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Coach Tommy Amaker has emphasized improvement to the Harvard men’s basketball team (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) all season. For a team with seven freshmen, four sophomores, and only four true upperclassmen, the growing pains were evident at times.

“I think the beginning of league play, we were a little bit fresh coming in against those teams,” said freshman guard Austin Hunt.

That inexperience showed on in the team’s January matchup with Yale. The Bulldogs returned the bulk of a team that won the Ivy tournament and reached March Madness a season ago, also winning a game against Auburn.

The battle between youth and experience left the Crimson battered and bruised. A 29 point demolition showed its young players the difference between high school and Ivy League championship level basketball.

While the Crimson would recover and win its next game over Columbia, two more blowout losses ended the team’s first run through the Ivy gauntlet. Sitting at 2-5 in league play, Amaker still didn't doubt that his faith in his freshmen would soon pay off.

“I think part of the reason you see guys develop a little bit later is that we trusted them early,” he said. “That’s a part of building your bench as a part of growing your young players, even though they’re going through growing pains early, we stuck with them.”

That faith showed dividends immediately in the second go through Ivy play as Harvard improved to 3-2 in this cycle.

While the Crimson learned lessons, the Bulldogs taught them. Yale entered the rematch with a 12-0 conference record, 13-game win streak, and no losses in 2025.

“We had obviously come into that game a little bit of an underdog,” Hunt said.

“Practices had been really intense leading up to that game,” added Hunt. “We always thought that we could win.”

Practices helped Harvard prepare for Yale’s stars: senior guards Bez Mbeng and John Poulakidas. But the Crimson mainly focused on executing what the team had worked on all year.

“If we execute the things that we want to do and live up to our identity, we feel it gives us the best chance,” Amaker said.

A 5-0 start for Yale quickly brought back memories of the first game.

But then, something changed. Harvard’s preparation and growth began to pay off. The team started to play with the poise, physicality, and confidence of a team far beyond the sum of the experience on the court. Upperclassmen began the tone shift, with seniors Louis Lesmond and Evan Nelson along with junior Chandler Pigge leading a Crimson run that gave Harvard a slight lead.

Coming off of a fierce battle the previous night against Brown, Harvard showed no signs of fatigue and, instead, ratcheted up both the effort and physicality of the game.

Hustle and toughness allowed the Crimson to affect a typically strong Yale offense. Harvard deflected many of Yale’s passes, forcing the Bulldogs out of system, resulting in more turnovers. The Crimson seemed determined to keep the powerful Yale offense on one side of the court playing one-on-one basketball through physical, smart defense.

On offense, Harvard did the exact opposite, trying to get the ball to the center of the court in space as much as possible. Since Harvard was playing at a severe height disadvantage, Amaker employed a five-out strategy with no players inside the three point line to pull Yale’s bigger players out of the paint.

Amaker opened up the driving lanes further by having his players swiftly swing the ball and cut before setting screens to get the ball handlers driving into open space. This forced the Bulldogs to choose whether to give up an open drive or help and give up threes.

The more experienced group of starters executed this game plan well, but it was the freshmen coming off the bench that truly impressed. Freshmen Tey Barbour and Ben Eisendrath made immediate impacts, each drilling a three to help extend the Harvard lead to 11. The bench group outscored Yale’s bench 23-6 over the course of the game.

The instant contributions from the bench helped the Crimson take a 38-27 lead into half, a thirty point swing from the 19 point halftime deficit of the first matchup.

The energy in Lavietes was palpable by halftime. Cheers from the crowd drowned any chatter in the stands. The Bulldogs were facing the full force of the 10,000 men of Harvard that day.

Doubts remained about whether the young Harvard team would be able to hold the rope and secure victory. Just the night before, the Crimson had lost a late lead due to a shaky second half of immature play.

These anxieties grew as Yale cut the lead to five only five minutes into second half play.

Harvard’s lead bent, but refused to break. Freshman standout Robert Hinton hit two free-throws and Barbour added his second three of the game to push the lead back to double digits. The Bulldogs continued to make pushes, but the Crimson fought right back and extended the lead each time it started to contract.

With 1:32 left, Yale’s Poulakidas and Townsend hit a three and layup respectively to make the Harvard lead 69-67

Two point ball games with 50 seconds against your biggest rival are where legends are made. Those that step up in these moments go down in the mythology of not only The Game, but Harvard basketball in general.

Enter Austin Hunt.

Hunt played well throughout the game, ending with ten points, five rebounds, and three assists. But his stats are not what people will remember first about this game, it’s the moments he provided in the last minute of action.

With 50 seconds left and Harvard’s ball up 69-67, Yale did not have to foul, so Crimson could bleed the clock before attempting to score and stretch the lead back to two possessions. Harvard crossed half-court and settled in to kill the clock while Yale applied some pressure, hoping to force a turnover without fouling. With less than ten seconds on the shot clock, Pigge tried to set a ball screen to free Hunt, but instead, two Yale defenders jumped the screen and forced Hunt backwards with no passing lanes. Hunt did not panic or pick up the ball; he retreated towards half court and stretched the defense until the double was forced to break.

Now, with four seconds on the shot clock, Hunt was isolated on Townsend far from the basket. Hunt put his head down and drove left, directly in front of the Harvard bench, stepped back to open up space, and lofted a high-arcing three over the outstretched arms of Townsend.

As the ball soared through the air, the hopes and prayers of an entire gymnasium willed it to find its home. The ball kissed off of the glass before gliding through the net.

“Saw a little opening on the wing, kind of just stepped back and let it go. And, thankfully, it went in,” reminisced Hunt.

Pandemonium erupted in Lavietes Screams echoed throughout the gym as everyone lost their minds — everyone except Amaker. With a coolness and stoicism that only comes from years of coaching experience, Amaker turned to the official and called timeout to set up his defense. Amaker maintained this poise despite Hunt falling into his arms as his momentum from the stepback carried him backwards.

Though the Crimson gave up points on the next possession, the set defense forced Yale to burn more time than the Bulldogs wanted. With 13 seconds left, Yale did not have enough fouls to put Harvard in the bonus, meaning the Bulldogs had to foul multiple times before sending the Crimson to the line. Harvard handled this pressure well, not turning the ball over, and sending none other than Hunt to the stripe with seven seconds left.

With Harvard fans so quiet they could hardly breathe and the Yale contingency screaming with all their might, Hunt stepped to the line with a three point lead. The ice in Hunt’s veins still ran cold as he calmly sank the first shot and then the second. A missed three by Mbeng, the Ivy League player of the year, ended any hopes of a Yale comeback and one last bedlam erupted from the Crimson fans to celebrate the upset.

While the celebration of the game has long ended, it is still a point of emphasis in the Harvard locker room where it acts as a “proof of concept” for the Crimson’s goals in the upcoming season.

“It’s given our team a shot in the arm,” said Amaker.

That shot could not come at a better time in the eyes of Amaker, who emphasizes the importance of offseason workouts.

“Winter will ask what did you do in the summer,” he added.

This winter revealed the highs and lows of a youthful team. Perhaps next winter will reveal the game and upset of the year to not be a fluke, but, instead, the start of a championship team.

– Staff Writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at reed.trimble@thecrimson.com.