Men's Basketball Preview: Fordham

With the rest of the College off for break, The Back Page is keeping up with the Harvard men’s basketball team (10-1) as it finishes the remainder of its nonconference schedule. In the second of a series of running previews about the upcoming nonconference opponents, David Freed looks at Fordham.

After a tense victory against Vermont, the Crimson hits the road again on a visit to Fordham (6-4) to play the Rams. Winner of ten of its first eleven games, Harvard will play on the road for the seventh time in eight games when it travels to New York City.

Coach

Anchoring the Rams’ sidelines will be head coach Tom Pecora—described by his online bio as “the most successful college basketball coach in New York City” since the turn of the century. A homegrown New Yorker (he hails from Queens), Pecora has been coaching in New York his entire career. He joined the bench at Hofstra as an assistant coach in 1994 and led the team twice to the NCAA tournament. After turning head coach in 2001, Pecora guided the Pride to four postseason appearances in nine years. At Fordham, Pecora took a program that won two games in the 2009-10 campaign to a 10-win season just two years later, including a victory over then-No. 22 Harvard.

Roster

Led by freshman Jon Severe, Fordham brings a powerful offensive attack to the floor, averaging just over 76 points a game. Severe averages just short of 20 points a game, shooting better from behind the arc (41 percent) than inside it (29 percent). Three different players average at least 14 points a game for the Rams, who get contributions in every area from senior guard Branden Frazier. Frazier, the team’s motor, is second on the team in scoring (18.0 ppg), second on the team in rebounding (6.1 rpg), and first on the team in assists (4.1 apg).

Nonconference Play

Through 10 games, Fordham has not established a baseline level of play. The team won its first three games at home by eight points or more, but sandwiched early victories around a 15-point road loss to Syracuse that was not as close as the score appeared, with the Orange up 25 at halftime. After rebounding from a home loss to Sacred Heart and winning two straight games against Furman and Manhattan University, the Rams lost by 46 points to St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.

Since the loss to St. John’s, Fordham has won two of three but has only left the Empire State once. The Rams are 4-1 at home this year heading into the tilt against Harvard.

Series History

The biggest matchup between these two teams came two years ago, when the Rams snapped a 54-game losing streak to top-25 opponents with a 60-54 win over No. 22 Harvard. The Crimson’s second loss of the season knocked them out of the top 25 as Rams then-freshman Bryan Smith led all scorers with 22 points. Harvard led by five early in the second half, but the Rams responded with 12 straight points to break away and scored 10 of the game’s final 14 points after the Crimson clawed back into it.

The Rams came to Cambridge last year and Harvard returned the favor, dealing the Rams a 73-64 loss. The Crimson committed 20 turnovers in the win but outscored Fordham by 21 points at the free throw line in the win. Overall, Fordham still leads the all-time series, 8-4.

Overall Matchup

After a narrow win against Vermont, Harvard will have its guard up as it tries to end 2013 on a high note. So far, the Crimson has won 23 of its 29 games in 2013 and finished off a perfect home record for the calendar year with its victory last weekend. In its last road game of 2013, Harvard will need to focus on exploiting the Rams’ turnover tendencies while containing Severe, whose aggregate stats are much more impressive than their rate counterparts. If the Crimson can hold Severe and Frazier (only a 41 percent shooter himself) from going off, the Rams turn the ball over too much to take down the patient Crimson, whose cautious offensive approach will test a porous Fordham defensive front that gives up 76 points a game.