Harvard M. Hoops Slays the Wolverine Beast

On a night when Lavietes Pavilion was packed to the brim, Harvard rewarded its fan base with a monumental 62-51 upset win over Michigan.

The Crimson (4-4), which has never even made the NCAA Tournament, was matched up against a Big Ten powerhouse that has been to the Final Four.

It was major-conference firepower against a member of the not-even mid-major Ivy League, with the Wolverines (3-5) holding advantages in size, speed, athleticism, and pedigree.

But somehow, some way, through the course of one 40-minute basketball game on Saturday night, it became something else entirely—the biggest win in the history of Harvard men’s basketball.

It was also a benchmark win for the Crimson’s new coach Tommy Amaker, who defeated his old team less than one year after Michigan let him go.

“It’s great to win one for Coach, but it’s also great to get it done for yourselves,” junior forward Evan Harris said. “Before the game, it’s just, ‘Let’s go out there and win this one for us.’”

From junior Drew Housman’s leadership at point guard to sophomore Dan McGeary’s barrage of key three-pointers to junior Andrew Pusar’s team-leading 12-point performance, it was an entire team effort. All five starters registered at least eight points and six rebounds.

“I think one of the things our team was most proud of is our ability to scrap together, be unselfish, and really dig down deep as a unit,” Pusar said. “It seemed like every possession was somebody new making a play.”

Harvard led for most of the game by exploiting the Wolverines’ 1-3-1 trapping zone, with sophomore Jeremy Lin hitting Pusar on backdoor cuts for numerous easy layups.

Midway through the second half it appeared that the Crimson, up 37-26, might be running away with a game it had controlled throughout. But then Michigan stormed back.

Beginning with freshman standout Manny Harris’ tough three-point play with 14:52 to play, the Wolverines went on an 11-0 run in under three minutes to tie the game at 37 with 12:22 to play.

The teams exchanged buckets until Wolverines sophomore Ron Coleman nailed a three from the corner to give Michigan its second and largest lead of the game, 45-42, with 8:40 remaining.

Harvard, facing its first real deficit of the game, could have folded against its Big Ten foes, but instead rallied back.

“When you battle that long, that close,” Harris said, “you have to reach deep down in yourself and sort of ask, ‘Why not?’”

The team responded immediately. A minute after Coleman’s three, the Crimson worked the ball around the zone, spreading the Wolverines defense. A cross-court pass by Lin found McGeary in the corner and the transfer buried the biggest three of his young Crimson career to knot the game up at 45.

On the next possession, it was Lin again, this time doing it on his own. He got the ball in the corner, broke away from his defender, and hit a picturesque fadeaway jumper from 18 feet out to put the Crimson up by two.

And even after one more Michigan push, culminating in a bank shot by freshman swingman DeShawn Sims that tied the game again at 51 with 3:35 to play, Harvard never lost a step.

“That was an incredible growth moment for us—we were knocked back on our heels, they made a few shots,” Amaker said. “I thought we regrouped nicely. I thought that was maybe the critical stage in the game—we’ve done that before and I think the confidence we have now is paying dividends.”

With the Crimson fans among the sellout crowd of 2,050 chanting, “We got Tommy! We got Tommy!” Harvard finished the Wolverines with a game-ending 11-0 run.

Harris fed sophomore Pat Magnerelli on the block and the second-year forward banged in the layup to give Harvard a 53-51 lead with 3:20 to play.

And after two-plus tense minutes of scoreless basketball, Housman, as he has done all season for the Crimson, came through in the clutch, converting a finger-rolled floater in traffic with 52 seconds left.

Harvard added three free throws and two fast-break layups in the final 36 seconds to clinch it.

In all, the Crimson, showing poise uncommon to the program in recent years, finished the contest on an astounding 19-6 run to take down Michigan.

And as the buzzer sounded, a sea of crimson descended onto the Lavietes court. This game, in more ways the one, was historic.

“I think that seeing everyone storm the court, beating a Big Ten team—for us, it’s certainly something we’re going to really enjoy,” Pusar said. “We’re going to let it sink in.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.