Holy Cross Preview

After the Harvard men’s basketball team (1-0) opened its season with a 21-point win over Cambridge neighbor MIT, it faces a stiffer challenge Sunday against Holy Cross in the Coaches v. Cancer tripleheader. Below, The Back Page takes a quick look at the three main things to keep your eye on heading into Sunday’s tilt.

Battle Up Front: Against MIT, the Crimson’s frontcourt hardly looked dominant. Wing Wesley Saunders outrebounded the entire frontcourt, 8-3, in the first half and the group as a whole pulled down only 18 rebounds on the night, three less than the Engineers. Holy Cross, which has nine players taller than 6’7” on the roster, will pose a significantly tougher test. The Crusaders will look to pound the ball inside and exploit Harvard’s interior defense, which was not really tested Friday night.

The Hot Hand: After losing one of the program’s all-time greatest shooters in Laurent Rivard ’14, concerns abounded in the beginning of the season about how well the Crimson would be able to shoot the ball. Conscious of this, the Engineers challenged Harvard with a 2-3 zone early and often in the Friday matchup, not letting the Crimson take advantage of its advantage inside and baiting it into shooting low-percentage three-point chances.

Harvard was happy to oblige, making seven of its 13 attempts on the night and looking comfortable stretching the defense. Saunders repeatedly got into the middle of the zone before kicking it out to junior co-captain Siyani Chambers and sophomore Corbin Miller (a combined six-for-10 from long range) for three after three. If the Crusaders try and go big, it will be crucial that the Crimson be able to punish Holy Cross with its outside shooting.

Getting Healthy: One notable absence from the Friday lineup was junior Agunwa Okolie, who had previously injured himself during a scrimmage against Providence. Indicators out of camp were that Okolie was going to be a starter for the year, and his health is crucial to monitor going forward.