Within 90 seconds, a Casey dunk, Casey three, and Curry layup had the deficit down to 11. After Vanderbilt answered to go up 67-51, sophomore forward Laurent Rivard drilled back-to-back tough threes—he finished six-of-seven from deep for a team-high 20 points—and Curry hit a layup to cut the lead to nine with 3:30 remaining in the game.

Two Wright free throws would get the Crimson within five, 70-65, with 1:51 to go, and Harvard had the chance to make it a one-possession game. But senior guard Oliver McNally lost the ball out of bounds, and the Crimson never got closer than that.

“I thought we were going to come back,” McNally said afterward. “We made a great run.”

In the end, Harvard’s nine-point loss to the SEC tournament champions—who had knocked off future national title winner Kentucky a week earlier—was a respectable one.

“This is a huge step for our program,” Wright said after the game. “We’re leaving our mark here on the University and the basketball program itself.”

But for the players who got to achieve their dream of playing on college basketball’s biggest stage, it only left them wanting more.

“It hurts to lose, [and] it left a bitter taste in our mouths, but the whole experience was great,” Curry says. “We’re just hungry to get back.”

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