Much like last year, when Dartmouth went 2-5 over Winter break, the Green posted a losing record against out-of-conference opponents in five games between Dec. 11, 1999 and Jan. 2, 2000. Unlike last year, the Green lost their lone Ivy contest at Harvard, 66-59.
The defeat already sets Dartmouth back in its efforts to wrest the Ivy League title from pre-season favorites Penn and Princeton.
After four solid performances in five November games, the Green had trouble matching their earlier consistency on both ends of the court.
"We just haven't really come together as a team yet," shooting guard Greg Buth '01 said. "We've definitely been playing a lot better basketball. Unfortunately, we started playing better after Harvard."
Exemplifying this inconsistency is team captain and leading scorer for the past two seasons Shaun Gee '00. Dartmouth's star forward dropped a game-high 32 points against Quinnipiac in the first match of the break but followed that up with a seven point performance four days later in Cambridge.
Over the break Gee's scoring average dropped from a lofty 23.6 to 19.7 points per game as he scored between 11 and 16 points in his last three games.
Picking up the slack at times, shooting guard Greg Buth '01 scored 29 at Loyola Marymount, making eight of 10 three-pointers. But in the following game against Virginia, Buth managed only nine points on four-of-11 shooting from the floor, missing all four of his three-point tries.
Having failed to prove their winning streak late in the 1998-99 season was no fluke, the Green will have to reinforce their supremacy against Ivy competition. Dartmouth's next game is a rematch with Harvard this Saturday at Alumni Gym.
"There are definitely some holes we need to fix within our defense and running our plays," small forward Vedad Osmanovic '02 said. "It was tough to lose to Harvard -- it was a heartbreaking loss -- but we're not planning to give up. We're psyched and ready for Ivy League play."
Quinnipiac 85, Dartmouth 72
Dartmouth's 37.9 percent shooting in the first half put them behind 47-29 at the break -- a deficit that proved insurmountable. The Green didn't get within seven points of the Braves in the second half.
Dartmouth began the streaky shooting that would plague it throughout the month as Buth shot three-for-14. While Osmanovic ran hot with 14 points on five-of-seven shooting, he could not make up for Quinnipiac's torrid 57.1 percent shooting as a team.
Dartmouth's other starters endured subpar games as center Ian McGinnis '01 scored only two points and point guard Flinder Boyd '02 had seven points with four turnovers.
Harvard 66, Dartmouth 59
Having lost its best player, forward Dan Clemente, just days earlier, Harvard seemed in no position to be challenging a Dartmouth team that had taken them out at home around the same time a year earlier in a surprise win.
But the Crimson returned the upset with five players scoring in double figures. Tim Coleman led Harvard with 14 points and nine rebounds.
"They were playing inspired ball because it was their second game without" Clemente, Buth said. "We had a couple of guys in foul trouble. A couple of their guys just played really good games."
The Crimson won the battle of the boards by a wide margin, outrebounding the Green 41-27. All five Harvard double-figure scorers also had seven or more rebounds.
Gee, who along with Osmanovic starred for the Green against Quinnipiac, was in foul trouble for much of the game. He scored seven points and took down only two rebounds.
Osmanovic enjoyed his second consecutive excellent performance with 16 points. Buth had 15 points and Boyd had 12.
Dartmouth was ultimately done in by its shooting. While holding the Crimson to a paltry .389 percentage, the Green could only muster .421 on 24-of-57 shooting.
Dartmouth trailed 51-41 with under 10 minutes left and rallied to within 58-57, but Harvard ultimately pulled away from the Green by virtue of their strong rebounding.
UCSD 98, Dartmouth 82
In the first game of a two-game California stretch, the Green got into a shootout they couldn't win. Both teams tied their school records for three-pointers, as UCSD dropped in 14 and Dartmouth nailed 12.
Boyd continued his improved play, scoring a career-high 21 points and dishing eight assists while only turning the ball over twice. Buth shot eight-of-13 from the floor to finish with 20 points.
Early foul trouble hurt the Green all game. Gee fouled out of his second consecutive game with only 11 points. He, Buth and forward Mark Kissling '02 all picked up three first-half fouls.
Osmanovic once again scored in double figures, picking up 12 points. Kissling had nine points and five rebounds in 25 minutes of play.
Dartmouth 89, Loyola Mary. 67
The Green broke their recently-tied three-point record, draining 14 treys. Eight of them came from Buth, which also broke a school record.
Four starters and one reserve scored in double figures. Buth led the team with 29 points, making 10 of his 13 shots. Gee added 14, Osmanovic and Kissling had 12 each and low-scoring center McGinnis hit four of six shots for 10 points.
Boyd, playing near his home in front of many friends and family, had 14 assists to go with seven points.
The Green enjoyed their best shooting of the season, knocking down 53.4 percent of their shots from the floor.
However, Dartmouth padded that statistic in the second half. The Green shot only 37.5 percent in the opening period and trailed 35-30 at the half.
64.7 percent second-half shooting allowed Dartmouth to pull away quickly, albeit against a 1-8 team.
"We came into the second half and shot the lights out. Obviously that's not going to happen every game," Buth said.
Air Force 70, Dartmouth 62
Dartmouth left warm California for a chilly reception in Colorado. The team's cold shooting hand returned quickly with a .364 field goal percentage.
With McGinnis playing sparingly due to illness, Air Force's Thomas Bellairs was able to grab 18 rebounds.
Gee broke out of a mini-slump with 19 points. Buth added 17, though on six-for-18 shooting, and Osmanovic had 13.
"I think I've been taking good shots but they just haven't been falling," Buth said. "I'm still confident that every time I shoot the ball, it's going to go in."
Conversely, Osmanovic has enjoyed the best offensive stretch of his young career.
"I'm feeling more comfortable with the offense, though my main focus now is making improvements in my defense," Osmanovic said.
The teams traded leads for the game's first seven minutes, but Air Force did not trail after that. Dartmouth got within five with a minute remaining, but came no closer.
Virginia 89, Dartmouth 50
In a contest added to the schedule over the summer, the Green finished up its games away from the East Coast against national power Vriginia. Gee was the only Dartmouth player to score in double figures, finishing with 16.
Despite the Cavaliers' pressure, Dartmouth only turned the ball over 13 times.
Shooting was clearly the difference in the ballgame. Virginia made 60.3 percent of its shots to Dartmouth's 31.3 percent.
"We've been shooting poorly overall -- that's probably the main reason why we had a pretty bad stretch," Osmanovic said. "We're not going to change our offense. We're [just] trying to run some stuff more to get better looks and better shots."
Dartmouth trailed by 14 at halftime and had made no headway six minutes into the second period when Virginia began to leave the Green behind.
The loss left the Green 4-7 on the season, with the one glaring Ivy League loss hurting especially.
Harvard is "coming here Saturday and if we can win that game, we can get some confidence going into league play," Buth warned. "The Ivy season is long and anything can happen."
