The other big man that stepped up was junior Andrew Van Nest. The junior held down the paint when Wright went to the bench and provided a boost with three field goals, including a three, and a thunderous dunk late in the second half.

Five minutes into the second frame, as sophomore guard Brandyn Curry was inbounding under Harvard’s own hoop, Van Nest rolled off a pick and received the pass in the middle of the lane. The big man, not known for his aerial displays, took off and dunked over two Colorado defenders.

“I have no idea [where that came from],” Wright said. “I told him, ‘You’ve just got to jump hard, and just dunk it, man.’ I guess he finally listened to me. We were all going crazy in the locker room after the game. It was definitely big.”

DELAYED REACTION

Trailing as they went into the second half, the Buffaloes sought to change up their offensive and defensive strategies. Throughout the period, Colorado made a determined effort to get to the free-throw line and pressure the ball full-court.

The Crimson had difficulty adapting to both changes, as it gave up 22 free-throw attempts in the second frame and turned the ball over multiple times in the backcourt.

“We didn’t respond very well,” Amaker said. “We couldn’t keep them off the line...We didn’t handle pressure very well...But we were able to kind of regroup and recover from that and put the game back in our favor with a comfortable margin.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.