Columbia University’s men’s basketball team will host Harvard on Saturday at Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium, with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. The Lions, holding a 12-3 overall record and 1-0 in Ivy League play, face the Crimson, who are 7-8 overall and 0-1 in conference games. Fans can follow the game through live stats or watch it on SNY or ESPN+, with Steve Gelbs providing play-by-play commentary and Barry Rohrssen as analyst.
Columbia enters the matchup with one of the top rebounding margins in the nation, ranking third nationally. The team is also among the top ten in both total rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game. This season marks the second consecutive year that Columbia has remained undefeated at home during non-conference play and entered Ivy League competition with double-digit wins.
The Lions are seeking their first victory over Harvard since February 2, 2018. Their most recent outing was a high-scoring win against Cornell, where they overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to secure a 104-99 victory. This result moved Columbia’s all-time record in Ivy League openers to 33-36.
Head coach Kevin Hovde has made an immediate impact, becoming the first Columbia head coach since Lou Rossini in the 1950–51 season to win 12 of his first 15 games during his debut season.
Monday’s contest against Cornell set several records for Columbia. It was the highest-scoring game in Columbia-Cornell history and marked only the second time Columbia scored over 100 points against Cornell. Senior guard Kenny Noland reached a career milestone by becoming the 31st player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
Offensively, Columbia has surpassed the 100-point mark three times this season—the first time this has happened since the late 1970s—and has recorded back-to-back games with at least 100 points for the first time since January 1969. The team is averaging nearly six players scoring double figures in some contests and maintains an average of over seven wins by margins of at least fifteen points.
On rebounding, Columbia leads all Ivy League teams across several categories: combined rebounds per game (43.4), defensive rebounds per game (30.3), and offensive rebounds per game (13.1). The Lions have out-rebounded their opponents in each of their twelve victories this season and have posted significant advantages on multiple occasions—out-rebounding five opponents by more than twenty boards.
Blair Thompson is approaching a personal milestone as well; he is fifteen rebounds away from reaching five hundred career boards—a feat last achieved by Mark Cisco during the 2012–13 season.
Kenny Noland continues to lead offensively for Columbia this year, averaging seventeen points per game while leading his team in assists, field goals made, three-pointers made, free throws made, and minutes played. He currently ranks third among Ivy League scorers for total points this season and holds one of the highest free throw percentages nationally among qualified players at nearly ninety-six percent.
Noland has twice been named Ivy League Player of the Week and was added to the Lou Henson Award Early Season Watch List on December 18.
First-year guard Miles Franklin has also contributed significantly off the bench throughout his debut collegiate season—scoring double digits in nine out of fifteen games so far—and earning three Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.
Historically, Columbia holds a slight edge over Harvard with ninety-eight wins to ninety-four losses but seeks its first series win since early February six years ago.
After Saturday’s home opener against Harvard, Columbia will travel next weekend for matchups against Brown and Yale as part of Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend.
