Defensive Woes, Turnovers Plague Crimson in Home Loss to Terriers

Against a Boston University team with a loaded offensive arsenal, the Harvard men’s basketball team was hit worst by several Lowe blows.

Terrier junior guard Corey Lowe lit up the Crimson in his team’s 75-59 win at Lavietes Pavilion last night, scoring 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 from three point range.

The hosts came into the game knowing he was the key guy for them to stop. And despite the tough attention paid to him, he still went off from all over the court.

“I thought Corey’s shot selection tonight was great,” BU coach Dennis Wolff said.

That shot selection seemed to include anywhere passed half court. He nailed three threes in the first half, all of them well beyond the arch. These weren’t open shots either as a variety of Harvard hoopsters went up against him and didn’t do a bad job.

“Lowe was a guy we knew we certainly weren’t giving any easy looks to and I don’t think he had any easy shots,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said.

Easy or not, Lowe hit his threes, finishing the first half with 13 points to bring his team into the break on top. He added seven more in the second, hitting an open three as well as two free throws and a quick jumper, as the game got out of hand.

His teammates carried a fair amount of the shooting burden themselves, especially freshman forward Jake O’Brien and sophomore forward John Holland. Overall, the Terriers made 13 threes in the game, out of 28 attempts, a 46.4 percent mark.

Harvard could only make 2-of-15 long range shots and some credit for this goes to Lowe. Matched up against junior guard Jeremy Lin, Harvard’s top scorer, he limited the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week to 17 points, many of those after the game had been decided.

“We know Lin is a very good player and he works hard on every possession,” Wolff said. “Corey’s job was to stay with him and Corey did a very good job on him.”

TURN IT UP

Tough shooting was only one of the problems on offense for Harvard as the Terrier defense created turnover havoc.

The Crimson turned it over 20 times against just 12 assists, leading to 19 points of turnovers for the visitors. 14 of those points came after the break when Harvard turned it over 12 times as BU pulled away and the hosts got visibly frustrated.

“Just like shooting, we had a tough time catching and passing,” said Lin, who coughed it up five times. “We were soft with the ball. We just got to value the ball more especially against good teams like BU.”

The Terriers’ interior defense was particularly effective. They constantly doubled-down when the ball went inside to the Crimson big men, making it difficult for the ball to go inside, and when the ball did get down, the double teams made it just as difficult to get it back out.

Freshman forward Keith Wright suffered the most from this pressure, as he turned it over seven times, while scoring just six points in easily the toughest game of his college career.

“The whole key to the game was our being able to double Wright in the post,” Wolff said.

First Impressions

Despite the tough loss, the Crimson saw several freshmen step up with solid play. Point guard Oliver McNally, hampered by injuries in the last two games, scored a career-high eight points and dished out three assists in 24 minutes. His classmate forward Peter Swiatek impressed in the final four minutes of the game, as he scored four points—the first four of his collegiate career—and grabbed his first rebound in a Harvard uniform.

“With Oliver we’re trying to work him back and it was good to see him back with some energy and spirit with the way he played and Swiatek gave us some quality minutes towards the end,” Amaker said.

McNally shot 4-of-8 from the field, providing good offense for a team struggling with it. Among his baskets was a tough drive and post-up basket in the first half, and then a lay-up after a pump fake and a nice runner in the lane in the second.

“Oliver is a hard-working kid and he comes ready to play every day,” Lin said.

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