NOTEBOOK: Crimson Tops BCS Foe For Fourth Straight Year

Another year, and another BCS conference team falls to the Harvard men’s basketball squad.

For the fourth straight season, the Crimson took down a school from a power conference, this time beating Colorado at Lavietes Pavilion yesterday, 82-66.

“[It was] a very good win, a statement win, a program-building kind of win for us,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

In the prior two seasons, Harvard has beaten ACC member Boston College on the road, 74-67 in 2009-10 and 82-70 in 2008-09. In 2007-08, the Crimson beat Michigan of the Big Ten at home, 62-51.

“We just see [these games] as opportunities,” junior co-captain Oliver McNally said. “You see the name on the front of their chest, and there’s a little fear in you because you’re playing a bigger school. But all that does is just make you clamp down and just be ready.”

Yesterday’s win—the most one-sided victory of the bunch—was the program’s first against a school from the Big 12. Under Amaker, Harvard is 4-5 against schools from the BCS conferences.

“We’ve been fortunate, lucky in some cases,” Amaker said. “We’ve had some moments thus far...in our tenure here to be able to knock off some, quote unquote, BCS conference teams.”

The Crimson will play David to the power conference’s Goliath three more times this year. It travels to Michigan next Saturday, to UConn on Dec. 22, and to BC on Jan. 5.

“It certainly gives us a great sense of confidence that we can match up and suit up...against teams from that level and obviously have some success,” Amaker said.

GO BIG OR GO HOME

While junior co-captain Keith Wright was unquestionably the anchor of Harvard’s frontcourt, the Crimson relied on a few other big men to rotate in and provide valuable minutes, especially as fouls began to accrue in the second half.

Playing in just his second game after recovering from a broken foot, sophomore forward Kyle Casey played 13 minutes, providing a spark particularly on the defensive end, where he contributed two blocks and a steal.

“He’s coming [along],” Amaker said. “[He’s] not nearly where we’d like for him to be, but it’s a process.”

The sophomore’s biggest play came toward the end of the second half, when he skied in the paint to swat a floater by Buffalo guard Alec Burks. But seconds later, Casey committed a foul on Burks—a fitting outcome for a game in which Casey fouled out.

“We’re just working him back into the offense. He’s definitely going to play more as his foot continues to get better,” Wright said. “He’s showing a lot of maturity given the situation he’s in. He’s definitely helping the team a lot.”

The other big man that stepped up was junior Andrew Van Nest. The junior held down the paint when Wright went to the bench and provided a boost with three field goals, including a three, and a thunderous dunk late in the second half.

Five minutes into the second frame, as sophomore guard Brandyn Curry was inbounding under Harvard’s own hoop, Van Nest rolled off a pick and received the pass in the middle of the lane. The big man, not known for his aerial displays, took off and dunked over two Colorado defenders.

“I have no idea [where that came from],” Wright said. “I told him, ‘You’ve just got to jump hard, and just dunk it, man.’ I guess he finally listened to me. We were all going crazy in the locker room after the game. It was definitely big.”

DELAYED REACTION

Trailing as they went into the second half, the Buffaloes sought to change up their offensive and defensive strategies. Throughout the period, Colorado made a determined effort to get to the free-throw line and pressure the ball full-court.

The Crimson had difficulty adapting to both changes, as it gave up 22 free-throw attempts in the second frame and turned the ball over multiple times in the backcourt.

“We didn’t respond very well,” Amaker said. “We couldn’t keep them off the line...We didn’t handle pressure very well...But we were able to kind of regroup and recover from that and put the game back in our favor with a comfortable margin.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.