Notebook: Johnson, Okolie Leads Men's Basketball to Road Win Over Brown

For the second time this season, Harvard (12-16, 4-8 Ivy) came into its game against Brown (8-17, 3-9 Ivy) after a difficult-to-stomach loss.

Both times, the Bears provided exactly the boost that the Crimson needed. A day after trailing Yale by double digits for nearly the entire second half, Harvard jumped out to a 14-point lead midway through the first half in Providence and never looked back in a 61-52 victory.

The Crimson won the game on the defensive end—while Brown senior Cedric Kuakumensah and junior Tavon Blackmon combined for 36 points on 48 percent shooting, the rest of the team made just 15 percent of its shots. Brown starters Obi Okolie, Kyle Haber, and Steven Spieth—whose brother, Masters champion Jordan Spieth, was in attendance—missed all 19 of their shots and had just three points combined.

“You can see the fatigue on both teams but I was proud of our kids with the gutsy effort of bouncing back from last night,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

DOING IT ON HIS OWN

In the absence of freshman point guard Tommy McCarthy (out with a concussion), Harvard struggled Friday to find a balance on offense against Yale. The team, which shot just 40 percent in the loss, depended heavily on seniors Patrick Steeves and Agunwa Okolie (27 combined points) to generate offense.

On Saturday, the team quickly got back to what made it successful during the nonconference season—spacing the floor and giving its post players room to operate inside. The key to that was freshman Corey Johnson, who tied a Harvard record with six threes on the night.

Unlike Friday in New Haven, when his only two three point attempts came after the outcome was no longer in doubt, Johnson came out firing for the Crimson. He took threes on three of the first four possessions, nailing two to stake Harvard out to a 6-2 lead. The first-year had 10 points—more than his average—in the first 12 minutes as Harvard jumped out to a quick 23-9 lead.

“I thought Corey’s threes early were huge for us,” Amaker said. “We got off to a huge start and put them in a hole and he was the guy that really was nailing some shots for us that stretched the defense … It was awesome to see shots going in from him and certainly early I thought that was a big key for us to win this game.”

Johnson, who finished with a season-high 24 points, was quick to credit his teammates—who assisted on seven of his nine field goals—for his performance.

“My teammates did a really good job of getting me open, setting screens for me,” Johnson said. “I was just coming off and if I had an open shot, I’d take it.”

DISAPPEARING, RE-EMERGING

For the second straight game, the Crimson largely played without the services of its two main big men—junior Zena Edosomwan and captain Evan Cummins. The starting frontcourt combined for just nine points and nine rebounds in 29 foul-plagued minutes.

Enter Okolie. The senior wing pulled down 19 rebounds—a record for the Amaker era—and anchored small units that had him alternatingly guarding both guards and big men.

“We do a lot of practice with me and Pat at the four and the five,” Okolie said “It’s all about moving. We need to move the ball, set screens, slips, post up, so we work on that in practice. We are very versatile and it worked out for us tonight.”

Okolie filled up the stat sheet for the Crimson, notching four assists and 10 points to go with the 19 rebounds while harassing Brown guard Tavon Blackmon around the perimeter.

“[He’s] being basically a do-it-all kind of player for us,” Amaker said. “I’m so proud of him. He’s earned everything that has come his way with how he’s played this year and tonight was a gutsy effort for us.”

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