Men's Basketball To Face Toughest Competition In Kansas

One could forgive Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker if he has flashbacks when the Harvard men’s basketball team (2-5) travels to Allen Fieldhouse to play No. 4 Kansas this Saturday.

The last time Amaker and the Crimson (2-5) visited a top-five team on the road, it was handed the program’s worst loss since his first game, a 49-point defeat in Virginia that was certainly worse than the score indicated.

Against the Cavaliers, Harvard scored eight points in the first half, making just five percent of its field goals. On the game, the Crimson starting five combined to go for one-for-32 from the field and had more turnovers than field goals on the day.

The Jayhawks resemble the Virginia squad in many respects. Bill Self’s team has the third-best defensive rating in the country, per Ken Pomeroy, and boasts length and experience at every position. Like Virginia, the Jayhawks have experience across the starting lineup—boasting five upperclassmen starters.

“Obviously [Kansas] is a storied program, as storied as any,” Amaker said. “We know how great they are and how challenging that’s going to be for us with a team like that on that home floor they have.”

On the other side of the ball, the Crimson comes into the game on its second losing streak of the season, having lost five of its last six games, including all four on the road.

Harvard’s early season narrative has been stingy defense and a stop-and-go offense. Although Harvard has shot better from the field and the three-point line than last year’s time, the Crimson average just 63.1 points a game—326th in Division I—due to 15 turnovers a game.

Its last time out, however, the script was flipped on its head. In an 80-71 loss to Northeastern, Harvard shot 55 percent from the field and had 25 assists on 31 field goals.

On the defensive end, the story was far different. Northeastern was the first Harvard opponent to shoot above 40 percent from the field, racking up 14 offensive rebounds and taking nine more shots on the game.

“[It’s] probably law of average, to be very honest,” Amaker said Wednesday. “It’s nice that we were able to see the ball go in the basket a little.”

Against Kansas, Harvard will have to be efficient in its halfcourt offense. The Crimson have been vulnerable to athletic teams who pressure them in the halfcourt, with Providence junior Kris Dunn racking up seven steals in the first half.

While Kansas generates only seven steals a game, it loves to push the pace—playing at the country’s 17th fastest speed, per KenPom. The Jayhawks score 94 points a game, taking nearly 65 shots a contest.

As always, that will start with freshman point guard Tommy McCarthy. After a rough initial five games to the season, McCarthy has averaged six assists a game over his past three, making two or more threes in each of his last four.

“I thought there were a lot of encouraging things here tonight we can use as we move forward,” Amaker said after the Northeastern game. “Tommy getting nine assists for a point guard and as a freshman, [it was] a big night for him.”

McCarthy’s shooting percentages over the last four games (28.8 percent from the floor, 32.4 percent from the three-point line) are not far below those of starting KU point guard Frank Mason (39.7 percent and 35.3 percent, respectively). Mason, however, provides the Jayhawks with a steady hand at the point, averaging nearly five assists for every one turnover.

Freshmen guard Corey Johnson has joined McCarthy in the starting lineup through the team’s first seven games. Known for his scoring, the rookie has slowed on the offensive side. He averaged nearly 11 points through the first four games, but has since averaged just five points over the last three contests.

Inside, the Crimson will depend on junior forward Zena Edosomwan to carry the team. The team’s leading scorer and rebounder provides the Crimson with its only consistent post presence.

The standards are clearly highest for the junior, with Amaker commenting after Edosomwan’s last output—a team-high 18 points and seven rebounds—that he can still do more.

“We need more on the backboard,” Amaker said. “He knows that and we’re hopeful that he can give us more, but he isn’t the only one that we need more from on the backboard.”

Edosomwan has echoed similar sentiments all season. Though his production is up significantly from a year ago, he knows that he has needed to expand his role this season.

“My goal is like I want to go there and get 20 rebounds,” Edosomwan said. “That’s my mentality every game and the rest of the stuff, the offense will come.”

Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.