Rivard matched with a deep trey of his own, and Michigan missed some free throws down the stretch to give the Crimson a chance. But with eight seconds to go, Webster hit the back rim on a three that would have cut the lead to one, and Michigan was able to hold on for the victory.

“I thought we played pretty well,” McNally said. “But when you’re playing on the road, especially against a good team, you’ve got to be really sharp and not have any let downs, and I don’t think we did that well enough.”

The game was a back-and-forth affair early on as well. A 7-0 Michigan run capped by a Morgan jumper put the home team up right away, but Harvard–led by Wright’s three baskets off some nifty footwork–fought right back with a 12-0 run of its own to go up 22-17 four minutes later.

Douglass and Rivard then matched threes and a Wright layup off an acrobatic spin move would put the Crimson up seven with two minutes remaining in the half.

After Michigan shrunk the advantage, another Rivard long ball put the Crimson ahead by nine, but Morris hit a running jumper with a second remaining to send his team into the locker room down seven.

Rivard–who struggled massively in his first game in front of a similarly large crowd at George Mason–drilled five threes for the second straight contest, finishing with 15 points and preventing the Wolverines from breaking the game open on multiple occasions.

“I know last year in the first game for me, it was hard,” Webster said. “But I think he’s gotten used to it, and he’s found his rhythm.”

Wright added 18 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double on the season. Webster scored 15 but struggled from beyond the arc, going 3-for-9. The team was hurt by the illness of sophomore Kyle Casey, who played only seven minutes.

Douglass proved to be the difference-maker against Harvard by going 5-of-7 from long distance and finishing with 19 points. Morris added 13 and Novak 12 for the Wolverines, who outshot the Crimson 58 percent to 38 percent from the field in the second half.

“Coach has done a lot for us, so it definitely would’ve been a good feeling to get him a win [in his return],” McNally said. “But it didn’t work out.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.