Even with the Crimson’s “next man up” philosophy, the injuries took their toll in the biggest nonconference games. Harvard won three straight following the Holy Cross victory, and rolled into Boulder, Colo., in late November undefeated and confident.

The Buffaloes, which boasted potential NBA first-round draft pick Spencer Dinwiddie and an imposing front line of 6’10” Josh Scott and 6’7” Xavier Johnson, hung around the fringe of the nation’s top 25. Colorado’s victory over Kansas a couple weeks later would put it in the top 20.

The Crimson came out strong, hitting four early three-pointers en route to a quick 16-4 lead that became a 12-point halftime advantage. But with Casey in foul trouble (four fouls, 19 minutes played), Smith’s absence was keenly felt during a 14-0 Buffalo second half run. Harvard had just 20 points in the final period, and lost the game, 70-62.

From Colorado, the team flew to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout. As the top seed, it expected—and, aside from a tight semifinal against Green Bay, received—little competition. Winning its three games by an average of 13.7 points, Harvard took home the title. It would not lose again until January, running off 10 straight wins in all.

But injuries struck again. Before the Crimson’s biggest nonconference game—on the road against Connecticut, a perennial regional power that had beaten Harvard four times in as many years—Saunders was declared out with injury. Despite 21 points and six threes from Chambers, the Crimson once again failed to hold a halftime lead. UConn outscored Harvard by 10 in the second half, and ultimately overcame the Crimson, 61-56.

Afterward, the team was quick to dismiss its leading scorer’s absence as the reason for the loss.

“When Wesley went down, we were just going to do it as a team,” Chambers said. “Somebody was going to step up.”

Saunders would miss three games, the last of which was the Crimson’s worst performance of the year. Facing Florida Atlantic University, whose coach, Mike Jarvis, had been passed up in favor of Amaker for the Harvard job seven years earlier, the Crimson shot just 23 percent from the field en route to a 15-point defeat. It was Harvard’s only double-digit loss of the season and, as the team prepared to enter conference play, it left a sour taste in the players’ mouths.