Men's Basketball Wins Shanghai Jiao Tong Exhibition

SHANGHAI— When the Harvard men’s basketball team goes on a road trip, it usually boards a bus and drives at most a few hours. However, for this particular road exhibition, the team had to travel for nearly a full day by plane.

The Crimson is in Shanghai as part of the Pac-12 Global Initiative, described as “an effort to promote goodwill and showcase the Pac-12 and its member institutions around the world through student-athlete exchanges and sports.”

While classmates and family members in the US were just going to bed after learning the results of the 2016 presidential election early Wednesday morning, the Crimson took on the Federation University Sports China club basketball team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the 5th Annual U.S.-China Men’s Basketball Friendship Game. Harvard defeated Shanghai Jiao Tong, 84-64, in the exhibition.

The exhibition contest marked one portion of a week of cultural and basketball activities for the Harvard team across Shanghai, culminating in the official season opener on Saturday against Stanford. The team started the week in Hangzhou, where it visited the campus of the Alibaba Group, which sponsors the Pac-12 Global Initiative contest, as well as several other cultural visits.

The exhibition match is part of a week long trip that will see the Crimson participate in both cultural and basketball activities throughout China. By Stephen J. Gleason

Sophomore guard Corey Johnson paced the Crimson with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 5-of-7 from deep.

“It’s nice to see the ball go in for him,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “He needed that after struggling with being in foul trouble.”

While Johnson was dominating behind the arc, Shanghai Jiao Tong struggled to defend the paint as well. Senior forward Zena Edosomwan tallied 13 points in 20 minutes on the floor, including several monstrous fast-break dunks. Junior forward Chris Egi added 12 points of his own as he takes on a more commanding presence in the lineup with two years of collegiate play under his belt. Amaker plans his offense around the inside-out system, in which he uses three-point shooting to spread the defense and create space for players in the paint.

The Crimson was most dominant during the second quarter when the team went on a 13-0 run to begin the frame. Harvard finished the first quarter up only four points, but ended the second frame up 17. Defense and speed spurred this offensive breakthrough, as Shanghai Jiao Tong couldn’t run the floor with Harvard.

While the Crimson led nearly the entire game, the fans at Shanghai Jiao Tong Gymnasium roared at every basket by the home team.

Despite the dominant victory, the Crimson still showed areas in need of improvement. Co-captain Siyani Chambers noted that because of the youth of the team, it still has to work on its chemistry and communication. Wednesday’s game marked just the second time that the team played together in front of a crowd.

Freshman Chris Lewis gets ready to shoot from the charity stripe. The game against Shanghai Jiao Tong provided the Crimson another opportunity to integrate the rookies and build chemistry. By Theresa C. Hebert

“We made a small step today,” Chambers said. “I think we played a little better today than we did against MIT and that’s one of our goals, to get better every day and I think we got a little bit better today.”

All eyes have been on the rookies since they first put on their crimson jerseys, as Harvard owns the 10th-best recruiting class in the nation. While Bryce Aiken and Chris Lewis are expected to contribute early, it was freshman forward Henry Welsh who shone brightest of the freshman on Wednesday. Welsh notched 10 points in 14 minutes, shooting 5-of-6 from the floor. Though many of his baskets came in open space or on cleanup duty from teammates’ misses, Welsh showed a calm presence in the paint as a rookie, unlike Edosomwan who was described as jumpy during his first years in Cambridge.

“I thought Henry played really well,” Amaker said. “Really, really smart and solid and you know just kind of knowing who he is, which is a big step for a freshman, so I was pleased.”

The team heads to Shanghai Disney tomorrow where the Harvard and Stanford players will be the Grand Marshalls of the Disney parade.

“It’s really exciting how people respond to the Harvard brand and the Stanford and to be able to bring that to China is surreal,” Edosomwan said.

—Staff writer Theresa Hebert can be reached at theresa.hebert@thecrimson.com