NOTEBOOK: Men's Basketball Loses Due To Defense And Free Throws

Over the past two seasons, the Harvard men’s basketball team’s enormous level of success has been in large part based on two factors—stingy defense and accurate free-throw shooting.

The Crimson was fourth in the country in team defense last season and second in free-throw percentage in 2010-11—the two most successful campaigns in program history.

But in Tuesday night’s 85-78 loss to Vermont at Lavietes Pavilion, the Crimson struggled in both areas, making clear for the second consecutive game that this year’s squad still has a long way to go to match the success its predecessors achieved the past two years.

The 85 points Harvard allowed was the most it surrendered in a regular-season game since a Dec. 23, 2009 loss to Georgetown. After not allowing more than 70 points in a regular-season contest last season, the Crimson has done so in two consecutive games after it fell to St. Joseph’s, 75-56, a week ago.

“That’s been one of the calling cards of our program and our team—to be able to defend—and certainly we didn’t do that as well as we needed to tonight,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.

That was especially true in the first half, as the Catamounts took a 48-34 lead into the break by shooting 73 percent from the floor.

“We couldn’t get stops,” Amaker said. “We didn’t do well in ball screen coverage.... They broke us down and from there opened up the floor, got in the seams.”

“A lot of the time they were popping out of pick and rolls,” sophomore wing Wes Saunders added.

While preventing Harvard from getting off a three-point attempt until there were less than five minutes to go in the first half, Vermont shot six-of-nine from long distance, helping it score 36 more points than the Crimson has allowed on average at home this year.

“They got so much confidence from the plays they were making off the ball screen,” Amaker said. “Once they saw that was a sore spot for us, they stayed with it, so credit to them for making those plays.”

FREE FALLIN’

In many ways, the game was determined at the free-throw line, where Harvard shot just 65.6 percent, missing 11 of 32 attempts.

“We usually make free throws,” Saunders said. “It was just an off night.”

Co-captain Christian Webster—who was 13th in the nation after shooting 89.4 percent from the charity stripe two seasons ago—missed his first five attempts from the line and finished one-for-six.

At the other end of the court, Vermont took 26 free throws and made 80.8 percent of them. That success helped the Catamounts hand Harvard just its second loss in its last 32 games at Lavietes Pavilion.

“[Free throws were] another thing that [was] alarming for us because we’ve been a very good foul shooting team,” Amaker said. “When you’re struggling [to score] and get to the foul line, you want to cash in and stop runs, and it didn’t [happen] for us.”

GO SIYA WES-TERN

Though Harvard struggled defensively and at the line, Saunders and freshman point guard Siyani Chambers chipped in career scoring highs on the offensive end.

The sophomore registered 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Chambers contributed 16 points, to go with eight assists.

Chambers’ and Saunders’ 15 and 12 second half points, respectively, helped bring the Crimson back into the game in the second period, when it outscored Vermont by seven.

The pair did all of Harvard’s scoring on a 12-3 run early in the half that got the Crimson within three at 55-52. Saunders hit one of two free throws, then had a steal and transition dunk off a Chambers assist. The rookie then hit a three and found Saunders off of penetration for another long ball before Saunders returned the favor by kicking out to Chambers for a third three.

That shot put Harvard at 5-of-6 from long distance, but the Crimson hit only one more of its attempts from behind the arc for the rest of the night, helping Vermont stave off a Harvard comeback attempt.

Nonetheless, Amaker was pleased with the performance of his two talented starters.

“I thought [Siyani] played exceptionally well,” Amaker said. “And [without much depth], we need Wesley to do a lot more for this team, and he’s capable of it. You see that in his performance, and how efficient he’s been.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.