Senior forward Kyle Casey may not have led the Harvard men’s basketball team on paper, but for one minute in the second half he owned Lavietes Pavilion.

With 11 minutes to play against Ancient Eight rival Princeton (12-4, 0-2 Ivy), junior forward Wesley Saunders was held up at the top of the key. He leapt into the air and fed a pass over the defense to an open Casey under the basket. Casey slammed the ball home, igniting the biggest home crowd that the Crimson (16-3, 3-0) has drawn all season.

On the other end, Casey came down with the defensive rebound—one of his five boards on the night—and fed co-captain Laurent Rivard in front of the Harvard bench. Rivard sunk his fifth three of the game, but Casey wasn’t done.

On Harvard’s next possession, Casey delivered his second straight dunk in traffic. Though Casey would foul out with six seconds remaining in the contest, one minute of work was all it took for the senior to help his squad open up a 15-point lead—Harvard’s biggest advantage of the night. With the Crimson frontcourt depleted as a result of injuries, Casey’s physicality proved crucial down the stretch as Harvard fought to overcome a sudden dry spell from the free-throw line that reenergized the Tigers.

“Kyle gives us a dimension that is invaluable to our team, with his athleticism,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said. “Kyle’s going to do some really good things for us and we need him to be out on the floor and not be in foul trouble.”

DOWN AND OUT

Though Harvard regained Casey and co-captain Brandyn Curry since the last time it took on the Tigers in 2012-2013, an unexpected missing piece shook up the Crimson’s game plan coming into the weekend.

Junior center Kenyatta Smith—who broke out against Princeton at home last year and was a key factor in the team’s title run—did not suit up for Friday’s contest. Smith had played his first minutes of the season against Dartmouth last weekend after being sidelined with a foot injury that occurred before the start of nonconference play. Though the center was expected to make his return this weekend, a re-injury at Monday’s practice put Smith out for the remainder of the season.

“[It’s v]ery disappointing for him, first of all, and then very disappointing for our team, knowing that he was going to be an integral part of the season—of whatever success we were going to have—and now we don’t have him,” Amaker said. “It was a very tough game for us to figure out, with not having a full compliment of players that we have had here recently.”

Also unexpectedly absent from the lineup were junior forward Jonah Travis—out indefinitely with a concussion—and sophomore wing Agunwa Okolie—a versatile shooter who has had knee trouble of late. Without Travis or Okolie to step in, the style of play exhibited by Amaker’s squad was reminiscent of the 2012-2013 team’s brand of small-ball, with Rivard clocking in close to 40 minutes alongside Saunders and sophomore point guard Siyani Chambers.

“Coach Amaker always says, ‘Play ready so you don’t have to get ready,’” Rivard said. “Whether we have these guys or not, we just stay true to our identity…. We have to play some more minutes but a lot of us are used to it, especially from last year.”

ALONE AT THE TOP

After a wild night around the league, Harvard emerged as the sole undefeated team in the Ancient Eight, moving into first place in conference standings. Princeton—who finished second last year in the Ivy League—has now dropped back-to-back Ancient Eight contests, and is winless in the conference thus far. Penn suffered its first loss at Dartmouth on Friday night, and Columbia and Brown fell, as well.

Though early in the season, Friday night was a statement win for the Crimson, which will need to win the Ivy League outright in order to guarantee a third consecutive NCAA tournament bid. Harvard forfeited any chance it may have had at an at-large bid with its losses against Colorado and Connecticut, as well as a more surprising upset at Florida Atlantic to close out its nonconference season.

Though the Crimson has separated itself for now, its position is anything but comfortable. This weekend marks the start of back-to-back conference play for Harvard, in which the team plays two games in as many days for the next six weeks. Unique to the Ivy League, the schedule—often referred to as the “14-game tournament”—makes for volatile conference standings. For now, the Crimson has positioned itself well by avoiding an early loss in what was expected to be its toughest league matchup of the season.

—Staff writer Hope Schwartz can be reached at hschwartz@college.harvard.edu.