UNC, on the other hand, will look to push the ball and generate extra possessions. The Tar Heels are 16th in the country with 71.9 possessions per game. And even that is not enough for Carolina coach Roy Williams.

“We haven't been as assertive at establishing the tempo ourselves, Williams said Wednesday. “I've said a hundred times that I'd much rather win 90-80 than 60-50.”

To create that type of game Thursday, the Tar Heels will extend their defensive pressure, Paige explained.

“We want to run every time even if we don't get a quick shot, just to run and get pressure and get the tempo to our liking,” he said. “They're more comfortable in the high 50s, low 60s, but we want this game up, more possessions, so we have a chance to get the ball inside and get our break going. We're probably going to extend our defense, try to pressure them into some turnovers so we can start that break.”

That strategy will put more responsibility in the hands of Harvard guards junior Siyani Chambers and senior Wesley Saunders.

Chambers had a slow start to the season but has dropped his turnover numbers every month of the year, averaging 2.4 assists per turnover in three March contests.

Saunders’s turnover numbers have held more steady, but his assists have jumped up to 5.7 per game in March, as he has embraced the playmaking role Amaker has given him.

Thursday, Saunders will have to make those plays while often being guarding by J.P. Tokoto, a 6’6” wing with a 6’9” wingspan named to the ACC’s All-Defensive Team last season. It will be a tough matchup for Saunders, as it will be for the Crimson in general.

But this Harvard team is used to long odds, given it needed a late-game collapse from Yale against Dartmouth on March 7 and a last-possession bucket from Steve Moundou-Missi last weekend just to earn the Ancient Eight’s automatic bid to March Madness.

The Crimson will try to extend that Madness a little longer on Thursday.

—Staff writer Jacob D.H. Feldman can be reached at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com.