Three Things to Watch: Men's Basketball vs. Brown

After losing to archrival Yale on Friday night, the Harvard men’s basketball team (11-16, 3-8 Ivy League) wraps up its final road trip of the year in Providence against the Brown Bears (8-17, 3-8). Staff Writer David Freed picks three things to watch as Harvard tries to secure its third straight weekend split.

1. Which Zena Will Show Up — Junior forward Zena Edosomwan’s campaign to average a double-double took a big hit Friday night. Edosomwan played his worst game of the season in the loss, picking up two quick fouls in the first half and looking lost on offense when he returned, desperately hunting a shot that was not there. Harvard coach Tommy Amaker took Edosomwan out at the 13-minute mark and never put him back in, a benching that had Edosomwan clearly distraught after the contest. Before throwing up a goose egg in New Haven, his previous season low in points was six—in the opening game against MIT.

On Saturday, Edosomwan should have his hands full inside with Brown senior center Cedric Kuakamensah. The last time out against the Bears, the junior had 13 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes, struggling for most of the game with foul trouble. With Harvard missing starting freshman point guard Tommy McCarthy (concussion), the Crimson will need more production from its leading scorer.

2. Filling In For T-Mac — Without its starting point guard, the Harvard offense looked lost for most of its contest against Yale. Junior Corbin Miller had just one turnover in 35 minutes but did not generate any offense off the dribble, leaving seniors Agunwa Okolie and Patrick Steeves (27 combined points) as the only playmakers on the floor for the Crimson. Freshman shooting guard Corey Johnson was locked down without his partner in crime, taking his only two threes of the game in the closing minutes with the outcome already decided. However, Amaker has very little depth at the point guard position after early-season injuries to junior Matt Fraschilla and senior Siyani Chambers, so expect Miller to play heavy minutes again. Whether he can generate offense off the dribble—something he has struggled to do all season—will be a crucial factor deciding if Harvard can pull out the win.

3. Okolie Brothers — In the midst of disappointing seasons for both teams, the play of the Okolie brothers has been a bright spot. Amaker routinely singles out the elder Okolie, Harvard’s best perimeter defender, for his effort and persistency. With Edosomwan and captain Evan Cummins struggling down the stretch, Okolie has carried the offense at times. Given his minimal role in the offense last year, that has been—to say the least—a surprise.

Down in Providence, his younger brother Obi has shouldered a larger and larger load for Mike Martin’s team. The younger Okolie gets to the line a lot more than his Harvard counterpart and shoots more aggressively despite being a bit smaller. He has had 14 or more points in each of Brown’s last five games, including a season-high 23 in a narrow loss in Philadelphia last weekend. Last time out, Amaker had Okolie on Brown guard Tavon Blackmon but in the second matchup, he may rely on the elder Okolie to shut down the his kid brother.