No. 4 Kansas Survives Men's Basketball's Upset Bid, 75-69

LAWRENCE, Kan.—In the land of the yellow brick road, the Harvard men’s basketball team (2-6) nearly wrote its own fairy tale Saturday afternoon.

Down 16 to No. 4 Kansas (6-1) after just 13 minutes, the Crimson used lockdown defense and efficient offense to outscore the Jayhawks 40-24 over the next 20 minutes of action. Harvard had just four turnovers in the second half, scoring on eight of 11 possessions at one point to tie the game with 7:35 left on two free throws by freshman Weisner Perez. Kansas would outscore the Crimson 19-13 the rest of the way, however, for the 75-69 victory.

“I was disappointed, as was our ballclub was, in the final result but I was pleased with the effort and how hard we competed against an outstanding team,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

The final eight minutes were a script the Crimson has grown accustomed to seeing.

Like in NCAA Tournament games against Michigan State and North Carolina, a late Harvard push was immediately rebuffed by the opposing national heavyweight. At Allen Fieldhouse, it was the Jayhawk upperclassmen putting the game out of arm’s reach.

First came a three-point play by enigmatic senior Kansas forward Perry Ellis. After freshman point guard Tommy McCarthy airballed a step-back jumper, Ellis drained another jumper to put his team up five.

The Crimson bounced off the mat quickly, cutting the lead to three on two free throws from freshman Weisner Perez. From there, junior Kansas point guard Frank Mason III put the game away.

As the Crimson fell back in zone, Mason found backcourt running mate Devonte’ Graham for an open trey to extend the lead to six. Two possessions later, with the shot clock running down, Mason, who led all scorers with 21, did the deed himself—draining a three in McCarthy’s face and sending Allen Fieldhouse into a frenzy.

Harvard would pull within three on a Perez layup with 28 seconds remaining, but turned the ball over for the 19th time on the next possession. McCarthy fouled out while intentionally sending Mason to the line, and the Kansas junior iced the game with consecutive free throws.

“It is a historic arena and [playing here] is the kind of thing you dream about since you are a little kid…” McCarthy said. “Wish we could have got the win but it is still a great experience.”

The game began on even terms, with Perez draining two free throws with 11:52 left in the half to cut the early Jayhawk lead to two.

The ensuing 76 seconds were exactly what most analysts presaged for the entire game. After Svi Mykhailiuk drained a three from the corner, the Jayhawks twice forced the Crimson into poor shots and got quick points on the other end. The second poor Harvard attempt, a fallaway by Agunwa Okolie, turned into an easy layup when a streaking Graham went coast-to-coast in just five seconds.

Amaker quickly called timeout, but a three-point lead had become 11. Over the ensuing four minutes, Harvard scored just two points as Kansas pushed the margin to 16.

With the capacity crowd of 16,300 roaring, however, Harvard clamped down. In the last seven minutes of the first half, the Crimson outscored the home team 13-6.

“I don’t really think we were playing attention to the score, we were just playing and trying to compete and controlling what we could control,” junior Zena Edosomwan said. “Obviously we were trying to get stops and when that kind of happened and guys were more relaxed and ready to go, good things happened.”

The beginning of the second half was more of the same, as a the Crimson kept better care of the ball, preventing the Jayhawks from getting out in transition and neutering their offense. After four quick points in 37 seconds, Kansas scored just 14 points in the next 12 minutes.

On the offensive end, Harvard attacked the paint relentlessly with an undersized lineup. Playing Perez at the four for the majority of the second half, Harvard had 18 points in the paint and five offensive rebounds.

After the game, Amaker said that Perez, who led the team with 15 points, embodied the toughness and composure he hoped the team could take away from the loss.

“I was very encouraged with the progress of our freshman players,” Amaker said. “We have come a long way in that department for those kids in particular and there are a lot of things we think we can use going forward. Composure should be one of those.”

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