The vision was a transformed Lavietes.

“We know we don’t have the biggest facility or biggest arena, but that’s okay—neither does Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium,” Amaker says of his alma mater and its court. “[But Duke has] used the size—the smallness, the uniqueness or whatever you want to call it—to their advantage, and that’s what we are hoping to do as well: to make this an intimidating place for opponents to play.”

It may not have been quite like Durham, but Allston sure felt pretty electric Friday night.

The Princeton team was announced to a wall of newspapers—the “sucks” chants after each player was introduced slightly dulled the strategy—followed by the presentation of the Harvard squad, which got wild roars from everyone dressed in white.

The Crimson started the game on a 6-0 run, and the volume in the building continued to increase over the course of the first 12 minutes as Harvard built a 16-12 lead.

But from there, the action on the court took a turn for the worse. Princeton went ahead a minute later, and quickly extended the cushion to double-digits.

Despite having little to cheer about, the Crimson faithful found a way.

The crowd—both as large and loud as it’s ever been for a Harvard basketball game—seemed determined to will the team to a victory. Coming off the crushing 36-point loss at Cornell in what was the most anticipated game in Harvard history, the Crimson needed the win to stay close to the Big Red and remain in contention for the league crown. Whether or not every student knew the importance of the matchup on display, collectively, they weren’t giving up.

As Harvard failed to close the gap in the first 15 minutes of the second half, a comeback grew less and less plausible.

Still, the students chanted, “I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!”

That’s when the momentum swung, and, for the first time all game, Harvard began to knock down some shots. A three by freshman Brandyn Curry got the team started. Then came a few steals, and some easy points on the break.

“I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!” The crowd believed it. And now it seemed, so too did the players.

“I think it’s obvious that their impact was tremendous,” Amaker says. “There’s nothing like having the students bring that kind of spirit and energy to the building.”

When Jeremy Lin connected from behind the arc with just under a minute to play to pull the Crimson within five, the bleachers were shaking. They didn’t stop trembling until Lin’s last-second three hit the front rim and fell short.

The “I believe that we will win” chant—which Ho credits to sophomore football teammate Jonathan Mason—now has its own YouTube video with over 1,800 hits. Still, it doesn’t come close to replicating the sound of Lavietes on Friday night. The sell-out crowd was by far the loudest I have heard at any Harvard sporting event.