Men's Basketball Big Men Ready to Step Up Again

One year ago, the Harvard men’s basketball team’s front line consisted of three players who had played a combined 638 minutes in their college careers. Who would start down low was anyone’s guess, with only one returning big man having averaged double-digit minutes the season prior.

Over the course of the season, then-sophomores Steve Moundou-Missi, Kenyatta Smith, and Jonah Travis more than doubled their total minutes, points, rebounds, and blocks from the 2011-12 campaign. They combined for the best block-per-game average in the Ivy League and held their own against more athletic and bigger front-lines in the NCAA tournament.

In short, the big men stepped up.

After last year’s breakout season, the trio will look to do the same in the 2013-14 season. This time, however, they’ll have help.

With the arrival of 6’9” freshman Zena Edosomwan and the return of 6’7” senior Kyle Casey, the team now features a front line at least five men deep. And for a team that placed seventh in the nation in three-point field goal percentage last year, the surplus of size will serve as a welcome and formidable offensive complement.

“We definitely have more weapons [this year],” Smith said. “We were able to fit [the newcomers] right into the rotation…. When we get our rotations set, our offense should be something, in my opinion, to fear. We’re very versatile, deep…[and] there isn’t too much left to be desired chemistry-wise.”

Edosomwan, who notched two McDonald’s All-American nominations and two first-team All-State selections in high school, enters Harvard having averaged a double-double at Northfield Mount Herman School last year. Ranked No. 76 in his recruiting class, Edosomwan chose Harvard over big-name schools like Texas, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.

“Zena brings a low post presence that is unbelievable,” Moundou-Missi said. “He’s strong, athletic, goes strong to the basket, [and] he’s only a freshman.”

Smith echoed his classmate’s sentiments, stressing the physical power of the freshman.

“[Edosomwan is] definitely a back-to-the-basket type player,” Smith explained. “He uses his strength to his advantage, trying to get in [the paint] and get shots as close to the basket as possible, using as much strength as possible.”

Whereas Edosomwan will be donning the Crimson jersey for the first time, veteran Casey will look to continue his past dominance in the paint. Along with leading the team in scoring, Casey was the only player on the 2011-12 squad to average over a block a game, despite being the fifth-tallest player on the roster.

“Kyle is a really great defender,” Moundou-Missi said. “His talk helps us a lot on defense, and he is really the big general of our defense, which helps us a lot. His swagger and his confidence are going to be really big for us this year.”

On the offensive end, Smith said that Casey is unique in his ability to play both back-to-the-basket and face-up games. In addition to being a defensive presence down low, Casey had the second-highest three-point field goal percentage on the team in his junior season, shooting over 35 percent. Smith says that this versatility adds greatly to the big-man dynamic.

Of last year’s returning players, it was Smith whose breakout season was the least expected, at least according to the numbers. After averaging 2.1 minutes and 0.4 points per game in 2011-12, Smith amassed 14.5 minutes and 5.8 points per contest in last year’s campaign. Perhaps most significantly, he climbed from 0.2 to 2.1 blocks per game in that same timespan.

It is his hook shot, however, that Smith has spent the most time improving, a move that Harvard coach Tommy Amaker stressed in the middle of last season.

Whatever words Amaker used to impress the point on Smith, they worked. In arguably the biggest weekend of the season, at home against the Killer P’s, Smith stepped up. In Friday’s game against Penn, he nearly notched a triple-double, totaling 20 points, 10 blocks, and nine rebounds. The next night, against Princeton, he tallied 14 points, seven rebounds, and six blocks without missing a single shot—field goal or free throw.

Smith’s only objective this year, he states, is to be there for his squad.

“My personal goal is to do the best that I can to get this team where it needs to be for where we need to go and want to go,” Smith explained. “Every-day I’m contributing as much as I possibly can to better this team, because we’ve got some big team goals in mind and we know it’s going to take a lot to get there.”

Fellow frontcourt mate Moundou-Missi, who ranked fifth for the Crimson in points per game and third in field goal percentage last year, believes that it is the intangibles that will take his game to the next level in the coming campaign.

“I think the big change in my game is my confidence level,” Moundou-Missi explained. “I feel like this summer I practiced a lot and got confident taking some shots I didn’t take last year. Playing with the [Cameroonian] national team also helped me, for sure, as a player.”

In addition to utilizing his new consistent jump shot, Moundou-Missi stressed the importance of his role on the defensive end, stating that that is where he and the other bigs will have their biggest impact.

Rounding out the 2012-13 big man trio, Travis comes into this season having worked on his mid-range game as well as his post strength. The veteran shot nearly 60 percent last year and, according to Smith, is now a bigger threat to face-up and shoot a pullup.

“Jonah and Steve are both just absolute workhorses,” Smith said. “They both, without a doubt, have the strength to bulldoze their way to the rim, but they’re both quick players too. They’re working on making moves right off the dribble, so they can become a little more perimeter-oriented…. It’s crucial for our team for them to have that confidence [outside the paint].”

With five individually skilled players, it will be finding the right lineups, not talent, that may take some time. Amaker explained that at this point, the coaching staff is unsure of what the minute distribution is going to be or how deep they will go into the bench. Finding the right combination between the five, he believes, will be crucial.

“I think one of the keys of the season will be the consistency of our front line,” Amaker said. “That’s the area that could help carry this team to a different level. That’s what we’re hoping for…. That’s the key group for the ball club this season.”

Already, both Smith and Moundou-Missi have voiced their approval of how the post players are gelling. Smith said the dynamic is going “very well” and “can only get better from here,” while Moundou-Missi described the five as “a good mix.”

With a five-month season ahead, it seems that the squad already understands how essential the five big men will be.

“If we can get consistent performances from our group of front line players,” Amaker said, “not [just from] one guy, [but from] a group of guys, I really like the opportunity of this team to have a special year.”

—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at juliet.spies-gans@thecrimson.com.