NOTEBOOK: Patient Defense Anchors Victory

PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—For the Harvard men’s basketball team Friday night, it was a game of either feast or famine, particularly on the defensive end.

On the plus side, the Crimson showed off its ability to force turnovers at a high clip from the opening tip.

Rookie point guard Brandyn Curry brought his usual defensive energy to the starting role, forcing Quaker star Zack Rosen into a five-second violation on Penn’s first offensive possession.

Whether it was stripping him on a drive or forcing him into an ill-advised pass, Curry and co-captain Jeremy Lin combined efforts to hold the sophomore guard Rosen—who leads the Ivy League in conference scoring average—to two points and a game-high four turnovers in the first half.

“He has a good handle, shifty off the bounce,” Curry said of his Quaker counterpart. “They run a lot of picks to try to free him up, so it’s really tough to guard him.”

Rosen’s teammates were no better at taking care of the ball. Seven other Penn players had at least one turnover in the opening frame, with starting guards Dan Monckton and Rob Belcore each contributing two.

Looking to take advantage of passes on the perimeter, Lin and sophomore guard Max Kenyi both had two steals in the first half, but on occasion, Harvard didn’t even need to expend any effort to regain possession.

Penn’s Drew Godwin threw away an inbounds pass when he passed the ball to Rosen before the star sophomore was ready. Though no Harvard player was in the vicinity, the ball hit Rosen in the head and went out of bounds.

Overall, the Crimson did well to capitalize on the 21 total giveaways—13 of which came in the first half—converting them into 24 points.

And its high-intensity defensive pressure was especially crucial during the contest’s final 36 seconds, when Harvard fell behind, 66-65, and was forced to foul.

Because the Crimson had several fouls to give, Penn was forced to inbound the ball from its own end of the court four times in a row.

On the first inbounds play, good defensive pressure by Harvard forced a Quaker timeout with 33.4 seconds to go. Penn would get the ball into play on its second try, but Curry knocked it out of bounds.

Then Rosen received the ball and was fouled by Kenyi, setting up another inbounds situation.

On the next play, Mike Howlett received the pass and tried to throw it back to Rosen, but he sent the ball high. Penn’s final turnover of the night gave Harvard the ball with 25 seconds left, setting up freshman Kyle Casey’s eventual game-winning free throws.

HOT AT HOME

But when Penn was able to hold onto the ball, it was able to score nearly at will.

The Quakers shot 61 percent for the game, going 11-for-19 beyond the arc.

“They made some tough shots, and they made open shots,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I definitely thought that we did a heck of a job of trying to get there to challenge shots. If they’re making them, they’re making them, and they certainly made them tonight.”

Despite hobbling around the court for most of the game, Belcore had a career-high 17 points—including five three-pointers. The sophomore made all three of his first-half field goal attempts, as did Monckton, helping their team remain within five at the break.

After nailing 65 percent of their shots in the first half, the Quakers came out hotter in the second’s opening minutes, hitting seven of their first nine field-goal attempts to take a three-point lead on a Monckton jumper with 12:47 left to play. Harvard was unable to respond to the barrage, starting the half with four straight misses.

Midway through the frame, another string of four missed shots, along with two turnovers, allowed the Quakers to rush ahead, as a left-wing three by Rosen gave his team a seven-point lead with 4:53 to go. All but two of Rosen’s 15 points came in the second half.

Of Harvard’s starters, Casey struggled the most, primarily in the paint. Excluding a two-handed slam—coming in response to Rosen’s trey—he missed all eight of his field goal tries in the final frame, which were mostly contested layup attempts.

“He just got into a funk there where he couldn’t get one to go,” Amaker said. “He got that dunk, and I thought that allowed him to calm down a little bit. And then we wanted to keep going to Kyle. We thought that was the matchup we wanted to go to.”

LIVING HISTORY

The victory at the historic Palestra gave Harvard its first sweep of Penn since the 1941-42 season, along with a program-record 10 road wins. Friday night also represented the Crimson’s 20th Division I win.

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.