NOTEBOOK: Shooting Touch Fails Harvard in Blowout Loss

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—A little less than four minutes into Sunday afternoon’s contest, the Harvard men’s basketball team was in somewhat of a familiar position.

Playing undoubtedly the best team on its schedule in No. 6 Virginia, the Crimson had fallen behind, 9-2, before the first media timeout, bringing back memories of last season’s NCAA Tournament matchup against Michigan State. Facing the Spartans last March, Harvard had also dug itself an early 9-2 hole at the 16:15 mark of the opening period.

But whereas then-senior Kyle Casey was able to score moments later against Michigan State, bringing the score to 9-4, no one from Harvard was able to respond to the Cavaliers’ surfeit of layups and cut into the lead on Sunday.

And while the Crimson (7-2) pulled off a nearly-successful comeback against the Spartans last season, no post-intermission run aided Harvard this year, as it ended up falling, 76-27, at John Paul Jones Arena to a streaking Virginia team (11-0).

It’s no surprise that the Cavaliers—the No. 1 team in the country in opponent points per game at 47.4—relied on its defense early and often to disrupt Harvard’s offensive sets. Virginia swarmed the Crimson’s primary playmakers, junior co-captain Siyani Chambers and senior wing Wesley Saunders, at times doubling the latter on the perimeter. The pressure up top left Harvard’s bigs with more room to operate down low and on the baseline, but they were not able to take advantage of the opportunity.

It started on the first possession. And then just kept going.

After Chambers received the opening tip, the point guard found co-captain Steve Moundou-Missi waiting in the left corner. The defense had shrugged off the big man, giving him room to shoot, but his jumper clanged off the rim.

On Harvard’s next offensive set, an errant pass from Moundou-Missi to Chambers led to the Crimson’s first turnover of the game, and Virginia’s junior center Mike Tobey buried a deep two on the other end. 5-0.

It would take almost three more minutes for Harvard to score, and by that time it found itself down seven. At that point, it seemed, it was already too late.

“We couldn’t get by them as easily as we would’ve liked,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I thought they did a terrific job of hedging ball screens, being very aggressive without fouling…. We didn’t get many opportunities, and the ones that we were able to get we didn’t finish or didn’t cash in.”

Moundou-Missi would miss several more short corner jumpers, ultimately connecting on just one-of-eight field goal attempts. Neither of his fellow big men, junior Evan Cummins and senior Kenyatta Smith, were able to get a shot up on the afternoon, and the three combined for only four boards.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

For the first 25 minutes of the game, the Cavaliers’ Tobey outscored the entire Harvard team. With just 15 minutes remaining, the 7’0”, 253-pound center had 15 points. The Crimson had 12.

It was Tobey’s offensive onslaught in the afternoon’s opening moments that broke the contest open early on, and it was his work on the defensive glass that kept the visiting squad at bay.

“I thought we’d be ready, but I didn’t know we’d be that ready,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “I didn’t know [Tobey] was going to be on fire…. He obviously got us off to a great start offensively.”

Tobey’s strong play started the very first time he touched the ball.

After a Moundou-Missi miss, Virginia’s junior Justin Anderson brought the ball up the floor and tossed it to backcourt-mate London Perrantes. Parrantes found Tobey on the block, and the center forced a shot up over the outstretched arms of Smith. The shot went in while Tobey drew contact, earning the three-point play.

On the next Cavalier possession, guard Malcolm Brogdon found Tobey open along the three-point line. With his foot on the arc, the seven-footer knocked down the deep jump shot to put his team up five.

A minute later he got fouled and sunk both free throws. Next, Brogdon found Tobey once more, sending a pass from the right elbow to the left short corner. The bucket was good and Tobey alone was up on Harvard, 9-0.

Tobey’s 10 boards—nine of which came on the defensive end—marked the second time that the junior has notched double-digit rebounds this year. His 15 points, a season-high, also gave him his second double-double of the season.

“[It was] a terrific offensive performance,” Amaker said. “I thought the efficiency by their ball club and their big guys on the interior were outstanding.”

ONE-BID IVY?

When Yale beat Connecticut, the national defending champion, on Dec. 5th, a rumble began amongst those who know Ivy League basketball best.

While the Ivies are allotted only one automatic ticket to the NCAA Tournament every year, it suddenly seemed like a possibility—albeit a distant one—that an Ancient Eight team could get an at-large bid to the Big Dance this season given the RPI ratings and strong play of the Crimson and the Bulldogs.

But this weekend did not go as planned for Ivy hoops. Along with the Crimson’s loss in Virginia, Yale fell to a struggling Albany team that it was supposed to take down.

While it’s still early in the year, Harvard and Yale’s respective losses likely decreased the probability of either program receiving an at-large bid for the Big Dance. When playing in a conference such as the Ivy League, squads need every nonconference win possible to stuff their resumes. The tournament may still be three months away, but it’s likely that these December losses will hurt one of these teams in their marches to Madness.

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