Containing the Cowboys inside and forcing Oklahoma State into long jumpers and threes could be the key to a victory for the Crimson. The Cowboys only shot 29.7 percent from behind the arc during the regular season–328th in Division I.
Oklahoma State was middle-of-the-pack nationally in overall shooting percentage, while Harvard’s 47.7 percent was 14th-best in the country. The Crimson also ranked second in the nation in free-throw percentage, but went just 10-of-16 from the line against the Tigers.
Cowboys coach Travis Ford said he had seen Harvard’s 16-point win over Colorado while scouting the Buffaloes earlier in the season and came away impressed.
“[The Crimson], from everything we’ve heard, they’ve been a buzz of college basketball the last couple weeks, as far as a team that’s had an incredible year,” Ford told NewsOK.
The game will be the only NIT first round matchup televised on ESPN, and Harvard has never appeared on the network before. Harvard has also never played Oklahoma State in basketball.
“We’re excited to play in the postseason,” Webster said. “I know a lot of people don’t get that chance.”
If Harvard tops the Cowboys, it will take on the winner of Wednesday’s game between Washington State–the two-seed in the region–and Long Beach State, the 11 seed.
The No. 1 seed in the Crimson’s region is Boston College, whom Harvard has defeated in three consecutive years, including a 78-69 win in Chestnut Hill on January 5 of this season.
Crimson coach Tommy Amaker won the NIT with Michigan in 2004. Harvard has a long way to go to get to that point, but McNally and Webster both said they would move on and not let Saturday’s buzzer-beating defeat linger in their minds.
Instead, after being snubbed from the NCAA tournament, the Crimson now feels it has something to prove in the NIT.
“We had a good chance to get the tourney, but we put ourselves in a bad position [by losing],” McNally said. “We’re in the NIT. We’re happy with the chance to keep playing, and obviously that’s where we’re at right now.”
—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.