New Season with the Start of Ancient Eight Play at Harvard

Saturday, January 18

Cambridge, Mass. / Lavietes Pavilion

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

National Anthem men's basketball action versus Vermont

Photo by: Gil Talbot

New Season with the Start of Ancient Eight Play at Harvard

1/16/2020 11:11:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Lavietes Pavilion ESPN+Live Stats Twitter Updates Dartmouth Notes Harvard Notes

Dartmouth looks to start league play with a win on the road

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (7-8, 0-0)
at HARVARD (11-4, 0-0)
Saturday Jan. 18, 2020 | 21 p.m. | ESPN+
Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) | Cambridge, Mass.

• With non-conference wrapped up with a 7-8 record, Dartmouth sets its sights on earning a berth at the Ivy League Tournament for the first time, starting with the league opener at Harvard.
• A win over the Crimson would not only snap a three-game skid, it would also give the Big Green back-to-back years with a win to start conference play for the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, also against Harvard.
• Last time out, Dartmouth's offense fared well against one of the best defenses in the country, shooting 52.2 percent from the floor versus Vermont. But the Catamounts held off the Green in Leede Arena, 77-68.
• Forward Aaryn Rai scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-9 from the floor, his 10th game shooting at least 50 percent this year, and grabbed six boards to lead Dartmouth as well. He leads the team in both field goal percentage (.542) and rebounding (6.7 per game, sixth in the Ivy League).
• The Big Green's leading scorer this season, Chris Knight, posted 17 points and five rebounds and ranks in the top 12 in the circuit in both categories.
• Joining the front court duo in double figures were a pair of guards that added 10 points apiece — Taurus Samuels and Ian Sistare.
• The Big Green's top 3-point threat is James Foye, who has knocked down 33-of-68 (.485) from the perimeter this year.
• Dartmouth may have the lowest scoring offense in the league at 67.3 points per game, but it also has the second stingiest defense at 64.3 points, giving the Green the third best scoring margin (+3.0).

Series vs. Harvard
• Dartmouth has a 97-91 advantage all-time, though the Crimson won 17 of the 20 games in the 2010s.
• Last year, the Big Green defeated Harvard by 18, 81-63, by shooting a blistering 68.1 percent for their best accuracy in Leede Arena ever. Two weeks later, the Crimson exacted their revenge in a hard-fought 64-59 battle.
• This is the 33rd consecutive year these two teams have opened Ivy play against each other with Harvard going 21-11 in those games, including 11 straight wins until last year's Big Green triumph.
• The 81 points were the most for Dartmouth against Harvard since an 86-70 win back in 1993.
• Chris Knight averaged 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in the two games last year.
• At Lavietes Pavilion, the Big Green are 12-24, and their last win here was five years ago thanks to a 26-2 second-half run in a 70-61 triumph.

Scouting the Crimson
• Harvard, receiving votes in the AP Top 25, has not lost since Dec. 1, taking six straight games including road wins at California and San Francisco.
• The Crimson are third in the league in both scoring offense (74.2 pgg) and defense (64.3 ppg).
• Star point guard Bryce Aiken is averaging 16.7 points, but has only played in seven games this year, missing the last four.
• Forward Chris Lewis, finally a senior, averages 11.5 points on 64.2 percenting shooting, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.
• Noah Kirkwood adds 11.1 points a night and is one of several 3-point threats on the roster, including Rio Haskett (21-of-45, .467).
• Tommy Amaker (Duke '87) is in his 13th season at Harvard's helm with a 241-135 record in Cambridge and a 417-274 mark in a career that has taken him to Seton Hall for four seasons (68-55) and Michigan for six (108-84).

Sell Out
For the first time in two years and just the fourth time in the past 20 seasons, Dartmouth played a game in front of a sold-out crowd at Leede Arena. The place was filled to capacity on Jan. 2 when Vermont came to town, but the Big Green could not send their fans home happy in the 77-68 defeat. It was the 32nd sellout in the venue's 33 seasons with Dartmouth sporting an even 16-16 record in those contests. The first fifteen sellouts came in the first two seasons of Leede Arena with the Green winning all but one of those matchups.

Shooting Touch Returns
After shooting under 40 percent in its previous two games and 25 percent or worse from behind the arc its last four, Dartmouth started the new year on target against Vermont. The Big Green knocked down 52.2 perecent (24-of-46) from the floor and 40 percent (6-of-15) from long range in the Twin State rivalry, but the Catamounts emerged victorious for the 20th time in the last 21 meetings, 77-68.

Rai and Shine
In the first 15 games, Aaryn Rai has hit at least half of his field goal attempts 10 times, including five straight around the Thanksgiving holiday. Most recently, he canned 8-of-9 shots in the loss to Vermont while scoring a team-high 18 points. For the season, the junior forward is shooting 54.2 percent, which is the fourth best in the Ivy League (minimum four FG per game) with Chris Knight fifth (.500).

Defense is the Key to Victory
It should come as no surprise that the single biggest factor in Dartmouth's victories this season has been its defensive play. Six times the Big Green have held opponents under 40 percent from the floor, and all six times they have emerged victorious. The only game in which Dartmouth's opponent shot better than 40 percent and lost was the 80-75 overtime win at UMass Lowell on Nov. 17. For the season, opponents have hit on 41.6 percent of their field goals, the third lowest mark in the Ivy League, and 32.5 percent from the perimeter, second in the conference.

Closing in on 100 Triples
Senior James Foye needs just three more 3-pointers to reach 100 in his Big Green career, a figure only 16 players have amassed at Dartmouth. With just 14 more trifectas, the native of Hamilton, Massachusetts, will move into the program's top 10. For his career, Foye is shooting 41.3 percent (97-235) from the perimeter, which ranks 36th among active Division I players. Jim Barton '89 is the all-time leader with 242 3-pointers, a total the sharp-shooter collected in just three seasons.

Free Throws Hardly Free
For some reason, neither Dartmouth nor its opponents have had much success at the charity stripe this season. The Big Green are shooting 63.9 percent at the line, which ranks last in the Ivy League and among the bottom 30 teams in Division I. The team has converted at least 70 percent of its free throws in a game only three times thus far. Opponents, however, are having an even worse time at a woeful 57.7 percent, a mark which is worse than all but one of the 350 Division I teams (Army 56.6). Only two teams have converted 70 percent or more at the line against the Green — Merrimack (4-5, .800) and New Hampshire (14-19, .737).

Carter Connection
Ian Carter has done a nice job of providing some efficient offense off the bench over the last six games. The senior has hit 9-of-14 field goals during those contests while averaging a modest 3.8 points. In the two wins, he hit all four of his shots, but in the four losses, he missed at least one in each. The lesson is that he cannot miss for Dartmouth to win, or something like that.

Saturday and 20: Kisses of Death
Dartmouth has not found any success when playing on Saturday, dropping eight straight on that day of the week dating back to last season. And while four different Big Green players have scored 20 or more points in a game this season, Dartmouth would rather get better scoring balance. In all four games the Big Green had someone go for 20-plus points, they ended up losing.

Everyone Lending a Hand
Well, maybe not everyone, but Dartmouth has seven players averaging at least one assist per game and another (Ian Carter) that is two helpers shy of the mark. James Foye leads the squad with 32 helpers while Chris Knight and Taurus Samuels aren't far behind with 30 apiece. While the Big Green have had seven players have at least one assist per game for a full season a couple of times, they have never had eight do so.