After an atrocious 6 day road trip in Texas which saw UConn (11-3 (0-2)) fall out of the top 25 after losses to Houston and SMU, the Huskies return home to Gampel Pavilion to take on a surging 13-1 Harvard Crimson team that has won 9 in a row since losing at Colorado on November 24th. Both teams are tied in the latest polls in the "others receiving votes" sitting at #31. This game could have big tournament implications as far as getting a key win with Harvard projected to run through the Ivy League as they collected all 17 first place votes in the preseason conference poll.
Last Matchup
The Huskies have a lead in the all-time series against the Crimson 16-2. Their last matchup came last season on December 7th, 2012 and it ended in a 57-49 UConn victory at Gampel Pavilion behind 23 points from DeAndre Daniels, and 16 from Ryan Boatright.
Harvard Key Players
Wesley Saunders- The 6'5 junior swingman led the Ivy League in scoring last year, and was unanimously named first team all conference. This year has been more of the same with Saunders averaging 15.7 ppg to go along with 5.3 rpg and 3.8 apg. He has already been named Ivy League Player of the Week 3 times on the season. He had 14 points against the Huskies last year, and I expect that he will have Neils Giffey, and Lasan Kromah on him for most as the game as Kevin Ollie looks to limit the Crimson's biggest scoring threat.
Siyani Chambers- The 6'0 sophomore point guard was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year last year and was the first freshman in conference history named to 1st team all conference. Harvard's floor general leads the Ivy League in assists (5.1 per game) and can also get to the hoop and score (11.0 ppg). Boatright and Shabazz Napier should split time trying to lock him down.
Kyle Casey- The best big man on the Crimson only stands at 6'7, but he's a senior leader and is very consistent. He comes in averaging 11.9 points per game to go along with 6.3 rebounds, is an 1,000 point scorer (1,100) and can alter shots around the rim (105 career blocks). Casey was apart of the academic cheating scandal last year, so he did not play against UConn, but with this team a pesky big man could be trouble.
Keys to the Game
First Half Shabazz- It is said so much that Shabazz just needs to play the first half like he plays the second, and I recognize that he likes to get his teammates involved early in the game which is great, but the Huskies so badly need a quick start, and that can't happen when Shabazz only has 2 first half points like he had against both SMU and Houston. As of late, Kevin Ollie has been calling plays for DeAndre early in the game, and because of his game against Harvard last year we may see more of the same, but I would love to see Shabazz running off of some screens for some jumpers (a la Florida) early on tonight.
Inside Presence- I would write rebounding, but what's the point? The bottom line is that Harvard has no big men standing over 6'7, and because of that the Huskies either need to pick at least 2 of the following 3 and do them; score inside, rebound, or alter/block shots. The size of the Crimson's front court could also give UConn the advantage just by allowing them to go small with their lineup and have Giffey at the 4 and Daniels at the 5, putting the most talented lineup on the court (Shabazz, Boatright, Kromah, Giffey, Daniels) without getting killed down low.
Guard the Three Point Line- Houston shot 50 percent from three. SMU shot 44 percent from three. That can't happen. The last 2 seasons UConn has been terrific at guarding the three point stripe but due to a general disinterest in playing basketball in Texas, it suddenly became a weakness that resulted in a truly mind numbing 2 losses. Harvard comes in only shooting 36 percent from three for the year, but have a weapon in senior guard Laurent Rivard. Although he's currently sitting at 35.1 percent from deep this year, he is the program leader in three pointers with 232, and is an 1,000 point scorer. In the game against UConn last year he was quite awful only scoring 5 points in 38 minutes and generally being a non-factor, and that coupled with the fact that I'm sure Kevin Ollie has emphasized the poor three point defense leads me to believe that this problem will be solved for tonight.
Prediction
One of the few (if only?) bright spot in Texas was Boatright playing what we here see to be his best basketball of the season. I expect this along with coming home to a place where this team has had its best success of the season to jolt the team back into playing UConn basketball and getting a solid win in their last non-conference matchup of the season.
UConn 71 Harvard 63
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