Men's Basketball Cruises Past Houston, 84-63

Senior wing Wesley Saunders had 24 points and 10 rebounds as the Harvard men’s basketball team defeated the visiting Houston Cougars, 84-63, for the hosts’ 52nd win in its last 55 home contests. The Crimson held the Cougars to just 33.3 percent shooting from the field while making just under 53 percent of its own attempts, including 46 percent of its threes.

“I was really pleased with our defensive effort and intensity,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “Against a team that’s very athletic and good at creating in transition, I loved how we played in transition throughout the game…. I thought everyone that played really bought into that [defensive effort], knowing that would be the key for us.”

Harvard (3-1) spread the wealth on offense, with four players finishing in double digits. Sophomore Corbin Miller had his best performance of the season, knocking down four threes in 13 minutes of action to help the Crimson spread the floor. Overall, Harvard had 15 assists on 28 baskets as Saunders and junior co-captain Siyani Chambers (nine combined assists) found wide-open shooter after wide-open shooter on the perimeter.

“A lot of times when I’m driving the lane [the Cougars] like to collapse, and that’s when I try to kick it out to the shooters,” Saunders said. “I don’t get the ball with anything in mind, just react to the defense.”

The Crimson suffocated Houston (2-1) from the start, holding the Cougars without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the game and quickly building a 10-point lead. Houston broke through on a Jherrod Stiggers trey and warmed up quickly, sinking three more deep balls in the next three minutes to close the 10-point deficit to seven.

Overall, the Cougars lived and died by the three, putting forth a shot chart reminiscent of the NBA squad of the same name. Houston, which took 25 threes on the day, took nearly all of its shots behind the arc or in the paint. The Cougars often took treys with 20 to 25 seconds left on the shot clock, firing away before the Crimson could set its defense.

“They’re a dangerous, lethal team when they are in transition,” Amaker said. “When we made some bad shots or we turned it over it becomes a track meet for them at the other end. We talked about how limiting the mistakes on the offensive end for us would hopefully keep them out of transition.”

The prime beneficiary was guard Eric Weary Jr., who led the team with 19 points—including 14 in the first half. Weary Jr. sunk nearly everything he put up in the first half, including both of his threes, but struggled when Amaker placed Saunders on him, going just two-of-seven in the second.

On the other end, Saunders continued his season-long offensive tear. After the Cougars closed to within six near the end of the first half, Saunders had his fingerprints all over the 17-6 second-half stretch that put the game away, showing every asset in his multidimensional game.

First came the pair of streaking layups, drawing contact and finishing at the rim to jump-start a personal 5-0 run that pushed the lead to 14 just 40 seconds into the period. After Houston called time out, Saunders hounded Stiggers into a miss and corralled the rebound—one of three defensive possessions he closed out with a rebound in the next two minutes.

Later he played the role of facilitator, driving on consecutive possessions before whipping passes to wide-open shooters. The run put Harvard up by 20, and Houston never got the lead down to single digits the rest of the way.

Afterwards, Amaker was effusive with his praise of Saunders, who has drawn comparisons to Crimson greats throughout the first four games of the season. The wing is the first Harvard player to lead his team in scoring for four consecutive games since Jeremy Lin ’10 and the first to record three double-doubles in the season’s first four games since Keith Wright ’12.

“I think he’s got a chance to go down … he could be as decorated as any player who has ever played at Harvard,” Amaker said. “That’s saying something.”

—Staff writer David P. Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.