M. HOOPS NOTEBOOK: Steals Still Hurting Crimson

For the second straight game, the Harvard men’s basketball team trailed early on but managed to claw back for a tie during the second half. But for the second straight game, the Crimson watched the score, and the ball, disappear into its opponent’s hands.

Harvard (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) came into this season hoping to improve on last year’s performance, when it averaged over 19 give-aways per contest en route to a 4-23 record.

However, after coughing the ball up 19 times in a season-opening loss to Notre Dame, the Crimson stumbled again last night, committing 26 turnovers in a 60-52 loss to Holy Cross.

Three Harvard starters—sophomore center Brian Cusworth, junior forward Matt Stehle and junior guard Michael Beal—each had five turnovers.

After the game, Crimson coach Frank Sullivan emphasized the role that mistakes played in the defeat.

“The story of the game for us is turnovers,” Sullivan said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot.”

Nevertheless, Sullivan was pleased with his team’s performance in several aspects of the game.

“Our defense wasn’t bad, our defensive rebounding wasn’t bad, we were just really bad on offense,” Sullivan said.

The 45 turnovers between the two games have made it very difficult for Harvard to keep pace on the scoreboard. The team is shooting 44.2 percent from the field while holding its opponents to only 35.4 percent shooting, a marked improvement over last year’s numbers—39.4 percent and 46.6 percent, respectively.

The problem is, the Crimson isn’t taking very many shots. Through two games, Harvard has been outshot by a combined margin of 130-95.

To paraphrase an old commercial: If you don’t control the ball, you can’t shoot. You can’t shoot, you can’t score. You can’t score, you can’t win.

HAMMERIN’ HAMILTON

As expected, one of the key contributors to the Crusaders 2-0 start has been Preseason Patriot League first-teamer Kevin Hamilton. Hamilton tormented the Crimson on both ends last night, recording a game-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and five of his team’s 20 steals. He looks to be a model of consistency, as these numbers virtually replicated his output last Monday at BU, when he recorded 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and six steals.

Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard praised his star after the game.

“Kevin was big again at both ends of the floor. He knocked some big threes down,” Willard said. “But thing about him is, he really can affect the game so much on the defensive end as well as the offensive end.”

For the second straight game, Hamilton delivered three of his six field goals from long range. He came out of halftime firing, tallying ten of his team’s first 18 points, including a three-pointer with 5:21 remaining that gave the Crusaders their first double-digit lead, 52-42.

Willard believes that Hamilton’s 11 steals thus far are no aberration, going so far as to predict that “Kevin will wind up in the top 10 in the nation.”

Holy Cross will need Hamilton to step up in a big way if they are to reclaim the Patriot League crown it lost last year to Lehigh. The Crusaders, who had been to the NCAA tournament three straight seasons before ending last year at 13-15, were picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League’s preseason poll.

INSIDE-OUTSIDE

Sullivan admits that with the return of the 7’ Cusworth and the emergence of Stehle, the typically “perimeter-dominated” Harvard has had to adjust its offense.

“Certainly we’ve changed the way that we play so our front court guys get more touches,” Sullivan said.

The adjustments, however, led the Crimson offense to take an unexpected turn in the first half of last night’s game. Kevin Rogus and captain Jason Norman—who ranked first and third, respectively, on last year’s team in both points and field goal attempts—combined for zero points on zero field goal attempts during the first 20 minutes of play.

The duo totaled only four points on five shots by game’s end.

Sullivan attributed the lack of participation in the offense by his two senior guards in part to the success of the team’s inside game against Notre Dame—Cusworth and Stehle combined for 28 points and 23 rebounds in last Friday’s loss.

“I think the guys were trying to play off of them, and maybe as a result were a little stand-offish in terms of being assertive themselves,” Sullivan said. “[The guards] are still learning how to play with those guys, how to play off those guys.”

Cusworth, who got touches on virtually every first-half possession, looked to be on his way to a second straight double-double with 11 points and five boards at the intermission. However, he was shut down by a swarming second-half Holy Cross defense that collapsed every time the Crimson looked inside to Cusworth, Stehle or reserve forward Graham Beatty. Cusworth finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Senior guard David Giovacchini—who had just one of his game-high six assists in the second half—agreed that the team must focus on moving the ball and opening up more shots.

“We were having trouble passing the ball inside and out as a team,” Giovacchini said. “Hopefully we’ll come together and we won’t stagnate as much...that will be a key to winning some games.”

—Staff writer Gregory B. Michnikov can be reached at michnik@fas.harvard.edu.