Awaiting the postgame press conference, the player’s lounge at Leede Arena was quiet when head coach David McLaughlin entered.
Dartmouth had just suffered a 71-58 loss to Harvard University, their third loss in the last four games.
McLaughlin sat down in a lounge chair as he was handed a paper copy of the final box score. With one arm draped over the chair and the other holding the paper, McLaughlin began his first study session.
He looked at turnovers first, then shooting splits. He remained focused on the stats on the page until it was time for questions.
In his eyes, one could see a plan forming: a plan to get back on track during this slump.
“Today was frustrating in a lot of ways,” McLaughlin said. “The biggest thing is the resiliency of bouncing back on Monday … We need to have a really good week.”
The pregame atmosphere was buzzing, with Leslie David Baker, who played Stanley Hudson in the hit TV show, “The Office,” making an appearance courtside. The actor greeted eager fans, joked around and bemoaned the cold.
“It’s zero outside,” he said to Dartmouth Athletic director Mike Harrity. “How do you live like this?”
The game started slow, as both teams struggled to make shots. Jayden Williams ’26, in contrast, started hot, scoring Dartmouth’s first eight points. 14 of Williams’ 19 points came in the first half, including when he rose up to sink a corner three that turned into a four point play after he was fouled on the descent.
“I think it is very prudent for me to be able to move whenever somebody drives and be able to get those shots,” Williams said. “I’m not necessarily worried about my shot, but if it does come to me, then I should knock it down.”
Williams and the Big Green helped reduce an early seven-point Harvard lead and Dartmouth entered the second half down by just two points.
The second half, however, brought disaster. Dartmouth’s shooters went cold, as the Big Green could only muster a singular point — a Brandon Mitchell-Day ’26 free throw — in the opening five minutes. Seizing the opportunity, the Crimson went on a 7-1 run to eke out an 8-point lead.
“We need to see our men,” Williams said. “They cut us up on a back cut, or we lose our man and they get an open three.”
When Williams made a layup to get Dartmouth scoring again, the crowd sighed with relief, hoping that they could make lightning strike twice and erase the Harvard lead like they did in the first half.
It almost looked like it did when Jackson Munro ’26 faked out Harvard defender Chandler Piggé and sunk a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 4 with just over 12 minutes left in the game. With a glimmer of hope in Leede Arena, Harvard immediately went on an 8-0 run, silencing the fans once more.
Every time the Big Green struck, Harvard struck back. With Dartmouth barely hanging on, the Crimson’s Tey Barbour scored 12 consecutive points to effectively ice the game with three-and-a-half minutes still on the clock.
“I don’t think we closed that appropriately to him in our zone,” McLaughlin said. “And the third one, we just accepted a jab step. We backed up off the jab, which you can’t do in a great shooter.”
Dartmouth looked physically outmatched all game. The Big Green was dominated on the glass, getting outrebounded 37-29. Mitchell-Day had 13 of those rebounds on his way to his sixth double-double of the season.
“They came out punching and to rebound you have to be able to match that physicality,” Mitchell-Day said. “And I think I did a good job of that for the most part. There are a few times where I didn’t, and we’ll look at that when we get back this week.”
Dartmouth’s opportunities in transition were quickly stamped out as a throng of Crimson defenders frequently got on the ball and limited shot making opportunities.
“We didn’t run hard enough today. We need to run harder,” McLaughlin said. “By running harder, you put more pressure on the defense. And I don’t think we ran hard enough consistently enough today.”
This lack of quality shots led to an abysmal second half of shooting. The Big Green made just eight of their 28 second-half attempts. Dartmouth shot just 33% from the field all game; Harvard shot 47%.
“They kind of pushed us off our spots a little bit offensively,” McLaughlin said. “That impacted our ability to finish and get to the paint as consistently as we wanted to.”
Dartmouth has lost three of their last four games, all of them by double digits.
While the Big Green sits tied for third in the Ivy League standings, the team has a lot of work to do if it wants a shot in Ivy Madness, which will take place at Cornell University in March.
With a difficult weekend ahead, where they face Yale and Brown on back to back days, the Big Green will have to refocus and fix what isn’t working when it reconvenes on Monday.
“We talk a lot to the guys about, ‘don’t mark my paper, help me get an A,’” McLaughlin said. “I know those guys will be ready to come in and watch film and work out with coaches and learn.”
The players know what they need to do, according to Mitchell-Day.
“This group’s known for responding in the right way,” Mitchell-Day said. “Coach is going to send the message this week and we’re going to respond.”
For McLaughlin, the message he sends might just be on that score sheet.
