Three Things to Watch: Harvard-Howard

The Harvard men’s basketball team (8-8) will try to make its way above .500 for the first time since the season’s first game Saturday against Howard (8-9). Beat writer David Freed highlights three things to watch as the Crimson go for its second road win of the season.

STARTING UP FRONT

During Harvard’s last three games, the Crimson has not received the production from junior center Zena Edosomwan that they are accustomed to. After turning in an All-Tournament performance in Hawaii that included a 25-point, 16-rebound effort against No. 2 Oklahoma, Edosomwan has just one double-double in four games since returning. He played just 22 minutes against Dartmouth due to foul trouble and was stifled for the first half against Ryerson before breaking through in the second. Howard has a thin front line after center Marcel Boyd, so look for Harvard to feed Edosomwan early and often to get him going.

BEST MAN UP

To stop Howard, you have to stop James Daniel. The junior from Hampton, Virginia averages over a third of the team’s points and nearly half its assists, scoring almost 29 points a contest. Daniel has a tendency to hijack the team’s offense at times, taking 36 shots in a double overtime loss to Radford earlier this year. When opponents stop Daniel, they typically stop the Bison, as Howard has won just two games all season when Daniel shot under 40 percent from the field.

This puts the defense of senior Agunwa Okolie on center stage. Always tasked with guarding the best opposing perimeter player, Okolie has gone up against a distinguished slate so far this season. He has guarded four potential All-Americans in Kansas’ Wayne Selden, Providence’s Kris Dunn, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, and BYU’s Kyle Collingsworth. None of the four average as much as Daniel, however, and Okolie’s defense will be the key to stopping the Bison attack.

TURNOVERS, TURNOVERS