”