NOTEBOOK: Saunders Spearheads Crimson Offense

The season began less than two weeks ago, and yet one storyline has already become old news for the Harvard men’s basketball team. On Tuesday night, senior wing Wesley Saunders once again shouldered the offensive burden for the Crimson, carrying it to its 26th home win in 27 attempts, a streak dating back to December 2012. After senior center Kenyatta Smith laid in a basket 21 seconds in the contest, Harvard did not trail for the duration of the game, ultimately earning the 84-63 win over Houston.

The Crimson went to its wingman early and often against the Cougars (2-1), and Saunders responded with a performance that coach Tommy Amaker called “tremendous.” The senior had a hand in 43 percent of Harvard’s made field goals, ending the night with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and four dimes.

While Saunders tallied 12 points in the first half, it was his offensive spurt to begin the second period that broke the game wide open.

On the first play of the second period, with Harvard (3-1) holding a 43-34 lead, Saunders threw the rock to co-captain Steve Moundou-Missi, who was waiting near the first hash mark. Saunders immediately slashed to the paint along the right baseline, and Moundou-Missi found him under the basket. The wing laid in the ball, finishing the back-end of the give-and-go and drawing contact on the play. Moments later, Saunders drained the free throw.

On the next Harvard possession, junior co-captain Siyani Chambers connected with Saunders on the break. Saunders put the ball on the floor just once between the three-point line and the basket, and rolled in the layup.

Thirty-eight seconds had elapsed in the second half, and Saunders had already added five points to his halftime mark.

Minutes later, Saunders knocked in a pair from the charity stripe. Then he collected a rebound, brought the ball up the floor, penetrated into the paint, and found sophomore Corbin Miller floating on the right wing. Saunders passed, Miller shot, and Harvard went up, 60-40.

In the eight minutes that had passed since intermission, the senior had outscored the entirety of the Houston team, 7-6.

“In the locker room, Coach told us we wanted to get out to a good start the first four minutes [of the second period],” Saunders explained. “So we just wanted to come out with a lot of energy and try to separate us from them, which I don’t think we were able to do in the first half.”

MIRROR IMAGE

Fittingly, it was the Cougar player wearing the same jersey number as Saunders that led the visiting team’s efforts on Tuesday night. Junior Eric Weary Jr., who came off the bench at the 14:37 mark of the first half, put up a team-high 19 points, shooting the ball at a 53 percent clip. No one else on Houston managed to shoot over 40 percent.

The 6’4” guard had 14 points in the 15 minutes he played before intermission, converting everything from treys to put-backs. Weary’s baskets in the first half were bookended by two threes from the left wing, at the 11:58 and 00:55 marks of the period, and the junior connected on a lefty layup following a quick, slicing backdoor cut, two put-backs, and a couple of free throws in between the treys.

“He’s an active player,” Amaker said. “He got on the offensive glass, made things happen, and was very aggressive.”

It was a battle of the No. 23’s, and while Saunders’s squad may have come out on top, for much of the first period the two playmakers were essentially trading baskets, with Weary outscoring the senior, 14-8, from the moment he checked into the game until the halftime buzzer rang.

ROLE TIDE

While Harvard was led by the guy that Amaker has deemed “the best player” on the team, Saunders found consistent support from the role players that surrounded him, both on the perimeter and in the paint.

Moundou-Missi and Miller, particularly, gelled with Saunders on the court on Tuesday. While No. 14 Moundou-Missi had 14 points and 14 rebounds, the sophomore gunner drained four of the six three-pointers he attempted, totaling 12 points on the night.

For Miller, Tuesday’s contest looked as if it were the first time since returning from his two-year mission that he was truly in his shooting rhythm. And with the clock running down in the first period, he showcased the form that led him to be known as a sharpshooter three seasons ago.

With 20 seconds to play before intermission, Chambers held the ball near the half-court circle. The point guard handed off the rock to Saunders on the right wing, who missed a contested shot with just ticks remaining on the clock. Moundou-Missi was able to tip the rebound out to Chambers, who immediately sent it to Miller. The sophomore had been waiting on the right wing and didn’t hesitate to release the ball as soon as it touched his fingers. He let it go just in time, and the ball was still in the air when the halftime buzzer rang.

“I thought that [shot] was big,” Amaker said. “That [led to] a momentum change…[to] momentum switching to our side.”

Moundou-Missi also made noise by hitting timely shots. After the Cougars had scored consecutive buckets to cut the Crimson’s lead to 11, Moundou-Missi matched his opponents by knocking in two straight baskets of his own. With 15:30 remaining in the game, Saunders drove on the baseline and found Moundou-Missi waiting in the opposite corner, about 17 feet from the hoop. Showcasing a deeper range than normal, the forward proceeded to sink the long jumper.

Then, on just the following possession, Moundou-Missi slipped behind Houston’s 6’10” big man Danrad Knowles to collect an offensive rebound, stuffing the ball home without ever touching the floor.

“I think when you think of Steve’s growth throughout his time here, I think of confidence,” Amaker said. “He’s playing like a senior…[and that’s] very encouraging.”

The Cougars didn’t come closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

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