NOTEBOOK: Crimson Can’t Make Up Deficit

ITHACA, N.Y.—Four minutes into the second half of Friday’s game against Cornell, one word must have occupied each member of Harvard’s men’s basketball team: repeat.

A sluggish first half left the Crimson with a 51-35 deficit heading into the locker room in Newman Arena. But the men’s squad emerged reinvigorated and kicked off the second period with a 10-0 run that brought them to within six of the defending Ivy League champ. Cornell looked uncoordinated, frustrated, and nothing like the team that went 22-of-36 in the first half, while Harvard looked to assemble another come-from-behind victory.

Flash back to Feb. 7, 2009, when the Crimson, down by 12 to Brown—the team with the worst record in the Ivy League after the first period—metamorphosed during halftime. Following an unimpressive first half, Harvard returned to the court and began making shots, forcing turnovers and building up momentum against a team that was forced to fall back on its star player down the line. The Crimson ultimately came away victorious thanks to these improved efforts, an epic stuff by senior Evan Harris, and a final-second free-throw from junior Jeremy Lin.

The sluggish start, the energized return, the discombobulated opponent—the comeback trend seemed to be repeating itself several minutes into the second half of the Cornell game.

“In the locker room, we were saying that we know we’re better than this—let’s put a run together,” senior guard Drew Housman said. “And for that four- or five-minute stretch, we had great intensity, especially on the defensive end. It’s just that we weren’t able to sustain that burst.

As Harvard’s explosion of energy hit its crescendo, Cornell, too, fell back on its star player. But that’s where the trend ceased to continue.

The reigning Ivy League player of the year, junior guard Louis Dale, finally ended Harvard’s run with a quick layup. Dale then grabbed a defensive board and earned Cornell a possession that culminated in an intimidating dunk by Big Red center Jeff Foote. Harvard slipped away from there, eventually sinking more than 20 points behind Cornell as the Big Red’s three-point shooting game caught fire.

“It was kind of like all or nothing, and then they hit a couple shots and we broke down,” Housman said. “We got to be able to sustain that energy the whole game and we’ll be a good team.”

FROM DOWNTOWN

Prepping for the game, the big threat seemed to be Cornell’s big man. Standing at 7’0, Foote looked poised to walk over Harvard’s paint amidst a bevy of Crimson injuries.

But the Big Red’s dominant post game was far from the only reason the Crimson trailed by as much as 24 after coming within six in the second half. Cornell’s three-point shooting proved to be a lethal threat.

Harvard anticipated the deadly range of its opponents, but could not lock down the shooters due to other concerns. Doubling up on Foote, Crimson defenders frequently found themselves reeling to cover wide open Big Red shooters Ryan Wittman and Chris Wroblewski. The desperate defensive attempts were often too little, too late.

“I thought they were really good around the goal,” Amaker said. “They stretched out with really good shooters...it’s demoralizing for our defense that they can make some of those very tough, tough shots.”

While Foote contributed a quiet 10 points, the Big Red went 11-of-21 from beyond the arc. Wittman and Wroblewski combined for 27 points from three-point range alone.

But not all the blame rests on Harvard’s thinly-spread defensive efforts—Cornell’s shooting was on. The Big Red boasted a 61.9% field-goal percentage throughout the game.

OFF THE BENCH

Harvard’s all freshmen bench was thrown into the fire against the Big Red. Oliver McNally, Peter Boehm, and Max Kenyi battled on the court for 27, 23 and 25 minutes, respectively—each more than some of the Crimson’s starters. Among the three, Kenyi experienced the most offensive success by going 8-of-9 in free throws and scoring 14 total points.

Compared to Harvard’s reserves, Cornell’s bench proved to be more supplemental than instrumental to the Big Red’s game plan. Freed up by Foote, Wroblewski led the Big Red’s nonstarters with his shooting and contributed 17-of-44 points from the bench.

“They’re deep,” Amaker said. “They’ve been very successful and I think they have a lot of experience. You see that and the size of the kids and their bodies and how efficient they were—they had a lot of weapons. They keep going down the roster.”

—Staff writer Emmett Kistler can be reached at ekistler@fas.harvard.edu.