M. Hoops To Face BU’s Box

The Harvard men’s basketball team will look a decade of disapointment square in the eye tonight as it hosts Boston University.

The Crimson’s track record against BU has been less than stellar. Harvard (2-1) has dropped eight of its last nine contests against the Terriers, including a historic loss a year ago.

In one of the ugliest and most frustrating games in recent memory, the Crimson was held to 41 points last year against the Terriers, shooting just 27 percent from the field. It was Harvard’s lowest point total in nearly a decade, dating all the way back to a January 1993 loss to Princeton.

“It was truly one of the most bizarre games we’ve been a part of,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan after the game.

Harvard was not the only team that looked inept offensively against BU last year. The rival Terriers have one of the best defenses in the country, limiting opponents to just 39 percent from the field last year—10th-best in the nation.

BU rode its defense all the way to an America East title and NCAA tournament berth.

The Terriers looks no less stingy defensively this year. In its season-opener against No. 17 Stanford, BU came within four points of victory, holding the Cardinal to just 35 percent shooting and 19 first-half points.

A large part of Harvard’s failure on offense was its inability to adapt to BU’s box-and-one scheme, which was supremely effective at stopping then-junior Patrick Harvey, holding the Crimson’s leading scorer to four second-half points. The Terriers matched up man-to-man against Harvey while dropping the other four defenders into a soft zone, daring the remaining Crimson players to make a shot.

The box-and-one defense usually leaves one player open on the perimeter, if the offense creates enough ball movement.

“There are going to be holes in any zone, so we’re going to try to move the ball and exploit that,” senior guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman said.

But passing alone might not be the answer. Harvard had the requisite ball movement a year ago against BU, but it could not hit the open shots.

If the Crimson supporting cast struggles from the field again, Prasse-Freeman said the team will play into the teeth of the Terrier defense by turning to Harvey anyway.

“We’re just going to look for Pat, even if they are keying on him,” Prasse-Freeman said.

The Crimson’s ability to find a solution to the box-and-one will play a significant role in determining who walks out of Lavietes Pavilion victorious.

—Staff Writer Timothy M. McDonald can reached at tmcdonal@fas.harvard.edu.