Freshman Guard and Junior Forward Step Up in Opener

In the first game after a disappointing season in which its bench was used sparingly, the Harvard men’s basketball team received two strong performances from reserve players to help carry them past Maine.

In his first collegiate game, freshman guard Jeremy Lin played twenty-five minutes, tied for the team lead with six rebounds, and led the team with four steals, while junior forward Brad Unger contributed ten points off the bench, including a key lay up in the final minute of the game.

Both had very good plus-minus numbers—that is, the difference in how many points the team scores compared to how much the opponent scores when the player is on the court.

“Brad had a terrific game off the bench,” Crimson coach Frank Sullivan said. “When he was on the court, he was plus seven, so that was a big boost in the frontcourt. In the backcourt, Jeremy was plus eight, so that was very encouraging. But I think it will still be a work in progress sorting out who is going to be consistent over a period of time. It was great to have that kind of help off the bench from those two guys specifically.”

Lin’s first basket in a Harvard uniform gave the Crimson the lead with 4:46 left in the game. Trailing 61-60 and with the shot clock about to expire, Lin drove to the basket and converted a lay up to put his team in front.

“I think it was nice to see that we could have him with the basketball at the end of the game and expect something good to happen,” Sullivan said. “Like getting that lay up on the end of possession. “

“I hate to say I wasn’t impressed with it,” senior center Brian Cusworth added,” but he is capable of plays like that all the time.”

There were some rough moments for Lin in the first half when he committed three turnovers, but he settled down after the break and didn’t give the ball away once despite handling it on many occasions.

“I think he was disturbed at halftime that he was hurting our assist-turnover ratio,” Sullivan said. “But that was just him getting used to the speed of the game and the way he was being guarded. I thought he did an excellent job, as the game went on, showing very good poise.”

Lin also had a strong game on defense. Besides his four steals, all six of his rebounds were on the defensive end, often leading to fastbreak opportunities.

Before the game, Lin was unsure how much playing time, if any, he would get. He made the most of his opportunities.

“I didn’t know how much I was going to play, so it was kind of shocking,” Lin said. “But I think everyone here is ready to play whenever their number gets called.”

After playing sparingly last year, Unger, who is also a pitcher on the Crimson baseball team, logged twenty-five minutes and went four of five from the floor. Three of those field goals were lay ups in the second half and included one of the most crucial baskets of the game.

Nursing a 69-66 lead with 1:05 left in the game, Harvard beat the Black Bear press and ran down the shot clock. With the thirty-five seconds about to expire, Cusworth found Unger next to the basket and the junior laid the ball off the glass and in with thirty-one seconds left to give the Crimson a five-point lead and make it a two-possession game.

“Brad is one of the smartest players on the team,” Cusworth said. “He basically is in the right place at the right time. He does the dirty work, boxes out, gets defensive boards. He plays hard and gets some easy baskets because of it.”

Unger’s one basket that wasn’t a lay up was a three-pointer in the first half to give the Crimson a 20-17 lead. His ten points was one off his career high of eleven, which he dropped on Albany last year.

The twelve points Lin and Unger combined for made up all the bench points. Last year, Harvard received that much help from its reserves was last February 17 in a home loss to Brown.

--Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.