Last weekend, the Big Green basketball team fell to No.21 Harvard after leading by six points with just five minutes to play in the first half. The Crimson rallied with a crushing offense, outscoring Dartmouth 33-11 after the half and winning the game, 63-47.
Gabas Maldunas '15 said the team is determined to use its game against Longwood as a stepping-stone to victory against Harvard next week.
"This game is important because it will give us confidence going into the Harvard game," he said. "We just lost a lot of games, so it is very important for us to get a win."
Maldunas, who has won Ivy League Rookie of the Week three times this season, is one of many superb freshmen that comprise much of the team. Currently, members of the Class of 2015 make up about half of the team.
"We feel good about it, but the inexperience does not help," Maldunas said. "We are working on our future, and it will help us in the coming years."
Other freshmen who have been named Ivy Rookie of the Week this season include Jvonte Brooks '15 and John Golden '15.
Golden said the Longwood game will be a good matchup.
"Although our style of play is a bit different, I think we are pretty evenly matched teams," he said. "We plan on trying to get some easy baskets off of their defense if they overplay us, which they might."
This week, the team has been dedicated to working on its offense in practice, captain David Rufful '12 said. Although the team has come out ahead many times during the season, it has occasionally let the lead slip away in the second half.
"We've been falling apart a little bit," Rufful said. "We need the resolve to finish the game. The upperclassmen need to take it upon themselves and make sure we're taking good shots and playing good defense."
Golden said the team is working on sustaining the momentum it finds early in the game.
"In over half of our games, we've been winning at first," Golden said. "We can get some positives out of the close games we have had, but it's been tough that we haven't pulled out more wins."
The team has also turned its attention to more shooting drills to optimize its performance on Saturday. Rufful said that in addition to speeding up its offense, the team will strategize about how to defend against Longwood's powerful center guard, who averages about 20 points a game.
Rufful thinks that the very talented freshmen will play a key role in both the team's performance this season and the long-term development of the basketball program.
"Hopefully in the second half of the season, as we gain more experience, we can start winning more games," Rufful said. "Most of the games we lost have been very close. We're hoping as the Ivy play progresses we can win more games and be in contention to be one of the better teams in the league."
Tip-off this Saturday is set for 2 p.m. at Leede Arena.
