Layups, layups, everywhere.
The Harvard men's basketball team prides itself on its ability to play a fast-paced, pressure style of basketball while being disciplined enough not to allow its opponent easy baskets.
But that was not the case Saturday at Briggs Cage, where the Crimson stumbled in its season-opening 87-76 loss to Lehigh. While Harvard played its pressure man-to-man defense almost perfectly in the first six minutes, its lack of depth became all-too-apparent and fatigue set in.
The Engineers began breaking the Harvard pressure for easy baskets, both in transition and in the half-court game. In the first half, 17 of Lehigh's 22 field goals were either layups or short jumpers in the lane, as compared to only five Harvard buckets in the paint.
"We got some easy baskets against their pressure," Lehigh Coach David Duke said. "I think that was part of the difference in the game. Easy baskets. Keeping our poise. Just working together a little bit, getting some easy shots."
Overall, the Engineers finished with 27 baskets in the paint, far outdistancing Harvard's total of 13. Dozie Mbonu led the way with 11 layups and tip-ins as part of his 11-for-17 night from the field, and Bob Krizansky added six baskets in the lane en route to a 25-point, 9-for-12 effort from the field.
"I'm really disappointed in the way we reacted to things not going well," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said. "We lost our composure, started to break down and forget the things that we had wanted to try to do well."
Temper, Temper: Harvard's Ron Mitchell took exception to Krizansky's decision to fling his elbows in the junior Crimson forward's face. Mitchell immediately retaliated with a fist in Krizansky's face, causing tempers on both sides to flare.
But teammates and Roby's emphatic gesturing finally convinced the Crimson co-captain to cool off rather than pursue the matter further.
Interestingly enough, Krizansky was nailed with an intentional foul, giving Mitchell two foul shots and Harvard possession of the ball, while the refs let Mitchell--who initiated most of the fracas--off the hook.
Rules of the Road: Obviously disappointed with his squad's inability to sustain an early 16-8 lead, Roby had an interesting method to explain his team's lack of execution and poor play.
"Who's the tougher person? The person that's afraid to rob a bank because of the repercussions, or the person that believes it's wrong," Roby asked.
"Do you only drive in traffic and obey the rules because the cop is watching you or because you know the rules say you shouldn't do that and that's what you believe?
Applying it to the Crimson's loss, Roby added, "It takes some mental toughness. It takes a belief in things that are going to be successful. We have to establish a belief in doing things the right way because we believe that they'll work, because we believe that's the way to play. For a majority of the game tonight, it looked as if we didn't believe the things that we had been taught and worked on in preseason were really going to make the difference."
Roby makes his point.
Chart-Watching: I hate to do it, but somebody's got to.
Yep, it's time to track Co-Captain Ralph James' march up the Harvard career scoring charts. With his 20 points against the Engineers, James now ranks seventh on the all-time list with 1166 points, 35 points behind number-six Dale Dover '71.
James, who is attempting this season to become the first-ever Harvard player to lead the team in scoring for four consecutive years, is well within striking distance of number-three Bob Ferry '85, who has 1351 points.
But the long-range goal is number-one Joe Carrabino '85, who scored 1880 points in four-plus years (he redshirted one season) for the Crimson. To do so, James would have to average 28.5 points per game in Harvard's final 25 games, not including any NCAA playoff games, of course. Isn't there a warmup drill that looks like this?" --overheard during Harvard's 87-76 loss to Lehigh
HARVARD MEN'S BASKETBALL (0-1 overall, 0-0 Ivy) Player G FG-ATT PCT 3FG-ATT
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