Notebook: Defense Pushes Men's Basketball Past Auburn

After starting the season 2-6, the Harvard men’s basketball team has strung together three consecutive wins. Following an overtime win against BYU on Tuesday, Harvard stymied the Auburn offense on Wednesday to come away with a 69-51 win.

With the victory over the Tigers (6-4), the Crimson (5-6) moves on to the Diamond Head Classic championship game on Dec. 25 against the winner of the semifinal matchup between No. 3 Oklahoma and tournament host Hawaii.

YOU CAN’T SPELL HARVARD WITHOUT D

These were the words ESPN announcer Kanoa Leahey used to describe the way Harvard shut down the Tiger offense. Led by senior Agunwa Okolie, Harvard once again able to set the tone of the contest by preventing points in transition and limiting the number of Auburn possessions.

The statistics exhibiting Harvard’s shutdown defense are extensive. The team limited Auburn to just 30 percent shooting on the afternoon, including 6-of-25 shooting from behind the arc. Coming into the game, the Tigers averaged nearly 84 points a game; its 51 points on Wednesday were a season low.

In the waning minutes of the game, as Auburn attempted one last push to narrow the gap, the Tigers missed 17 of their last 18 shots. Even on the easy, uncontested buckets, Auburn struggled, shooting 43 percent from the free throw line.

But the most glaring defensive statistic was the Okolie’s silencing of Auburn junior guard Kareem Canty. Just over 24 hours earlier, Canty dropped 27 points on New Mexico in the Tigers’ first round matchup, and he came in averaging almost 21 points per game. But against Harvard, Canty had just three points on 1-of-15 shooting.

“He’s our best defender and I’m so proud of him because every time he’s had an assignment, he’s had to take on the best offensive player,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “He’s done a magnificent job for us.”

While Auburn appeared fatigued after a close first-round victory New Mexico, the Crimson was able to keep up its pace for a full 40 minutes. The back-to-back games are nothing new for Harvard, players said after, as the Ivy League schedule contains six weeks of back-to-back Friday-Saturday contests. While this is new to the freshman class, it is something the team was prepared for.

“For us freshmen coming up, they teach us a lot of things about this atmosphere coming in, playing back-to-backs,” freshman guard Corey Johnson said. “We just kind of follow their lead and they are doing a great job of showing us the ropes. We prepared well for today, had the scout and came in ready.”

GAINING GROUND

At the beginning of the season, the Crimson was ranked fourth in the Ivy League preseason media poll. In the KenPom rankings, Harvard started the season ranked 169th in the nation.

But after back-to-back wins against top-150 teams, the Crimson has risen in the ranks. Harvard rose 40 spots to 115 this week. Yale still ranks higher at 96th nationally, but both Columbia and Princeton have dropped below the Crimson.

The low ranking was partially because of uncertainty surrounding Amaker's all-freshman backcourt of Tommy McCarthy and Johnson. However, despite still struggling with turnovers, McCarthy and Johnson remain two of the Crimson’s top three scorers. Both rookies are averaging just over nine points per game.

McCarthy struggled against Auburn, tallying two fouls in the first three minutes of the game and coughed up the ball six times and forcing Amaker to go to junior Corbin Miller at the point. But Johnson was a force for the Crimson, downing a team-high 14 points in 38 minutes on the floor.

Against Auburn, the Crimson was able to spread the ball around on the offensive end, with five players scoring in double digits.

“A team effort is the main thing,” senior Patrick Steeves said. “Nobody is worried about shots, nobody is worried about ‘I gotta get mine’. Team wins are the bottom line. It’s the only thing we care about, really.”

While junior Zena Edosomwan has provided consistent offense, averaging just over 13 points per game, senior Evan Cummins has increased his offensive presence under the basket. Known for his passing and defensive skills, Cummins notched a career-high 13 points against the Tigers despite playing only 22 minutes because of foul trouble. Cummins got the scoring started for the Harvard for the second night in a row as he broke the ice with layups against both BYU and Auburn.

“We’ve been much more efficient offensively and that’s allowed our team to get better,” Amaker said. “We have seen the fruits of that labor ever since we went to play at Kansas we have been on a steady climb to improve and it’s really shown the last three or four ballgames.”

Staff writer Theresa C. Hebert can be reached at theresa.hebert@thecrimson.com.