Men’s Basketball to Match Up Against a Familiar Face Tuesday

Tomorrow night Patrick Steeves ’16 will be lacing them up under the lights of Lavietes Pavilion once again—this time, however, he won’t be donning the familiar Harvard uniform he wore as an undergraduate.

After missing his first three seasons at Harvard due to a recurring injury, Steeves comes back to Cambridge as George Washington faces off against the Crimson (1-3) tomorrow. Suiting up for the Colonials (3-3) as a graduate student with two years of NCAA eligibility due to his injuries as an undergraduate, Steeves comes into the matchup averaging nearly five points and three rebounds per game for George Washington.

On a Harvard squad that often struggled to muster offense last season, Steeves averaged more than nine points and nearly four rebounds a game. The most memorable of his performances last season came on Senior Night against Princeton; playing against a Tigers squad still vying for the Ivy League title, Steeves dropped 25 points, hit the go ahead free throw and the game winning block.

While the storyline of tomorrow’s matchup will without a doubt be centered on Steeves, the game is one that’s still important for both squads. After losing each of their first three games by single digits, the Colonials are riding a three game winning streak. Harvard, on the other hand comes into the game having dropped two in a row to Holy Cross and UMass and remaining winless against Division I teams.

Coming into the matchup, both squads couldn’t be more different. George Washington comes in with a clearly defined scorer in another graduate student, Tyler Cavanaugh. After leading the Colonials in scoring last season, Cavanaugh leads George Washington not only in scoring, but also in rebounding and assists with averages of 18.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists.

The Crimson is still looking for some degree of consistency amidst an undefined lineup. Despite the constant adjustments, the Crimson boast one of the best freshman classes in the nation and a deep bench.

“The lineup thing is not really a big deal for us because we work together with different people in practice; it’s not like we have a first line, second line. ” co-captain Siyani Chambers said. “One day you’re playing with one group and the next day you’re playing with a totally different group of guys.”

After taking last season off due to a knee injury, Chambers’ has returned to Harvard and is the team’s “quarterback”, as Tommy Amaker refers to him. Chambers is responsible for running the offense and being a vocal presence on the floor, especially on such a young team. Through four games he is averaging 8.7 points and a team high five assists per game.

Despite Chambers’ successful return, senior forward Zena Edosomwan has yet to live up to his standout junior season. Averaging just 15 minutes a game, the senior is averaging 3.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

“What we need is to maybe have a bit more production from veteran guys,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “[Chris] Egi, Zena, Siyani, Corey [Johnson], Tommy [McCarthy]—they need to play like veteran guys and we aren’t necessarily getting it from them.”

Despite the lack of production from the Crimson’s veterans, Harvard’s freshman have seen significant minutes. Through Harvard’s four games, all seven of Harvard’s freshman have seen the floor with Bryce Aiken, Henry Welsh, and Seth Towns all averaging over 20 minutes per game.

“It’s hard to ask much more from younger players like that, but you know again this is college basketball and you can have some solid numbers and not win,” Amaker said. “The goal for us is to really play well.”

After scoring a season-high 21 points against Stanford in Shanghai, Aiken has struggled since returning to campus. Against Fisher, Aiken scored two points on 1-of-8 from the field and against UMass last week Aiken failed to make a field goal, going 0-of-9 from the field while adding six points from the charity stripe.

Welsh has been one of the lone sources of consistency on Harvard’s young squad. He comes into tomorrow’s matchup averaging 8.3 points and seven rebounds per game. Facing an experienced George Washington squad, consistency might just be the key to a Crimson victory.

“You’d like to see if you can teach by playing better and winning but this is where we are,” said Amaker. “We are hopeful that we can utilize it to advance our growth and development for this year.”

—Staff writer Troy Boccelli can be reached at troy.boccelli@thecrimson.com.