Men's Basketball Looks for Third Win Against Howard

Coming off back-to-back wins against Holy Cross and MIT, the Harvard men’s basketball team will put its win streak on the line when it faces Howard University on Friday night.

The Crimson (2-0) will take on the Bison (2-1) at Lavietes Pavilion. Starting off the season in undefeated fashion, Harvard is looking to continue its recent hot play.

So far this campaign, offense has been the name of the game for the Crimson. The team has scored 161 points over the course of its first two games, outscoring its opponent by an average of 26 points per contest. The Crimson has shot 78 percent from the charity stripe and almost 46 percent from the field thus far.

For Harvard, 6’5” junior wing Wesley Saunders leads the way in scoring, averaging 16 points per game. Trailing close behind is co-captain guard Brandyn Curry, who contributed 14 points against Holy Cross on Sunday.

In Tuesday’s win over MIT, freshman Zena Edosomwan played 20 minutes off the bench, scoring 13 points and notching three rebounds.

For Saunders, Edosomwan’s play is a step in the right direction for the team, which is looking upon its younger players to contribute quality minutes.

“Zena is a great player,” Saunders said. “He is young, so he’s learning how to operate on the college level. I think that you saw that he was starting to figure it out as the game [against MIT] went on. He [got] adjusted to the speed of everything and just [got] going.”

The bench has been an important asset in the Crimson’s artillery so far this season, contributing 32 points in the season opener against Holy Cross on Nov. 10 and adding 39 in the MIT game.

Curry did not play against MIT due to a foot injury. If the senior cannot play against Howard on Friday, classmate Kyle Casey will likely take on much of the offensive burden. This will be Casey’s second game back in Lavietes after spending a year away from the team.

“This team has gelled [to Casey and Curry’s return, but] it’s a process,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “We hope it continues to gel…. [Casey and Curry have] been very mature and respectful of their teammates. They know in terms of what’s going to happen this year that they are going to be a big part of it.”

Amaker sees Friday’s contest as an opportunity to strengthen aspects of the team’s play that were not fully established in the opening two games. Amaker referenced senior Dee Giger and sophomore Agunwa Okolie as key components going forward.

“We’re hopefully developing [Giger] and [Okolie] along the perimeter lines,” Amaker said. “[Giger’s] a player with great length and size and incredible shooting ability, and [there will be] opportunities for him to come in at some point and play four, five minutes, maybe more, and get two or three shots. It could happen that quickly, and he has the ability to do that.”

Harvard’s defense has also been consistent thus far this year. Overall, the Crimson has forced its competitors to commit 39 turnovers, while averaging 12 steals per game. Opposing teams have also been limited to shooting 24.1 percent from behind the arc and 35.9 percent from the floor.

For the Bison, the game will be an opportunity to win their first road contest of the season. Coming off a loss at Old Dominion on Wednesday, Howard looks to record a victory over its only Ivy League opponent of the year.

The Bison offense is led by freshman James Daniel, who averages 23.3 points per game, racking up a total of 70 points in Howard’s first three games of the season. Daniel was recently named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week after his strong performances in Bison victories over Washington College and Gwynedd Mercy University last weekend.

The Crimson, which has not lost a game at Lavietes since a Nov. 27, 2012 contest against Vermont, will look to extend its home winning streak to 13 games when it takes the court on Friday.

“I just think we need to stay focused, keep doing what we do as a team, what we do as a program,” Saunders said. “We’re an older team and a mature team and know how to handle a lot of different situations. As long as we keep our composure and we play hard and to our capabilities, we’ll be fine.”