'Big' Challenge: Providence Shoots Its Way Past Men's Basketball

A feisty Crimson side put up an early fight at Providence on Saturday night, but the hot-shooting Friars proved too much for Harvard to handle.

Providence, averaging just 63 points per game prior to the night’s matchup, put up 93 in a 93-70 win over the Crimson (2-4), led by guard Jeff Xavier’s long-distance fireworks. The junior scored a game-high 27 points, highlighted by seven of his team’s 14 total makes from beyond the three-point line. The Friars entered the game shooting just 39 percent from the field and 31 percent from beyond the arc, but went over 58 percent in both categories (14-for-24 from three) on a night rife with exceptional marksmanship on both ends of the floor.

Early on, a sense of unease emanated from the crowd of 7,742 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center as Harvard stayed with the home team, holding leads at several points in the first half, before finally being overtaken and left behind for good following a pair of Providence three-pointers just nine seconds apart that turned a 20-19 advantage into a 25-20 deficit with just under seven minutes to go in the half.

Harvard stayed within five until a Friars (3-1) run highlighted by a Brian McKenzie three-pointer pushed the Providence lead to 39-29 at the half.

Though the Friars put a season-high 39 first-half points on the board, the Crimson managed to stay within striking distance thanks to some impressive shooting touch of its own, hitting 12 of 21 shots from the floor, led by junior forward Evan Harris’ eight points on 3-for-3 shooting. Harris finished the game with 13, second on the team to junior guard Drew Housman, who put in 14.

Even with leading rebounder and third-leading scorer Geoff McDermott largely neutralized (six points and three rebounds) by foul trouble and strong Harvard interior defense, the deeper and more athletic Friars put things out of reach soon after returning from the locker room.

Following two free throws awarded a technical foul was called on Crimson coach Tommy Amaker following the first-half buzzer, Providence quickly extended its advantage to 54-33 with 15:50 to go. McKenzie poured in two more three-pointers during the run—he finished with 20 points—and Xavier added a longball.

“Their athleticism, their quickness—it takes its toll when you’re trying to go against it for 40 minutes,” Amaker said.

The Friars managed to hit more than 61 percent of their shots after the half as Harvard’s struggles to pressure the shooters became more apparent as the night wore on.

Despite the Crimson shooting 54.8 percent from the field and knocking down seven of 16 three-point shots, the unending Providence long-distance attack put to rest any hopes of a Harvard comeback—the lead did not fall below 15 points again.

“We were right in it for a while, and we were leading—we thought we could pull it off but then the threes kept coming,” Harris said.

Amaker also spoke about the difficulty of keeping up defensive intensity while the opposition continues to hit long-range shots.

“I think it takes the wind out of your sails as a defensive player on the opposing team,” Amaker said. “It really affected our psyche.”

When the team begins Ivy League play next month, it will need to take away some lessons from Saturday’s tilt, especially about defending the three-point shot.

“When someone shoots that well, it’s very disheartening,” Harris said. “But we just have to find a way to stop it because every team in the Ivy League shoots threes well—especially Cornell. We have to find a way to stop it.”

—Staff writer Nicholas A. Ciani can be reached at nciani@fas.harvard.edu.