But that lineup only worked for so long. At another point, when both Prasse-Freeman and Harvey were out, Sullivan had Merchant try bringing the ball up the floor. Seconds later, he got crossed up on a pass intended for Norman, as the sophomore cutted right when Merchant wanted to deliver him the ball. The captain’s bounce pass flitted out of bounds and Prasse-Freeman reentered the game immediately.
In years past when Prasse-Freeman exited the game, Drew Gellert ’02 could slide over to the point and the Harvard offense could continue without missing a beat. Harvard was still able to draw up plays for Harvey, whose only concern was working to get himself open.
It’s a whole different ballgame now when Harvey’s also the one who has to take the ball up the court. You can’t very well pass to yourself.
“I thought they were doing OK,” Sullivan said of the offense Sunday without its usual floor general. “Certainly at that point we were trying to get the ball to Pat. We were able to have him bring it up and then get him off the ball.”
But while Harvey did chalk up a career-high six assists, he didn’t convert a single second-half field goal without Elliott. That might be the most telling stat about the effect of Prasse-Freeman’s absence.
“It takes a scorer away from being able to run off screens like Pat’s so good at doing,” Merchant said of not having Prasse-Freeman on the floor. “It takes away a guy like Elliott finding the big men close to the rim when people do overplay Pat. It does hurt us, but at the same time, Elliott couldn’t avoid those five fouls. Their two guards are tough to handle, and he did everything he could. We were all committing a lot of fouls tonight.”
Still, after BC’s Louis Hinnant missed a pair of foul shots with 2:34 left, Harvard suddenly had a chance to tie. With a three, Harvard could even take the lead, though that’s not how the Crimson was thinking. “Just get a basket,” Sullivan thought. “Anyway we could, just get a basket.”
But the possession was over before it ever really got started. Harvey was dribbling around the perimeter trying to create something and, with Hinnant swarming him, Harvey lost the handle. Hinnant scooped up the loose ball and BC started killing the clock. Bell eventually drew a foul, earning his way to the line, where he shot 14-for-14 Sunday.
It was one possession too many without Prasse-Freeman, who logged only 26 minutes Sunday. On the game’s most important possession, the most important player was the one who was missing, the one who hadn’t scored a point all day.
“You do miss him because he is certainly an expert passer,” Sullivan said of Prasse-Freeman, whose six assists moved him within 10 of the all-time school record and 31 of the Ivy mark. “I don’t think the players thought, ‘Oh, we can’t execute him without him.’ But yeah, we miss him.”
After those four three throws, Harvey didn’t score in the final 4:58 of the game. It doesn’t bode well for your chances of winning a close game when your go-to scorer gets shut out in the closing minutes.
As it was, Harvard was forced to content itself with being competitive.
“We accomplished what we wanted—we put ourselves in position [to win],” Sullivan said. “I think there was doubt in some people’s minds that we could even be in that position.”
Sunday’s game was indeed a moral victory for this Harvard team, which is shaping up much better than expected and should be considered a serious contender in the Ivy League.
“We have the same amount of wins as we had at Christmastime a year ago. [But] it’s been a tougher seven wins than a year ago,” Sullivan said. “Some of our road wins have been good, solid wins. Hopefully it bodes well for us.”
Hopefully. But probably only if Prasse-Freeman is on the floor to take part in it.
—Staff writer Brian E. Fallon can be reached at bfallon@fas.harvard.edu.