Last year’s trio of big men return and is joined by star recruit Zena Edosomwan, second from left, and returning senior Kyle Casey.

One year ago, the Harvard men’s basketball team’s front line consisted of three players who had played a combined 638 minutes in their college careers. Who would start down low was anyone’s guess, with only one returning big man having averaged double-digit minutes the season prior.

Over the course of the season, then-sophomores Steve Moundou-Missi, Kenyatta Smith, and Jonah Travis more than doubled their total minutes, points, rebounds, and blocks from the 2011-12 campaign. They combined for the best block-per-game average in the Ivy League and held their own against more athletic and bigger front-lines in the NCAA tournament.

In short, the big men stepped up.

After last year’s breakout season, the trio will look to do the same in the 2013-14 season. This time, however, they’ll have help.

With the arrival of 6’9” freshman Zena Edosomwan and the return of 6’7” senior Kyle Casey, the team now features a front line at least five men deep. And for a team that placed seventh in the nation in three-point field goal percentage last year, the surplus of size will serve as a welcome and formidable offensive complement.

“We definitely have more weapons [this year],” Smith said. “We were able to fit [the newcomers] right into the rotation…. When we get our rotations set, our offense should be something, in my opinion, to fear. We’re very versatile, deep…[and] there isn’t too much left to be desired chemistry-wise.”

Edosomwan, who notched two McDonald’s All-American nominations and two first-team All-State selections in high school, enters Harvard having averaged a double-double at Northfield Mount Herman School last year. Ranked No. 76 in his recruiting class, Edosomwan chose Harvard over big-name schools like Texas, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC.

“Zena brings a low post presence that is unbelievable,” Moundou-Missi said. “He’s strong, athletic, goes strong to the basket, [and] he’s only a freshman.”

Smith echoed his classmate’s sentiments, stressing the physical power of the freshman.

“[Edosomwan is] definitely a back-to-the-basket type player,” Smith explained. “He uses his strength to his advantage, trying to get in [the paint] and get shots as close to the basket as possible, using as much strength as possible.”

Whereas Edosomwan will be donning the Crimson jersey for the first time, veteran Casey will look to continue his past dominance in the paint. Along with leading the team in scoring, Casey was the only player on the 2011-12 squad to average over a block a game, despite being the fifth-tallest player on the roster.

“Kyle is a really great defender,” Moundou-Missi said. “His talk helps us a lot on defense, and he is really the big general of our defense, which helps us a lot. His swagger and his confidence are going to be really big for us this year.”

On the offensive end, Smith said that Casey is unique in his ability to play both back-to-the-basket and face-up games. In addition to being a defensive presence down low, Casey had the second-highest three-point field goal percentage on the team in his junior season, shooting over 35 percent. Smith says that this versatility adds greatly to the big-man dynamic.

Of last year’s returning players, it was Smith whose breakout season was the least expected, at least according to the numbers. After averaging 2.1 minutes and 0.4 points per game in 2011-12, Smith amassed 14.5 minutes and 5.8 points per contest in last year’s campaign. Perhaps most significantly, he climbed from 0.2 to 2.1 blocks per game in that same timespan.

It is his hook shot, however, that Smith has spent the most time improving, a move that Harvard coach Tommy Amaker stressed in the middle of last season.