NOTEBOOK: Men's Basketball Relies on Three-Point Arc in Win Against Cal

BERKELEY, Calif.—Entering its non-conference matchup against favored Cal, the Harvard men’s basketball team was averaging 15.6 three-point attempts per game this season. But Saturday night, Harvard topped that number in the first half alone.

The Crimson (7-4) recorded 17 attempts from deep in the opening frame on the way to a 10-for-27 effort overall and a 67-62 victory.

“I’m surprised that we took as many [threes] as we did, but we had them. They were shots that were open,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I am disappointed that we didn’t shoot it better.”

Cal attempted just six long-range shots on the game, all of which missed their mark, as the Crimson outscored the Bears, 30-0, from beyond the arc.

And although the Bears (8-4) claimed a one-possession advantage toward the end of the second half, the Crimson held on to upset its California opponent at Haas Pavilion.

Of the 33 points Harvard scored in the first frame, 18 came from deep, with co-captains Laurent Rivard and Christian Webster leading the way with two threes apiece in the first frame.

“Our whole game plan…was try to stop the shooting,” Cal guard Allen Crabbe said. “But obviously we couldn’t contain them, so we didn’t do a good job at that.”

Although each Harvard player that attempted a three knocked down at least one, the Crimson dipped below its season average of 40 percent, hitting 37 percent of its shots from long range.

Rivard led Harvard in scoring with 19 points, knocking down five of his 12 attempts from the field—all from three-point range—and shooting 4 for 4 from the foul line down the stretch.

INSIDE SCOOP

While the Crimson was quick to capitalize on its three-point shooting, Cal’s inside presence dominated at the start of the game.

With 9:45 to play in the first half, sophomore Steve Moundou-Missi scored Harvard’s first points inside the arc, finishing a layup off of a bounce pass from Webster. Until that moment, all of Harvard’s close-range attempts had been denied, as Cal blocked four Crimson layups in the opening 7:05.

The Bears’ forward Richard Solomon turned away five Harvard shots on the night—including four of his team’s initial five—as Cal tied the school record of 11 blocks in a single game.

Although the undersized Crimson lineup only amassed two blocks of its own, Harvard outrebounded Cal, 19-14, in the first half and finished the game with 33 to the Bears’ 34 boards. Cal entered Saturday night’s contest outrebounding its competition by an average margin of 7.6 boards on 40.8 rebounds per game.

“Statistically, [Harvard is] one of the poorer teams in the paint because they aren’t very big,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. “But we couldn’t take advantage of that, and that was really tough on us.”

Sophomore Jonah Travis—who finished the game with seven points on three-of-eight shooting—led the way down low, collecting a game-high eight rebounds, four of which came on offense.

ROLE PLAY

Although sophomore wing Wesley Saunders leads the Crimson in scoring with 15.8 points per game, he stayed off the scoreboard until 4:58 to play in the opening frame and added just five points in the first half of Saturday’s contest.

But according to Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, Saunders’ focus heading into Saturday’s matchup was on the defensive end, where he was matched up with Crabbe, the Pac-12’s leading scorer.

“We told him it might not be a game where he was going to be a big scorer for us,” Amaker said. “His assignment was to be on Crabbe…. We told him we weren’t going to be concerned with the offensive production, but we needed to see the defensive efficiency and concentration on that end, and I thought he set the tone for us there.”

Despite the slow start, Saunders found his offensive stride in the second half, leading his team with 13 points in the frame to finish the game with 18—the second highest Crimson total. Crabbe ended the contest with a game-high 27 points, including 17 in the second half.

“I was pleased with [the team’s] effort defensively,” Amaker said. “We had some breakdowns, but that’s to be expected against a good offensive team like Cal.”

“Our plan was to try to make them take tough, contested shots,” freshman point guard Siyani Chambers added. “I think, over the course of the game, we were able to do that.”

Harvard’s second leading scorer, Chambers, was quiet from the field for the duration of the game. But although the rookie point guard shot just 2 of 15 including one of seven from three-point range, the freshman found other ways to contribute.

“Siyani’s penetration and his ability to find people was sensational,” Amaker said.

Chambers tallied a season- and game-high nine assists and two clutch free throws to increase Harvard’s slim lead to three points, 65-62, with 17 seconds remaining in the game. Two more free throws from Rivard pushed Harvard’s total to 67, where it stayed as the clock winded down.

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.