Preview: Men's Basketball Hosts Brown and Yale in Weekend Series

Harvard men’s basketball is back in the driver’s seat heading into the second half of the Ivy League season.

Coming off a weekend sweep against Princeton and Penn, the Crimson (12-11, 7-1 Ivy League) currently shares the top spot in the Ancient Eight with the previously undefeated Quakers. Harvard’s two weekend opponents, Yale and Brown, sit tied in third with .500 conference records. Despite the Crimson’s sizable cushion from the Bulldogs (11-13, 4-4) and Bears (11-10, 4-4) in the current standings, Harvard was considerably challenged by both teams in their prior matchups this season, sneaking by with single-digit wins.

The game order is also flipped compared to the last weekend series, with Brown the earlier opponent. Having a much-anticipated, nationally televised Yale game the night after, Friday night’s matchup against a young Bears team may be even more dangerous as a textbook trap game.

“Brown’s our next opponent so that’s what we’ll be looking to first,” sophomore forward Chris Lewis said. “Yale is a very difficult, great team as well, but we take our games once at a time, so when we get to Yale we’ll prepare for that as well, accordingly.”

Last weekend, the Crimson faced a unique scheduling anomaly with the Saturday Penn game tipping off at 4 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m. start time. The schedule is no less peculiar this time around, as Harvard will participate in a rare late-night affair against Yale at 9:30 p.m. Saturday night. This sacrifice in normality was likely made to accommodate ESPNU, which will be featuring No. 7 Texas Tech at Baylor during primetime hours followed by Harvard-Yale.

For Amaker, this two-plus hour shift back will not affect the team’s regular routine, but some slight modifications will be made to keep the players energized prior to tip-off.

“Normally we don’t have our shoot-around on the second day,” Amaker said. “We feel it is at least better to get them up and doing something during the day so they are not feeling like they are just lounging and laying around all day and being sluggish. We are tinkering with our schedule to see if it can work better for a later tip-off time.”

Before welcoming Yale, the Crimson will need to first contain a upstart Brown program. A significant reason why coach Mike Martin’s Bears have stayed in contention for the top four is their knack for holding onto late-game victories. Last weekend, a 23-point performance from freshman standout guard Desmond Cambridge and double-digit numbers from four other Bears helped the team close out an overtime win against Columbia.

Despite injuring his ankle late in that contest, Cambridge—who leads the Ivies in conference scoring with 21.6 points per game—stated that his ankle issue was non-serious. The freshman guard’s athleticism, which he showcased against the Lions with a fastbreak 360 dunk, bounds to pose defensive challenges for the Harvard backcourt.

“For me, I think it’s taking it one step at a time with him, switching on ball screens or any action away from the ball,” sophomore forward Justin Bassey said. “A lot of times he’ll catch, wait, you’ll put your hand down, and then he’ll shoot. Or understanding that he’s a righty, he wants to go to the right. It’s more of a team effort now that we’re switching.”

In the Jan. 27 contest against Brown, the Crimson took advantage of a turnover-prone Bears team, racking up nine steals and forcing 14 giveaways. This type of aggressiveness earned Harvard 18 points off turnovers, but also contributed to several easy alley-oops and opportunities at the rim as Brown put up 77 game points, the most the Crimson has allowed this season in its 12 wins.

In particular, junior guard Obi Okolie and freshman forward Tamenang Choh will need to be contained as athletic rim finishers.

“They are a dangerous team...very athletic,” Amaker said. “Sometimes going for steals you can gamble or over commit and open the floor up for them. That’s not the team that you want to do that against. Even if we don’t have as many steals, that doesn’t mean we aren’t playing really good defense.”

While the Bears’ attacking abilities will be a point of emphasis for Amaker, the following night’s contest against the Bulldogs will be focused on limiting Yale coach James Jones’ pass-heavy offense.

The Bulldogs lead in Ivy League in total season assists and recently combined for 48 dishes in their weekend sweep of Columbia and Cornell. In comparison, Harvard tallied just 23 total assists in its past two games. This type of ball movement has been critical for a Yale team that has largely struggled in shooting the deep ball and maintaining consistent production from its scorers.

Dead last in conference three-point shooting at .317, the Bulldogs have relied on offensive spurts from players like sophomore guard Miye Oni, who combined for 36 points last weekend after a shooting slump the previous two weeks. Junior guard Trey Phills also had an impressive showing against Columbia, tallying 14 points off six-of-eight shooting.

With Lewis coming off a career-high 25 points against Penn, the Yale frontcourt will need to improve its interior defense compared to its last outing against the Crimson. In the Jan. 26 loss to Harvard, Lewis went 7-for-11 from the field and added four offensive rebounds for a total of 16 points. Freshman forward Paul Atkinson will again likely assume defensive responsibilities on the main focal point for the Crimson offense.

“I thought Chris did a great job of using his body and his angles in the post,” said Amaker about Lewis’ performance against the Quakers. “We did a terrific job in terms of our perimeter guys looking for him and making the right pass. So we are hopeful we can continue to do that not just against Penn but get the ball inside to him and play through him.”

Another important unknown about the weekend is the potential return of Yale senior guard Makai Mason, who had been sidelined with a broken foot for the entire season. Reportedly day-to-day and practicing with the team, Mason will give the Bulldogs a dangerous new weapon if he is able to suit up. However, Amaker emphasized his gameplan will remain the same regardless if Mason makes his season debut.

“I anticipate they will still play the same way,” Amaker said. “They will still use the same types of actions, plays, and philosophies that they have had without him all this season. He is a terrific player, as we know.”

On Harvard’s side, sophomore point guard Bryce Aiken’s status is still unknown. Amaker stated that Aiken was able to practice on Monday, but that he could not go “full throttle.” With sophomore Christian Juzang playing essentially all 40 minutes at the point guard position in his absence, Amaker has clearly centered his trust on Aiken’s former backup.

One interesting note: the Crimson’s 7-1 Ivy record is a repeat start to the 2014-2015 season and the four prior seasons. In those five years, Harvard reached the NCAA Tournament four times.

—Staff writer Henry Zhu can be reached at henry.zhu@thecrimson.com.