Notebook: Cold Shooting Night Dooms Men's Basketball Against Penn

Prior to Saturday night’s game between the Harvard men’s basketball team and its Penn counterparts, oddsmakers introduced the Quakers as one-point favorites. Given that the Crimson had held Penn to just 38 points in its last trip to the Palestra, it was one more notice that as the 21st century hits its Sweet Sixteen, the Crimson have lost the aura a five-time defending champion typically carries.

The game, a 67-57 loss that dropped the Crimson (9-13) to 1-5 in Ivy League play for the first time since 2008, was a validation for Vegas. After making three of its first four shots en route to a 7-0 lead, Harvard went ice-cold—making just 18 of 64 attempts the rest of the way. Penn’s 52-32 advantage on the glass made up for its 17 turnovers and the Quakers (8-11, 2-3) never trailed in the second half.

“You can find your way quickly and things can go south quickly and we’re on that slide right now,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

THE NEW GUARD

One of the storylines coming into the game was the presence of freshmen backcourts on both sides. While the quartet combined for just seven turnovers, their other contributions dominated the game. Harvard freshman Corey Johnson led the Crimson’s early surge, nailing three triples in the first 10 minutes of play to push Harvard to a 13-12 lead.

However, Johnson and backcourt mate Tommy McCarthy were cold the rest of the way. After a four-point play from McCarthy late in the first half, the duo never made another basket—missing all 11 of their shots (including eight triples) in the second period.

Much of that had to do with the presence of Penn freshman Jake Silpe on the other end. Silpe twice denied McCarthy at the rim, including a strip in transition that had the Harvard rookie demanding a foul. Silpe stuffed the box score with nine points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals—narrowly besting McCarthy’s eight points, five assists, three boards, and two steals of his own.

After the game, Amaker said that McCarthy and Johnson—who took nearly half the team’s shots—need more assistance from their veteran counterparts. On the game, Harvard’s three seniors (captain Evan Cummins, Patrick Steeves, and Agunwa Okolie) combined for 26 shots, the same number as the freshman backcourt.

“I think when you have younger players in certain positions like the guard position you’re hopeful that the veterans around them can really help them and that’s probably what we need a little more for our team,” Amaker said.

SHOT SELECTION

On the weekend, the Crimson averaged just under 60 points a game but ran into different offensive problems in each game. Against Princeton, the team had 19 turnovers and made just nine of 20 foul shots—repeatedly bogging down an offense that otherwise made 49 percent of its shots and 64 percent of its threes.

The contest at the Palestra was an about-face in each category. Despite making 80 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe and committing just six turnovers, Harvard made just 31 percent of its shots. Harvard’s two best shooters, Johnson and junior Corbin Miller, hit just three of 19 triples.

In the postgame presser, Amaker noted that his team had simply missed a lot of layups and open threes—shots he noted the Crimson would take any time.

“If we got those shots again, we’ll make them,” Amaker said. “Corey had a ton of wide-open shots and was unfortunate that he didn’t make many of them for us. Corbin [is] another one who can be very streaky and it wasn’t in our favor tonight.”

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