NOTEBOOK: Freshmen Make Impact, Point Looks Strong in Loss to Cardinal

This was not your typical Harvard basketball game.

It was a day of new faces as the Crimson took on Stanford in Shanghai—new players in Harvard’s top-10 recruiting class, new starters from the newest group of upperclassmen, and new fans as Harvard and the Pac-12 seek to expand the strength and quality of university sports in China.

While there were flashes of positive notes in those new faces, Harvard (0-1) ultimately fell to the Cardinal (1-0), 70-80, with Stanford coach Jerod Haase earning his first victory with the program.

FOCUS ON FRESHMEN

Harvard’s freshman class has been a topic of conversation since last year when it was ranked in ESPN’s top-10 recruiting classes, but few knew exactly how the pieces would fit in with the team in their first year. Saturday’s game against Stanford proved that though there are some bumps to smooth out, the future is bright for this group.

Harvard coach Tommy Amaker showed his confidence in the group by first putting forward Seth Towns in the starting lineup. It wasn’t long until several of Towns’ classmates followed, with Amaker giving guards Bryce Aiken and Christian Juzang and forwards Chris Lewis and Henry Welsh substantial minutes.

“I do like the potential of our young kids,” Amaker said. “This is their first opportunity to play a college game and I thought they did a tremendous job given who we are playing and all the other things that come with this travel and this trip.”

During its two exhibition games—first against MIT in Cambridge followed by a contest earlier this week against Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai—the freshmen played substantial minutes, but many speculated it was a chance to get their feet wet before the regular season began. Saturday showed, however, that Amaker plans to throw them into the fire early and often to show why they earned the reputations that they did.

Overall, the group didn’t disappoint. The five freshmen who made it onto the floor contributed over 60 percent of the team’s minutes, 70 percent of the team’s points, and 50 percent of the team’s rebounds. Aiken, who had 21 points, led the group.

Lewis and Welsh’s strong performances were perhaps the most surprising due to the veteran depth at the forward position. Senior Zena Edosomwan was the team’s leader in scoring and rebounds last year, and junior Chris Egi is a new addition to the starting rotation. Both Lewis and Welsh, however, saw more playing time than Edosomwan and Egi. The pair was also tasked with guarding Stanford’s top player, junior forward Reid Travis.

“I was very impressed,” Travis said of the duo. “Of course Welsh, he picks and pops a lot, he had a good looking jump shot and he had some good moves in the posts, some up and unders, and he finished well around the rim. Lewis, he’s just a beast, he was just running around, he got a few dunks, he was just blocking everything that was around him.”

M-AIKEN MOVES AND SIY-ING SUCCESS

Coming into the season, many projected that Aiken would come off the bench when Amaker rested senior co-captain Siyani Chambers at the point guard position. That was not the case on Saturday, as the pair played most of their minutes on the floor at the same time.

After the Shanghai Jiao Tong Exhibition, Chambers described their dynamic as effective because of their differing styles of play.

“Bryce is very aggressive and that’s what we need,” Chambers said on Wednesday. “He’s a very aggressive, look to score type guard and I’m more of a try to drive and dish, so we have a good balance going on with both of us.”

Aiken swung the momentum back in Harvard’s direction after hitting a three—the first of the game for either team—with 4:27 remaining in the first half. Prior to the shot, Harvard had fallen into its deepest hole of the game down 23-17, but Aiken’s shot put the game back within one possession, exciting the fans in Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Similarly, Chambers scored under duress when plays collapsed. While his first instinct was to pass—which resulted in a team-high four assists—the senior finished the night with 12 points, which was second only to Aiken.

Chambers and Aiken’s consistency will be key as Amaker toys with the wing position. While Towns started at the three spot, the Columbus, Ohio native got into foul trouble and struggled to find his shot, as he sunk only 3-of-8 from the floor. Sophomore Corey Johnson also filled in at the wing when playing with Chambers and Aiken, but was not his typical three-point-machine self, finishing the day without scoring a point.

WE’RE NOT IN LAVIETES ANYMORE

Compared to other major basketball universities, Harvard basketball home games are typically lacking in pomp and circumstance. There are no loud hype videos, the gym is filled with bleachers rather than seats, and a typical halftime contest usually involves young children racing to dress up in a basketball uniform and sink a layup.

This was not the case at Mercedes-Benz Arena on Saturday afternoon. The 18,000-seat facility, though not packed, had several thousand fans in attendance—including significant crowds of Stanford and Harvard alumni from China and the U.S.

In addition to the local fans and university affiliates, several former professional basketball players were in attendance for the game. Bill Walton, a staff member of the Pac-12, called the game for the ESPN broadcast. Former Houston Rockets Center Yao Ming was in attendance as the Pac-12 donated $10,000 to his youth foundation. Stanford alum Jason Collins—who became the first openly gay professional athlete in any of the four major North American sports leagues in 2013— travelled with the Cardinal throughout the week. Additionally, Harvard alum Jeremy Lin and Brooklyn Nets teammate Brook Lopez of Stanford sent their well wishes to their respective teams as well via video broadcast from New York.

While many of the fans did not align specifically with either the Crimson or the Cardinal, there were loud cheers from the audience anytime a player sunk a three-pointer or slammed a dunk home. Travis was arguably the most popular player as he had several dunks, including one in which he hung with his arm through the rim for several seconds, eliciting the loudest cheers of the day.

“[Being in China has] been an amazing experience for us all the way around,” Amaker said. “Obviously wish we could have come out on the right side of the ledger here in terms of the ‘W’ here this afternoon, but all in all for us to have the opportunity to bring our ball club here, to experience this amazing country and two different cities and just learning about the rich history and tradition here…we’re very lucky.”

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