UNCASVILLE, Conn. – As you would expect, the Harvard men’s basketball pregame hype video played just before its starting lineup is announced includes clips from both its 2013 and 2014 NCAA Tournament victories.
But it also includes one from the 2015 Ivy League playoff, a grinding win over Yale at The Palestra after the Bulldogs lost on the last day of the regular season and the two rivals finished the season tied. Although they would get edged 67-65 by North Carolina to prevent its third straight season with a NCAA win the next week, it was the culmination of four straight NCAA Tournament berths and six straight 20-win campaigns.
It certainly appeared like Harvard’s reign as King Ivy would last for a while. But it did not. Harvard did go 21-8 in the ultimately abridged 2019-20 season, but the Crimson have not even appeared in an Ivy League Tournament since then, and have not even posted a winning record – in conference or overall since – as rival and former subservient King Yale rules over the conference.
There is a renewed hope for 2025-26, though, in Cambridge, as Tommy Amaker enters his 18th season in charge. The Crimson were picked second in the preseason Ivy poll, and although they suffered a frustrating 75-74 loss to Boston University Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena, there were signs that things are looking up.
“We fought hard, it was competitive, a one-possession game the whole way,” Amaker said. “They were tough, we were tough throughout. They made a tough basket at the end to win it. Hard one to lose, great one to win if you’re them, but I really liked the fight in our guys, and I really liked how we responded from our perimeter guys after our last game (Penn State).”
The first and most obvious was sophomore Robert Hinton, who entered the Ivy with plenty of hype. But although Hinton showed flashes of greatness as a freshman, he was inconsistent, especially shooting the ball, making just 14 three-pointers all season as Harvard’s offense stalled.
But, unlike his predecessor Malik Mack, Hinton returned to the Ivy League for his second year.
Hinton was dominant Saturday, scoring a career-high 34 points on 13-for-17 shooting, including 4-for-5 from behind the arc. That was an improvement after starting the season just 2-for-14 from long range, including a fairly dreadful effort three days earlier at Penn State (a game Harvard still led late before falling), scoring just two points.
“Robert didn’t play well in the last game (Penn State),” Amaker said. “He was in foul trouble, tough shooting day, everything. He responded, it’s a shame that we can’t celebrate a win with that kind of performance out of him. But he was outstanding this afternoon, and I was hoping that was the game-winning basket, but it wasn’t. Hopefully we can get consistency out of Robert, can we depend on him every night, maybe not put us on his back like he did tonight, but consistent offensive play.”
Joe Jones, who coached in the Ivy League at Columbia and whose brother James has led Yale for the last quarter-century, was also impressed by Hinton.
“Tommy’s a dear friend. They present a lot of issues,” Jones said. “I wasn’t banking on having such a great night offensively. But I know he (Hinton) can get it going and he’s tough to stop. We felt like we had a decent handle on their strengths, but he’s a guy that’s just hard to contain.”
Evan Nelson ran the point for the last few years for Harvard, but it’s fallen to Ben Eisendrath of late, Eisendrath took just two shots in 34 minutes for Harvard (4-3) Saturday, but he posted nine assists. Eisendrath has started the last four games since an injury to Austin Hunt on Nov. 11 (Amaker says Hunt is “day-to-day” and he hopes to have him back soon).
The Terriers (3-3) posted 1.17 points per possession Saturday by shooting 63% from the field including 11-for-21 from behind the arc. With Hunt and Luca Ace-Nasteski out, the Crimson are thin, although Amaker sprinkled in 10 players, all starters (Hinton and Eisendrath were joined by senior Chandler Piggé, junior Thomas Batties II, and sophomore Tey Barbour, who have started every game) played 32 minutes, with Hinton logging 38.
The 6-foot-7 Batties had to play center for much of Saturday, and the Terriers’ German 7-foot center Ben Defty took full advantage, scoring 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
“They did a really good job against Penn State,” Jones said. “They have a lot of firepower, Barbour’s a great shooter. They’re probably weakest in the post right now, but they have some young players who I think could come around. As those young guys get better, it will really help them. Right now, Batties has to be the small-ball No. 5 for them. Once they can get a true No. 5 in there, they will be dangerous.”
Said Amaker: “We have to help our young players along to grow. Sully (first-year Ryan Sullivan) is a bigger guy (6-foot-9), and he was on the court at the end. Kenan (Parrish, who is a 7-foot freshman) didn’t play as much today, and Luca will have to log some minutes to give us some size and depth up front.”
While obviously frustrating for the Crimson, their biggest issue by far in recent years has been at the other end. Harvard has finished seventh in Ivy League offensive efficiency in each of the last four seasons (the only ones since the COVID pandemic). Because they have always played at a slow pace anyway, they have often been a tough watch, scoring 60 or less in four of their seven Ivy losses last season.
But they managed 1.16 points per possession Saturday (after posting an impressive 1.25 against Penn State), and had the lead for much of the contest, including when a Hinton driving layup gave them a 74-73 lead with 21 seconds left. But first-year guard Chance Gladden answered with 4.9 seconds to go. Amaker chose not to call time and Piggé’s runner did not fall at the buzzer. The Terriers’ biggest lead all day was four (Harvard’s was only seven).
Batties added 14 points and six assists (he currently leads the Crimson in assist rate from his post position), while Barbour had 15. Piggé had an off day with only five points on 2-for-8 shooting. The bench scored only four points total, all coming from freshman Frankie Mannino. Harvard is currently 26th nationally in three-point shooting at 40.2%, which may not be sustainable seeing as they shot just 32% last season and haven’t gotten above 33.8% since COVID (and that was 2023-24 with Mack), but it’s been a big help so far.
Amaker still has six more weeks and seven more nonconference games to mold his team into one that could finally break the Ivy League Tournament drought, so a lot could happen in that time. He’d probably like to be better than 4-3 at the moment, but – led by a improved offense and Hinton – there is optimism, albeit cautious optimism going forward.
“Austin is a key piece to our team, and hopefully he can come back and give us what we’re supposed to get out of him,” Amaker said. “I like the pieces we have, I like the fight we have, I think we just have to play a little more consistently throughout the game. We had a chance to separate ourselves early in the second half today and we couldn’t. Give them credit for fighting, but we have to separate when we get the chance.”