Crimson Preps For Post-Cusworth Era

The Harvard men’s basketball team faces a tall challenge as it prepares for its first set of games without senior seven-foot senior Brian Cusworth.

The big man took his team-leading 17.4 points and 9.1 rebounds a game with him, and in the first two games following his departure, the Crimson (9-9, 2-2 Ivy) will face teams with two of the better frontcourts in the Ivy League in Columbia and Cornell. The Lions come to Lavietes Pavillion on Friday night and the Big Red will battle Harvard on Saturday, both games at 7 pm.

Cornell (10-8, 3-1 Ivy) comes in on a hot streak, having beaten Princeton once and Columbia (10-8, 3-1 Ivy) twice in its past three games. The Big Red is lead by two outstanding freshmen, guard Louis Dale and forward Ryan Wittman. Dale is averaging 12.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.72 assists a game, all ranked second on the team. Wittman leads the team with 15.5 points a game, which also ranks fourth in the Ivy League.

A bigger concern for Harvard may be the presence of Cornell’s 6’10” center Andrew Naeve, who, with Cusworth gone, may be the best true center in the Ivy League.

Naeve is averaging 8.9 points and 7.2 rebounds a game, good for third in the Ivies. His 33 blocked shots rank second only to Cusworth’s 39.

“Andrew Naeve is one of the most improved players in the Ivy League,” Crimson coach Frank Sullivan said. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see him go against Brian. It would have been a unique Ivy League matchup with two true big men. That position for Cornell is a very key one.”

One player likely to see a lot of Naeve is junior forward Brad Unger, who will make his first career starts this weekend in Cusworth’s place. Unger is averaging career-highs with 6.2 points and 2.7 rebounds a game in 18 reserve appearances.

“I’m just going to try and step up and fill [Brian’s] shoes as best I can,” Unger said.

Unger and sophomore Evan Harris, the other frontcourt starter, also face a difficult matchup against the Lions of Friday. Columbia has two of the better big men in the Ivy League in juniors John Baumann and Ben Nwachukwu. Baumann leads the team with 12.1 points and 6.9 rebounds a game and Nwachukwu is second in both categories, averaging 9.4 points and 5.3 boards per contest.

The Lions’ third leading scorer is freshman guard Patrick Foley, who is scoring 8.2 points per game off the Lion bench.

“We are going to see three of the most exciting freshmen in the Ivy League this weekend, with Foley, Wittman, and Dale,” Sullivan said. “These kids are terrific.”

Last year, Harvard swept Columbia, winning 69-59 at New York and 69-64 in the season finale in Allston. The Big Red, on the other hand, took both games from the Crimson, winning 79-77 on a buzzer-beater in Ithaca, and then blowing out Harvard 71-44 at Lavietes.

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