A Familiar Finish for Housman in Victory

Harvard point guard Drew Housman pushes the ball down the court. The Crimson is up four with just over a minute to play.

His defender gives him space. Housman takes two dribbles, stops, pops, and nails a three right in the face of his opponent.

It is a dagger, sending the Crimson to a narrow victory.

For anyone watching the game last against New Hampshire, this sounds like an exact description of Housman’s big-time three that put the Crimson up for good last night en route to its 72-67 ousting of the Wildcats.

But it isn’t.

Travel back almost one year ago. Against Central Connecticut State on a cold winter night in New Britain, Connecticut, Housman capped an 18-point Crimson comeback victory with this very play, one that was eerily similar to the one that occurred last night against the Wildcats.

The only difference between the two games: two points. Against New Hampshire, the team was down two, not four, and the final differential was five, not seven, as was the case in Harvard’s 72-65 victory over the Blue Devils last year.

And last night, it was Housman, not the team itself, which struggled.

The junior failed to tally a field goal until the six-minute mark in the second half. Housman was averaging 15 points a game coming in, tops on the team and tied for sixth in the Ivy League, and finished with 13 points..

But just like against CCSU, Housman remained ice-cold when it counted, hammering a nail into the Wildcats’ coffin with seventy seconds to play.

“I think I got into a little bit of rhythm,” Housman said. “And when that happens, I feel like I can do some things, create for some people [and for myself].”

UP AND UNGER

Senior captain Brad Unger returned to the Harvard rotation against New Hampshire, seeing his first action of the season after suffering a stress fracture to his leg in preseason play.

And Unger did not disappoint. In a sparse thirteen minutes of play, the big man contributed.

Unger tallied nine points, four rebounds, and two assists on a night when the Crimson needed a spark.

With sophomore standout Jeremy Lin and Housman combining for four points in the first half, Unger was able to fill in, as the captain notched seven of his nine points in the first frame. And his biggest shot was his first, as Unger nailed a three just thirty seconds after entering the game to bring the Crimson within one at 22-21 with 7:05 to play in the first half.

The Crimson was never down by more than one the rest of the game.

“He knocked down a big three for us,” coach Amaker said. “He’s still not in the condition we need him in, but today’s a big step. It’s nice to have Unger in the rotation, giving us some production we sorely needed tonight.”



A TALE OF TWO HALVES

After accounting for the majority of the Crimson offense over its first six games, Harvard’s two star guards, Lin and Housman, were silent for the first half. Housman failed to score while Lin only managed four points over the first twenty minutes.

Slowly but surely, however, the two got it going. Lin finished with 10 points in total, and Housman, who didn’t have a point until 12:00 minutes left in the game, led the Crimson to a much-needed win with his late-game heroics.

“I’m not going to stop shooting because I had a rough game and made some turnovers,” Housman said. “I should keep being aggressive even though I had a rough first three quarters.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.