Harvard Seeks Quick Six

The Harvard men’s basketball team hasn’t been accustomed to setting records in recent years.

But after Wednesday night’s win against UNH, the Crimson, at 5-0, is off to its best start since the 1997-98 season. If it can defeat Central Connecticut State tomorrow afternoon, Harvard will have had its best season-opening run in more than 20 years, since the 1984-85 campaign.

“It’s obviously a great start,” junior center Brian Cusworth said after Wednesday night’s win against the Wildcats. “We feel like we’ve got a lot of momentum right now. It’s definitely a testament to how hard everyone worked in the offseason.”

“The players are so excited,” head coach Frank Sullivan said. “We try to describe ourselves as a day-to-day team. But I’d be lying if I said that they weren’t excited.”

Individually, the Crimson remains far from setting new school bests. Instead, the team has relied on contributions from across its lineup as Cusworth and senior forward Matt Stehle, two of the most heralded players in the Ivy League entering the season, have received much of the attention from opposing defenses.

“Everything is showing right now,” Cusworth said. “Just how physically and mentally tough this team is and how far we’ve come from a year or two ago.”

In the backcourt, junior Jim Goffredo has made the most noticeable impact with his 14.2 points per game. In the frontcourt, Cusworth has helped carry the slack.

To date, the junior is shooting 48.9 percent from the field, while averaging 12.6 points and almost seven rebounds per game. In Wednesday’s victory over the Wildcats, Cusworth shot 9-of-13 from the free throw line to finish with 15 points.

Against the Blue Devils this Saturday, Cusworth might find the path to victory just as clear as the tallest starting player for CCSU so far this season has been 6’7 Jemino Sobers. He would stand almost half a foot shorter than Cusworth if the Blue Devils go with that matchup.

When CCSU has the ball, it will be all about two high-powered and high-scoring guards: Tristan Blackwood and Justin Chiera. That backcourt duo averages 35 points per game, and will certainly have a shot to score that many against Harvard as the Crimson has struggled on defense against strong guard play.

On the strength of Chiera alone—Blackwood missed two of CCSU’s first four games with an injury—the Blue Devils held close with a quality Northeastern squad earlier this season before falling 94-90. Chiera had 23 points in the loss.

CCSU was also ranked fifth in the tough Northeast Conference coming into the season and could offer the Crimson its toughest challenge to date.

If Harvard can manage to get past the Blue Devils and their superb backcourt, it would need wins over a BU team that has embarrassed the Crimson twice in as many years and Lehigh to match the 1984-85 squad for the best start to a season in the modern era.

“We’ve been looking forward to this season and we’ve taken it one game at a time,” Cusworth said. “Every game so far we’ve approached with the mentality that we have the ability to beat these other teams.”

Tip-off is 2 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.