The Crimson kept pace with Yale and Princeton by winning against a pesky Columbia team in Manhattan Friday night. When stalwart point guard Christian Juzang went down with a serious-looking ankle injury, Rio Haskett rose to the occasion as the next man up and personally put Columbia away with a late-game scoring flurry. Mike Smith once again performed heroically, with 34 points against a stout Harvard defense, but the rest of his teammates failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Haskett was one of four Harvard players who scored in double figures, including a double-double from Justin Bassey and a 6-for-6 free throw performance from Chris Lewis. Harvard came very close to sharing the Ivy league lead with arch-rival Yale, but Penn’s late-game meltdown kept Harvard firmly in second place with Princeton.
Reflections
As injury has turned one of Harvard’s preseason strengths (the backcourt) into a glaring weakness, coach Tommy Amaker will be forced to rely even more heavily on the things the new-look Crimson do well. Losing Christian Juzang after the loss of Bryce Aiken would be a brutal blow, made worse by the fact that Juzang is a senior and a beloved team leader. While Haskett’s performance tonight shows that he can raise the Crimson’s ceiling with tough defense, shot-creation, and limited turnovers, he will thrive most if he is not asked to do too much alongside talented but green freshman Idan Tretout. Instead, running the offense consistently through dependable wings (Noah Kirkwood and Justin Bassey) and talented forwards (Chris Lewis and Ledlum) can maximize Harvard’s offensive ceiling, and gaining an advantage on the boards can give them an edge over smaller competition.
With the Ivy League tournament approaching, Harvard looks like it can play with any team in the conference but retains the ability to lose on any given night. Harvard is defensively vulnerable to quick score-first guards in the vein of Mike Smith, Brandon Anderson and Azar Swain, and offensively prone to long stretches of aimless passing that lead to late shots and unforced turnovers. This Crimson team, however, has a fearless quality exemplified by Haskett and Ledlum that allows them to compete with more talented opponents. Home-court advantage in the Ivy tourney could provide the boost that Harvard needs to play to their ceiling and make a surprise run to the Big Dance. As a crazy season finishes, seemingly the only safe prediction is that the games will go down to the wire.