Curry Shines in Harvard's Battle 4 Atlantis Victory

After the final buzzer sounded during its 59-49 defeat of Central Florida in the championship game of this weekend’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, the entire Crimson roster gathered at center court for post-game celebrations.

In the moments leading up to the announcement of the tournament MVP, several of his teammates grinned and pointed towards junior point guard Brandyn Curry. Though the accolade went to co-captain Keith Wright, the message was clear.

“Keith and other players have been dubbed as Most Valuable or other awards, but I’m not sure there’s a more important player to our team than Brandyn,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

The Thanksgiving trip to Paradise Island, Bahamas, was more business than pleasure for the Crimson (6-0), as the tournament’s eight-team field included then-No. 4 Connecticut and then-No. 22 Florida State.

While most had expected the two ranked teams to meet in Saturday’s final, it was ultimately Harvard that won three games in three days to return to Cambridge as champions of the first-ever Battle 4 Atlantis.

“Going into [the tournament], I don’t know how many people thought we could do it, but we certainly thought we could go in and win this,” Curry said. “I’m just happy that our hard work paid off and that people are starting to see that we are for real.”

None of which could have happened without Curry, the 6’1 maestro of Harvard’s offensive juggernaut.

“[Being a playmaker] is kind of his calling card,” junior forward Kyle Casey said. “He has the ball in his hands a lot.  We really rely on him to create for us, and we play off of him, and he does a great job of that. He really embraces his role.”

“That’s my job–being the playmaker,” Curry added. “With all these great players we have on our team ... I’ve got to put them in the right position and get them the ball in the spots they like, so they can make the shots they do.”

Curry currently leads the team with 22 assists, but he’s not only a distributor.

In its opening round matchup with Utah Thursday, the Crimson crushed the Utes, 75-45, with some early help from Curry, who scored seven of Harvard’s first 11 points.

His main focus with Utah was neutralizing its leading scorer, senior Josh “Jiggy” Watkins.

“From the start, I was being very aggressive on defense and just trying to make it difficult for him,” Curry said.

Watkins, who went into the contest averaging 21 points a game, missed his first five shots and finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting along with five turnovers. Curry ended the game with nine points, three assists, and a steal.

Harvard advanced to face its toughest foe in Saturday’s semifinals: the No. 22 Seminoles, which hadn’t lost since falling in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament in March.

When his team needed it the most, Curry proceeded to turn in his best all-around performance. The junior point guard totaled six points, five assists, and five steals, helping force Florida State into 16 turnovers.

“His stat line can’t really show what he does on defense,” Rivard said. “Oftentimes he won’t get the assist, but he’s the one who made the play—someone else had just made an extra pass. I would say he’s the unsung hero.”

Curry was especially crucial in the game’s final minute, hitting a three-pointer to end an 8-3 Seminoles run.

“That was a big shot because if he missed it, they had a chance to get really close,” said Rivard, who passed up a shot of his own to find Curry in the corner.

“The pass by Laurent and shot by Brandyn arguably could be two of the bigger plays for Harvard basketball of all time,” Amaker said. “That moment there was huge, and Brandyn has been in the middle of everything.”

True to form, Curry cemented the 46-41 victory by coming up with a steal and draining a pair of free throws with less than 45 seconds left.

Central Florida had upset the defending national champion Huskies earlier in the day, setting up a Knights-Crimson final.

Curry again showed off his all-around game, collecting six points, three rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

This time his defensive assignment turned out to be Michael Jordan’s youngest son, Marcus Jordan, the Knights’ second-leading scorer. Jordan finished with 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting and missed all five three-pointers he attempted.

“All in all, I thought he was the best defensive player this week,” Casey added.

With Harvard continuing to make a name for itself—the Crimson received 101 votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and 61 votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll released Monday—Curry’s inspired play on both ends of the floor will be more important ever.

“We go as far as he takes us,” Casey said.