NOTEBOOK: M. Hoops Defense Key in Upset Win

One of the biggest concerns for the Harvard men’s basketball team in its Friday night game was how to slow down Mercer’s top scorer, sophomore guard James Florence. Last year’s Atlantic Sun Conference Rookie of the Year and leading scorer had averaged 26 points per game this season entering the weekend. But he met his match in junior guard Drew Housman, a stifling Crimson defense, and a solid gameplan.

"He’s such a big part of what they do," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. "He’s an explosive scorer. He shoots it from deep, he can penetrate and get to the basket. We were trying to make things difficult for him and the other thing we wanted to do was limit his touches once he gave it up.

"He’s their point guard so he’s probably going to bring it up, but once he gives it up, we wanted to limit his ability to [get it back] so easily. I thought that affected him so he had to work really hard to get the ball back after he gave it up."

Housman and his teammates harassed Florence all night long, forcing him into shooting an ugly 3-for-18 from the floor. The Bears guard finished with just nine points, while turning it over four times.

"Going into the game, that was a key for us—the whole team, not just me," Housman said. "I tried to pressure up on him because I know he likes to shoot those pull-up threes. When I do that, it’s easier for him to go around me and everyone else did a great job contesting his layups and everything."

Housman’s defensive performance was punctuated by the last of his three steals. With Mercer down, 80-65, and coming out of a timeout with 3:38 left, Housman swiped the ball from Florence in the backcourt and cruised to an easy layup as Florence fell to the floor.

On offense, Housman had little trouble with his counterpart, as he put up 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Not included in the box score were several ridiculous dribble moves he put on Florence.

"The offensive end is the easier part because I feel he tires himself out—he attacks so hard on offense he doesn’t have much energy left for defense," Housman said. "That’s something we were trying to exploit."

CROWD CONTROL

Despite Friday being a busy time for Harvard sports fans—with The Game in New Haven on Saturday drawing numerous undergrads down to Yale and the much-hyped Harvard-Cornell hockey matchup at Bright Hockey Center happening at the same time as the Mercer matchup—a strong contingent of Crimson supporters still found their way to Lavietes Pavilion.

Including the orange-clad Bears supporters who filled up sections 1 and 2, there were 1,676 in attendance.

"I heard them," Amaker said. "Whatever numbers are for us, as long as they can give us the energy and poise that we need, it doesn’t matter. I was surprised at the numbers [Mercer] had. Maybe that got us a little fired up in terms of our fans to be loud and drown them out. I was pleased with whoever was here and cheering for us tonight."

Harvard received a boost midway through the second half as fans came from Bright Hockey Center following men’s hockey’s 2-1 win over the Big Red.

"I noticed it was a lot more full at the end then it was at the beginning," Housman said.

UNIFYING FACTOR

The first home game of the season gave Harvard fans a chance to check out the team’s new uniforms. In place of the red letters and numbers that adorned the white home uniforms in the past, the players now have the letters and numbers in black on their white jerseys. The new outfits also have players’ last names on the back.

"My shorts are a little longer—I got a lot of flak last year for the short shorts, so that’s a good thing for me," Housman said. "But it’s not really a big deal."

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